Unilateral training: do you include it in your current routine?

If not you could be missing out on the benefits of correcting muscle imbalances, whilst building a stronger core!

What does it mean?

Unilateral is a fancy name used to describe single arm or single leg exercises.

What’s the point?

We all tend to have a dominant/stronger side, unilateral training can help you to work on your imbalances.

Eg: when you perform any two handed (bi lateral) rowing movement, chances are that one side is doing more work.

A 2012 study(reference below) also found that unilateral exercises activate the muscles of the superficial core more effectively than bilateral exercises.

Eg – when single arm rowing your core has to work to reduce excessive rotational movement.

Finally, unilateral training can also be a great option for rehabilitation!

Tristan ‘one at a time’ Buttle.

REFERENCE:

Saeterbakken AH, Fimland MS. Muscle activity of the core during bilateral, unilateral, seated and standing resistance exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 112(5):1671-8, 2012.