There is no doubt in my mind now that in general this is the direction to take. When the push was coordinated to work along with the hip moving backwards there was a strong sense of physical connection. Pulling back the hip slightly before pushing just loses this connection – so it isn’t just an alignment issue. There are so many ways to move that it might be impossible to identify which way is the right one. The key appears to lie in initiating the movement from the spine instead of the feet or knees or any other peripheral body part. At the same time the motion has to have the right intention:You turn the pelvis so that you can extend your leg – therefore during the process there is pressure on the foot.
During the climb I suddenly understood why it’s necessary to to have the arms and shoulders relaxed. I’d heard this said often but couldn’t feel any particular reason to do it and it also seemed to contradict the need sometimes to pull or push the handlebars. Stiffening the arms and hence the shoulders blocks the free movement of the spinal column. You then can’t control or initiate your movement from there and lose out on much of the contribution of the core muscles. The resistance in the arms and shoulders swallows up energy directly as well – but more importantly it prevents the relaxed mechanisms that permit efficient mechanics thorough the whole body.