Best exercise - change down or power through

[KneesUp]

Being as where I live is quite hilly, I wondered what the consensus is on the best way to build fitness. Because there is bound to be a consensus, right?

For example, on my (short) commute in this morning, I had some spare time. Normally I follow the main road, which goes around a small hill but today I though 'well, you're supposed to be getting fit, and you have loads of time to cool down once you get to work' so I went over it.

Now the scale of the hill doesn't matter - some of you I'm sure wouldn't have noticed it - it is about 4 to 5% and only lasts about 1km, but hey, I'm not fit, I have a heavy bike and a rucksack, and I didn't want to arrive at work looking like I'd just been in the sauna.

Today I decided to get up it in the same gear as I had been riding on the flat as this feels like better exercise, and to be honest it was fine; not much of an effort at all until the last bit where I started breathing a little harder.Perhaps this suggests I might consider using a higher gear on the flat? Anyway, I would like to go touring sometime, so I imagine that I should save the lower gears for then, sort of on the principle that weight + low gears = not as much weight + higher gears. But then sometimes I think it's not exercising my heart as much as dropping a few gears and spinning away, and probably isn't good for my knees.

I come across little hills like this all the time. Would you take every hill in as high a gear as you can manage, or spin up them?

 

[Crackle]

It all flows into one. When you don't need to change gear, you don't. This normally begins to happen as you ride more and get stronger but sometimes, as you say, you have to push yourself to move on or to get out of lazy habits. I sometimes like just staying in one gear, it's another challenge to break up the routine.

 

[rugby bloke]

I tend to change down as I prefer to spin then grind away in a big gear. To push myself I will sometimes stay on the big ring at the front though, which normally gets the thighs burning.

 

[Kajjal]

It just depends what you want and how you body works best. Some prefer to push harder gears uphill and others like me tend to spin up longer climbs. For short steep road sections i tend to change one or two gears higher and stand up to pedal.

 

[400bhp]

There's science behind spinning being preferable to grinding but at the end of the day power is power, however it's generated.

 

[derrick]

I am spinning up them hills and find it a lot easier and i can go on for longer, I used to grind up all the hills but i get up them quicker by spinning, Also i have heard people say grinding can damage your knees, Don't know how true that is as i have never had knee problems.

 

[NorthernDave]

I had problems with my knees last year as a result of grinding up hills in too high a gear, thinking that if I was working hard it must be doing me good, right?

Wrong, as it turns out and it cost me a month off the bike. It's spinning all the way now for me.

 

[slowmotion]

I change down at the earliest possible opportunity. The alternative is to come to a grinding halt, and that can't be any good for fitness.

 

[YahudaMoon]

I don't think your small commute will help you in your quest for touring much to be honest, what you need is distance

 

[Bollo]

If you're using your gears correctly (and assuming you've got reasonably modern indexed gearing) you shouldn't really be thinking about what gear you're in except when you run out of the buggers up big hills. Unless you're doing very specific training drills, gears should be changed to respond to how your body feels and not the other way around.

Conventional wisdom says a higher cadence is more efficient, but the occasional out-of-the-saddle grind uses different muscles and gives your bum a rest. Personally I like to spin because I've got balsawood knees, but I know at least one very competitive triathlete that grinds away like 70s porn. As @400bhp says, in the end it's intensity that counts.

 

[Travs]

Little kick-ups I like to get out the saddle but in a sprint form still on the drops. Something with a bit of length, and 1km is included in this, I would tend to back off and spin in the saddle. That's more about whether I want to push myself into the red or not and I think that's more about the length of the ride. If I was on a short commute to work and could get myself washed and changed, I'd probably opt to use the hill as an interval.

Therefore, for the touring, I'd probably not want to do that and spinning at a lighter intensity would be a safer bet.

 

[adamangler]

depends how long it is, i find less than 5 mins or so i can stay in a high ish gear fairly low cadence, in and out of the saddle but this way seems to catch up with me after say 5 mins and i have to shift down

for longer climbs then it makes it more efficent to spin a higher gear that you can hold for the entire length, rather than push the bigger gear then end up dropping right down

therefore i think the answer is use the highest gear you can hold for the length of the climb, assuming its a consistent climb.

edit: i will add, i would ride a cadence that is natural, when i say spin a high gear i dont mean try to spin 100rpm uphill, i think the best cadence is the one you naturally use on the flat. mines about 80-90 so i tend to try to keep that cadence constant on the flat, on the uphills and downhills..of course when it gets too steep and you run out gears you have no choice but that should be the aim imo

 

[galaxy]

As long as you're breathing higher than normal it's doing you good. Perhaps mix. Some days push, some days spin.

 

[adamangler]

Depends on what you are aiming to achieve with the ride.

If you are just riding for ridings sake then do whichever you fancy at the time.

For me i usually always have a purpose so if im doing an endurance ride i will aim to keep the heart rate low and spin if im looking to do some intervals or sprints i will use the opportunity to push over the hills et etc

pushing harder will tire you out quicker so its up to you

 

[fossyant]

It depends on hill length and how well you cope with riding out of the saddle. It takes practice and fitness, and what's good for one person, may not be good for the other.