By Mike Bourne, Program Coach XFIT Media City
Unilateral training is performing exercises that work one limb at a time exclusively or that is at least biased towards one limb.Â
Benefits of Unilateral Exercise
- Â Build core stability
- Helps prevent injury
- Helps rehabilitation for injury
- Corrects muscular imbalances
- Great muscle focus to build strength
Here is one of my favourite unilateral workouts to do:
- Start off by doing 12-15 reps of each exercise for three sets total.
- The Death March is three sets of 14-20 steps.
- Progression is to add weight and then you can change your reps and sets.
- Four sets of 8-12 reps to build muscle(moderate weight)
- Five sets of five reps with heavier weight to build strength.
The heavier the weight, the harder it pushes overall conditioning.
Bulgarian split squats
- Rear foot elevated on bench
- Â Front leg squats downward
- Â Back knee to floor (if mobility allows)
- Â Drive up through front leg
- Â Maintain tight core and shoulders back chest up
Single arm dumbbell bent over row
- Hinge from the hips
- Maintain neutral fl at back position
- Elbow stays close in near the body
- Row back and upwards towards hips, elbow around 90 degrees
- Refrain from bending elbow too much resulting in the bicep doing more work
Half kneeling bottom up single arm kettlebell press
- Half kneeling position
- Opposite arm to the front leg works
- Hold kettlebell upside down (great stability for shoulder)
- Press and fully extend arm above head in a controlled manner
Death march
- Dumbbells in both hands
- Small step forward
- Front knee has a very slight bend
- Back knee bends significantly more
- Hinge at the hips (like a deadlift/back flat)
- Squeeze glutes and drive hips forward to stand
- Repeat alternately moving forwards
Top 10 bottom single arm dumbbell chest press
- Drive feet into floor/squeeze glutes
- Hold weights at top press position
- Lower one weight and press while still holding the other up
