As far as leg training, I was curious to see how many people incorporate unilater work into their leg training, aside from one legged extensions and curls. For those who do unilateral work such as lunges, split squats, and one legged presses, do you feel you can attain optimal strength and size as opposed to performing bilateral work? Thoughts/comments appreciated.
I used to not do any bi-lateral squatting. I had some issues with it, so I was always doing uni-lateral stuff like stepups, and split squats. But I was doing deadlifts a lot during this time.
I now do a lot more bi-lateral stuff and less uni-lateral and have gotten stronger. But, I think my previous time spend doing all that uni-lateral stuff has made it much easier to progress on bi-lateral stuff now.
IMO, bi-lateral deadlifts are a necessity. Ive never been able to get strong doing single leg deadlifts.
So if you are working deadlifts, I think you can build a good amount of strength and muscle with just uni-lateral squatting type movements. Also though, I could never do enough on most of these moves with DBs. So for stuff like stepups and lunges, the barbell versions were a must.
[quote]dankid wrote:
I used to not do any bi-lateral squatting. I had some issues with it, so I was always doing uni-lateral stuff like stepups, and split squats. But I was doing deadlifts a lot during this time.
I now do a lot more bi-lateral stuff and less uni-lateral and have gotten stronger. But, I think my previous time spend doing all that uni-lateral stuff has made it much easier to progress on bi-lateral stuff now.
IMO, bi-lateral deadlifts are a necessity. Ive never been able to get strong doing single leg deadlifts.
So if you are working deadlifts, I think you can build a good amount of strength and muscle with just uni-lateral squatting type movements. Also though, I could never do enough on most of these moves with DBs. So for stuff like stepups and lunges, the barbell versions were a must.[/quote]
thanks man, I think I’m gonna try unilateral movements for about 5-6 weeks or so, then go back to the bilateral movements, see how it plays out.
[quote]goldfingers24 wrote:
thanks man, I think I’m gonna try unilateral movements for about 5-6 weeks or so, then go back to the bilateral movements, see how it plays out.
[/quote]
I dont think you have to choose one way or the other. There is nothing wrong with doing both.
Is there a reason why you aren’t happy with bi-lateral movements?
Also, just remember if you are using uni-lateral movements as you “main lifts” meaning you are going heavier on them. You’ll probably need to use a barbell as opposed to a DB for most lifts. The exception to this would probably be pistols or 1-leg squats.
SQUATS AND MILK!!
LMAO nah. but walking lunges with a BB on your back is THE hardest exercise I’ve ever done. Its definitely a money exercise and your ass will be on fire the day after. Not many people do it cause its hard as fuck to perform. Thats why I do it. I feel like a badass doin that shit.
I love unilateral leg work. It really “ups my strength for the bilateral work” probably from greater core activation along with teaching your other limb not to rely on its counterpart to take the brunt of the work, Id say its damn good for hypertrophy too. I usually do about 2 unilateral exercises per leg day, usually Bulgarian barbell squats and walking barbell lunges. Every so often about twice a month Ill dedicate a whole day doing all unilateral leg work that includes movements such as; pre-exhaust leg ext. and leg curl to failure/ wide step and close step walking barbell lunges/ Ill get on back extension or the old school Hyperextension machine and do 1 leg barbell glute-ham extensions/ I also incorporate 1 leg deep hack squatting (these r killer) and finish off with high volume uni-lateral Leg presses. on the week that i do these, i usually do them about 3-4 days before a bilateral leg day. (PS- just to let every one know, this was my secret workout I only have done in the confines of my gym when were closed for the evening. after that its recovery in the steam room and hot tub with a cold protein shake all to myself)
For whatever reason it seems pretty common for legs to develop unevenly, for that reason I think incorporating some unilateral work is a great idea. I need to start doing more myself.
I do all my leg press work single legged. I’m alos a massive fan of single leg SLDL. These just dominate my hamstrings. I have used lunges, step ups and bulgarians in the past too. I have never exclusivly done unilateral work as my core exercises were bilateral squats and deads.
I just finished an internship at the NSW institute of sport and they do the majority of their lower body stuff uni-lateraly. Their rational was that most sporting movements were done on a single leg, or with the weight over one leg more than the other. keep in mind that these were elite level althletes so they had a strong base behind them which included a heap of bi lateral stuff.
BTW, arse to grass pistol squats are a good party trick.
I used to do single-leg work just for the health benefits of it (hip/knee health, “hidden muscles”, etc). I still do it for that reason but as my legs grow I have noticed my left is bigger than my right, noticeably (the quads). So now I’m going to give more attention/sets to my right leg. Stuff like single-leg hack squats and single-leg presses, in addition to reverse lunges, and all that DB single-leg stuff. I have noticed that my unilateral leg strength does not correspond at ALL with my bilateral squat/DL strength.
For quad strength most of my work is unilateral, for PC stuff my balance is not good enough so I don’t do any unilateral work. Probably should.
Do bof.
I started doing one-legged training for remedial work (core, activation and stability problems from working at a desk all day). I think that everyone should rotate some of these movements into their routine, periodically. I wouldn’t eliminate two legged moves completely, but i also wouldn’t neglect one legged movements either. Variety is good.
I recently started doing split squats and I’m glad I did.
Todays leg workout was pretty official.
Worked up to a 3RM on back squats
Then did lying leg curls and did 3x6 doing 1 1/2 reps
Then did 3x10 on peterson stepups
And then 3x10 on DB box squats
***Anyone ever do peterson step-ups. These are my new favorite exercise for quads.
[quote]dankid wrote:
Todays leg workout was pretty official.
Worked up to a 3RM on back squats
Then did lying leg curls and did 3x6 doing 1 1/2 reps
Then did 3x10 on peterson stepups
And then 3x10 on DB box squats
***Anyone ever do peterson step-ups. These are my new favorite exercise for quads.[/quote]
No but I might try those. Just youtubed it.
nate green, Waterbury and some other authors on here have said unilateral lower body exercises are money
unilateral is the way to go, but i would also say that you shud do both, maybe something like this; you start off with bilateral exercise and them throw in a uni lateral one following the bi lateral, and maybe switch between a hip and knee dominant every workout
I forget which author on this site said that the lower responds better to iso-lateral work, while the upper body responds better to bi-lateral. Whether the response is strength or size I don’t remember.
But, I’ll be damned if kroc rows don’t work better than BB rows.
If you have imbalance use iso-work to even out, or just use both.
I saw relatively no benefit from full ROM pistols in terms of bilateral strength. At the time I wasn’t eating for size so can’t comment on that. I can say that the worst leg DOMS I have ever had was from a few sets of pistols thrown at the end of a workout (something like 4*10), having not done them for some time before hand. Took literally a week to disappear, but I definitely wasn’t eating enough.
My humble uninformed opinion, leave that stuff to the “athletes”. It’s a cool trick and I was surprised that it impressed some people but I’d rather be able to squat more.