Standing vs. Sitting and pushing trough on hills

For me it's a personal decision. I prefer to sit (I do stand on occassion), but when I stand my HR tends to skyrocket which tires me out more than pushing a slow cadence, but that is just me.

Lani

 if you ride a unicycle you are doing both at the same time.. plus you will look cooler at races 

For me:

Long hills = sit
Short hills = stand

I don't like losing speed because of a short hill.  I prefer to jump out of the saddle and pump my legs in order to maintain speed.

It feels good to pop up for a few moments on a shorter hill. It allows the muscles to stretch a bit and work a different group. Back when I had access to long hills, I never stood for very long.

You can train your body to climb out of the saddle just as easily as in the saddle. It just uses slightly different muscles. In terms of the OP, if I'm tring to get up a hill as fast as possible, I alternate. When I sit down after being out-of-the-saddle, I've rested my on-saddle muscles slightly but obviously and I'm able to push a higher gear than when I left the saddle before.

For me it depends on the angle of the incline and the length of the hill. I will stay in the saddle as long as I can but there are some hills around here over 10% that I pretty much have to get up. I will occasionally get up to stretch things out if my back gets sore.

It amazes me watching the Tour riders that are out of the saddle for long periods of time. They are superhuman.

x2

I've now ridden with a good number of strong, as well as SUPER-strong (whom I can't keep up with for more than a short lap) riders, both tri and pure roadies.

I see lots of standing, even by the strongest riders, even on hills that don't even bother me. However, standing doesn't imply that they're weak, as most of these guys drop me like a rock, doing 15+mph on 12+% inclines no problem.

I think a lot of it is personal preference, and I've seen no data or pearls of wisdom suggesting that one is less efficient than the other.

I rarely stand, and when I do, my legs get toasted within half a minute. But I can climb in-saddle faster than most triathletes can sprint out-of-saddle. I actually used to stand a LOT, but as I became more experienced on my TT tribike, the forward position of the seat made it more difficult for me to stand, and nowadays I'm almost entirely on the seat, even on crushing 20+%+ inclines as well as all-out hillsprints. 

It may actually be best to train both standing and sitting a fair amount. They work somewhat different muscles due to the angle, and it may be helpful to be able to swap back n forth. For sure, if you never stand, you'll tire fast at standing, and if you never sit, you'll be less effective on power climbs seated. 

If my speed drops below 10.0 mph I can come out of aero if I want. When it drops below 7.0, I can stand if I prefer. It all depends on how I feel that day...

Mike

Thanks everyone..biggest lesson I am learning from these forums is that there is no "perfect" way to approach riding. You have to go with what works for you. At the NYCTri last year I never had to leave my saddle. I will just mix it up on my hills at home. When the legs start to burn I'll work on standing. Part of it is just new bike with tougher gear ratio and a need to improve overall leg strength.