Sup brahs, just another lifting thread.

So I have been doing random unilateral exercises for the last months in my PPL routine, due to a couple of injuries and due to training for certain skills. And it does feel a little different afterwards I must say, in a positive way. Like I have demolished the muscle tissue just 1 step further.

Some say if you do a whole workout with just unilateral exercises, you'd spend hours there, but that's not the case; you just take a shorter rest periode once you have finished your 2nd muscle set

Stuff like:

1 arm lat pulldown/1 arm negative down pullups/regressions
1 arm tricep work
1 arm bicep work
1 arm push ups work/regressions
1 leg stiff deads
1 leg hamstring curls
1 leg leg ext
etc.
With for example PPL or UpperLower



This thread was inspired by Frank Zane's words from last night's interview uploaded on the Escape Fitness YouTube channel. He said it made more sense to work 1 muscle unilateral in terms of pump, blood, concenration, etc. although I can't really say it sounded too scientific, the idea was exciting. When you have lifted for years, you just want to try new ****.

Are we looking at untapped potential or are we wasting time? One could argue that since you are only using 1 side of the body for the exercise, you will not be able to lift that as much weight compard to if you used both sides, meaning you are actually missing out. But then again, this might work for isolation work instead. You will often also have a way longer ROM during unilateral exercises which is a big bonus for building muscle

I’d say it’s important to do both. I always incorporate unilateral exercises in to my workout. Also helps me to identify any unbalanced areas or weak points.

I agree. It's not that I have never neglected any unilateral. But I am thinking of strictly trying a full blown routine based on it.

Who lifts on the misc?

I do mostly unilateral stuff when I up my tri, running or erging volume. Just faster, requires less focus and gets the job done with its own benefits.

Sounds like a lot of unnecessary complication to me.

Variation is fine. Variation for the sake of variation is masturbation.

Agreed.^^

nothing really special or magical about unilateral exercises over regular bilateral ones

if you feel a better contraction/connection with unilateral movements it might be better. some sports it's good for developing balance/explosiveness off of one leg. wouldn't do it for the sake of doing it. obviously injuries too are a legit excuse. if you've exhausted all you can from same tricep pressdowns and need something different to stimulate the muscles, one-arm is not such a bad substitution. I don't think it's some best kept secret to the fountain of gains tho.

You guys make good points. But would you not say a standing bent over 1 arm dumbbell row has a greater stretch than a biletral row of any sort? Meaning it can be superior

I am sure we can agree that the stretch of the muscle has at least something to do with building muscle, or else you could get maximum gains by doing partial reps on all exercises, no? Since we are talking BB'ing (and even natty), we want those 1-2% more in results gains that can take 1 year for example

I did the 1 arm negative pull ups, and no weighted pull ups or any lat pulldown exercise has gotten me that sore in my biceps and top of my forearm, jesus christ. I literally can't extend my elbows due to the sorenessI fap with a biletral grip, nohomo

Whynotboth.jpg

I honestly prefer a 1 arm dumbbell row to a barbell row, for me my torso gets in the way for getting good range of motion and stretch. But I also do rows with 2 dumbbells at the same time.

For stuff like split squats and lunges I prefer regular squats. Because you can load a hell of a lot more weight and achieve deeper range of motion. I can see squeaking out slightly more stretch with tricep/bicep exercises but imo at the end of the day it isn't really going to be a huge difference maker.

I've also done one-arm shoulder presses when i injured my shoulder, kind of interesting, you feel a lot of your core working but I wouldn't say it confers any benefit/advantage as far as shoulder growth. Also split stance RDLs are pretty interesting (you keep one leg back, on your toes and focus on hamstrings of the other leg planted down), I actually really like these and they feel brootal on the hamstrings, not sure if superior but I feel a really nice stretch there which you can't really get with regular deadlifts.

As far as pullups go, if you've never done a 1 arm negative pullup, or don't do them regularly you're going to get sore as with almost any exercise that is new or you haven't done for a long time. Also, the negative or eccentric portion of many lifts tends to produce more soreness than the concentric.

I think it definitely works better for certain muscle groups than others, just based on the mechanics of the exercise itself, how good the alternative actually is and your own biomechanics. don't think there's a right or wrong answer to it overall.