Benefits Of Unilateral Training

Although sometimes training one leg or arm at a time can feel as though as well as taking up a bit more time, I promise you that there is great benefit of doing so!

When training bilaterally (both sides at the same time), it is possible for us to overuse the dominant or stronger side, resulting in both overtraining of those muscles and undertraining of the other. This will cause the weaker side to continuously fall behind. If we do some exercises unilaterally, for example a single leg squat or leg press, we can ensure they are both performing the same reps at the same weight. It is common that we don’t even realise that we have an imbalance until we do some single leg or arm training. You will likely find that your bilateral movements feel stronger once you minimise any imbalances.

Another benefit of including unilateral movement in our training is that it helps our balance. While performing a single leg squat, we must be using not only the isolated leg, but also utilising our stability. Core muscles are our main stabilising muscles, so while doing that single leg squat or split squat, you will also be working the deep abdominal muscles.

So that extra time it takes to include these unilateral movements is well worth it! You will be helping your body in so many ways by including these movements.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post on unilateral training, we hope you found it informative. Should you want to find out more, please feel free to contact us today at David Jones Personal Training and one of our fantastic team members will get back to you shortly.