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Mountain Flyer Magazine - Cycling News - Cycling Photos - Rocky Mountain, Crested Butte, Gunnison, Gear Reviews steephill.tv bike travelogue and cycling live video Top stories | Dirt Rag Magazine Which Muscles are Really Used During the Pedal Stroke? - Pinkbike One of the most persistent myths in the mountain biking world surrounds the pedal stroke and goes something like this: " Without being attached to the pedals you can not use your hamstrings properly, which forces you to rely too much on the quads to power the pedal stroke. By not being able to curl the knee joint during the upstroke of the pedal stroke you create muscular imbalances and tire out the quads faster." That is what most of us have been told. However, this understanding of which muscles are used and how they are used during a pedal stroke is completely wrong and potentially dangerous over the long run. When I ask why someone thinks that the muscles are used that way during the pedal stroke, I am invariably led to some variation of this picture/ chart: The problem with this whole notion is that this chart is completely theoretical and based on how the muscles work in isolation from each other. You want to produce your power at the hips, not the knee joint.

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