Unilateral training: Key questions answered

Lifting with one arm or one leg at a time is a great way to balance growth, work your core and minimise injury, says trainer Adam Gethin What are unilateral moves?

Simply put, a unilateral movement uses one arm or leg rather than both to move a resistance from point A to point B. One of the most popular unilateral moves is the single-arm dumbbell biceps curl. Exercises that require the use of both arms or legs are called bilateral lifts.

Why should I do them?

There are many benefits to using unilateral moves. One of the main ones is the improved isolation of a target muscle

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The importance of unilateral training: 4 key benefits

Single-limb unilateral training is the key to a strong, balanced physique, says strength coach Ben Bruno What is unilateral training?

This term means performing exercises that work one limb exclusively or that are biased significantly towards one limb. In a single-leg squat, for example, you stand on one leg, while for a split squat you stand on both legs but place much more emphasis on one of them. This approach is different from bilateral training, which uses both limbs evenly in moves such as the barbell squat or deadlift. The benefits might not be immediately obvious but they are numerous.

Improve balance and stability

A key benefit of unilateral training is that it allows you to even out any strength or size imbalances. Most people tend to use one side of their body more than the other in everyday life and this bias can be exacerbated if you only do bilateral training. Most sporting activities involve unilateral rather than bilateral movements, so adding unilateral exercises to your training can help improve sporting performance and reduce the risk of injury. 

Unilateral exercises also help to strengthen stabilising muscles. The single-leg squat helps to build stability in your hips, for example, while upper-body unilateral exercises such as the one-arm dumbbell press recruit core muscles that are crucial to stability.

Lift heavier

Many people think that unilateral exercises don’t allow you to use enough weight to build strength. In my opinion, these people simply haven’t done enough unilateral training to become strong using it. A good example is your legs, which you can overload more easily with a unilateral exercise. I find that once people master the Bulgarian split squat, they can handle roughly the same amount of weight on it as they can on a front squat

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