Kids foot position on pedals - advice needed

Highway_To_Hell

When my 8 year old son is cycling he positions his heel/middle of his foot on the pedal and his toes point outwards. Most of the time this doesn’t cause problems but going up hills he cant keep the momentum going and ends up having to stop cycling. His twin sister has the correct/normal (ball of the foot on the pedal) position and has no problems cycling up hills.

Any time I try and correct his foot position he says it isn’t comfortable, he loves cycling and cant wait to go for longer spins but I feel if he doesn’t get the pedal position correct it will limit his cycling ability and I don’t want to keep going on to him about it in case I put him off cycling completely. I was thinking of putting these toe clips on his pedals to help train/maintain his foot position.

Is this overkill and is it something that will correct itself/grow out of?

Thanks

doozerie

There is actually a movement by some people away from the theory that having the ball of your foot over the pedal axle is optimal. Instead, they propose that the middle of your foot should sit over the axle, which is the same as having the cleat located in the centre of your foot as described in the following articles:

From http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/the-anatomy-of-bike-position :

Germany's Gotz Heine believes that for greatest efficiency, the tarsometatarsal joint (the midfoot) should be over the pedal axle and has any amount of compelling evidence to back this up. For sustained steady effort of high or low intensity, this position, correctly applied will mean greater ability to sustain power over time and / or better ability to recover from severe efforts. TT's, pursuiting, Audax riding, road racing and triathlon are ideal for this kind of cleat positioning.

From http://www.cyclingnews.com/reviews/biomac-bio-mxc2-shoes :

Heine's 'bio-mxc2' cleat position eschews conventional cleat position methodology by placing the pedal axle roughly beneath the arch of your foot – several centimeters behind what most people would consider normal.

Though unusual, the idea behind Heine's mid-foot or 'arch' cleat positions is rather logical: he and other mid-foot proponents such as renowned coach Joe Friel and Cyclingnews fitness panelist Steve Hogg surmise that the vast majority of a rider's power is produced by the quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings while the lower leg only serves to stabilize the efforts of what happens above. As such, the lower leg is merely a conduit and doesn't produce enough effective power to justify the metabolic cost.

Personally I'd be more concerned about his toes pointing outwards as that could cause issues at the knee, but even there the science is inexact at best as everyone's shape and mechanics differ so maybe it'll work fine for him.

Highway_To_Hell

doozerie wrote: »

Personally I'd be more concerned about his toes pointing outwards as that could cause issues at the knee, but even there the science is inexact at best as everyone's shape and mechanics differ so maybe it'll work fine for him.

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Thanks, I must ask at the sports clinic when I go there next week.