Why You Should Include Unilateral Movements In Your Program
Unilateral movements are ones that you perform on one side of your body in individual segments
These types of exercises have several benefits and there are many reasons you should include them in your program
Common unilateral exercises:
Lunges, bicep curls, tricep extensions, dumbbell rows, overhead presses, farmer carries and cable pulldowns are just a few of nearly endless unilateral movements commonly performed. Just about any exercise you do in the gym can be modified in some way to create a unilateral movement.
For example, a lunge is a single leg version of a squat, and a single arm lat cable pulldown is a version of a one-arm pull-up.
Benefits of unilateral movements:
Expose movement faults- Unilateral exercises do a great job a highlighting any muscular weakness or joint stability. It also shows your range of motion (ROM) comparison for each side of your body. For example, someone might be able to do a single arm dumbbell press with a heavier weight in one arm compared to the other due to having greater stability or strength in their rotator cuff.
Correct muscle imbalances- If you're able to uncover the fact that you have weakness on one side of your body, performing unilateral movements on that lagging side is super important. If you have a muscular imbalance and continue training both sides of your body equally the weaker side will never be able to catch up!
Increase core stabilization demands- Doing an exercise on one side of your body offsets the load. Think of a single arm farmer carry. Holding a weight in one hand offsets your body's center of gravity. With the extra weight pulling you down towards the side, your core must engage much more to prevent your body from tipping over and losing balance. This concept applies to any unilateral movement.
Increase joint stabilizing muscles- If you have a muscular imbalance or one joint lacks proper stabilization, doing bilateral movements allows for compensation without even realizing most of the time. When you perform an exercise on one side of your body, only that joint will be able to stabilize it, no other part of your body.
For example, if you are doing a standard bench press, you might shift some weight onto one shoulder and arm compared to the other. If you then perform a single arm dumbbell chest press, your other shoulder will not be able to compensate for the lagging side. This helps a ton with identifying joint instability which can help eliminate and prevent pain & injury!
How they transfer over to bilateral movements:
When both sides of your body share equal strength, they are able to work together as a unit to carry out a movement much more efficiently. When there is an imbalance on one part of your body compared to the other, this decreases overall strength and power output, which can become very frustrating leading to injuries and delaying you from reaching your goals. Having imbalances is a recipe for disaster and basically asking for injuries to arise!
Turning unilateral movements into bilateral & full body exercises:
Every workout does not need to have a unilateral movement included. But it is important that throughout some point of your training routine you include movements across every muscle group that challenge each joint and muscle individually to assure there is a strength balance and improve overall stability
If you are struggling to find ways to incorporate unilateral movements into your workouts, Platinum Training offers individualized workout programs that will help you crush your fitness goals!
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