How Important is Unilateral Work? Increase Efficiency and Decrease Risk w/ Single Leg Exercises

[@StandStrength]

The more I realize lunges and split squats are useful, the more I want to skip leg day.

[@ijrebuck]

😂 isn't that the truth

[@stevenbaker4681]

Amen

[@SerratusAnterior]

the balance factor makes me want to quit too

[@BaldOmniMan]

Single leg press works too lol

[@theultimatederp3288]

On the bright side. Alex didn't recommend lateral lunges.

[@GVS]

So much of this resonated with me. Have had hip pain for ages, also a clear leg imbalance in strength. Sort of the opposite though, stronger adductors compared to abductors. Glute medius shrank down to nothing, TFL takes over big time, it's probably 3-4x bigger than an average persons. Single leg work sucks...but it's super helpful. Clamshells, leg raises. This prehab type of bullshit is annoying but necessary for the hard training and longevity.

[@takashi-lee3943]

Yeah, I've been doing walking lunges because it's one set not 2 separate sets like Bulgarians

[@allaballanamnvartagn]

I "just" got into training in 2019, after like a decade of working in IT sitting on my ass 8h a day. As someone over 35 getting all this knowledge has really helped me grow as a strongman and have kept me damage free and will hopefully keep me that way! Thanks Bromley!

[@allaballanamnvartagn]

Also, really like the more relaxed format. Feels like getting tips from a buddy.

[@AlexanderBromley]

I appreciate the feedback. Every time I make a change like this, it costs me a few nights of indigestion

[@Yeomannn]

Very, very important for the upper body. This is why dumbbells are of such utility for the powerlifter.

[@sheadoherty7434]

If you're an athlete you'll end up developing imbalances at some point, its how I developed mine, and unilateral exercise really helped

[@skude3]

Split squats helped a lot with my SI issues, along without better fatigue management obviously.

[@emkhashte6498]

noted. same here

[@turo3066]

Man, this is so timely. I am an older lifter (55!) who during the last couple of years developed nagging injuries to one knee, back and hips but only one side of the body. During my 35 years of training I have done very little unilateral work. After my last knee tweak about a month ago I came across the Knees over guy. That led me to other Utubers that showed me how to use bands and hip circles for clamshells, bodyweight ATG lunges, single leg hip thrusts and some of the Original Strength movements. Sometimes I did them as prehab or in between sets, or throughout the day daily. It did wonders for my knee, lower back and hips and I am feeling better than I ever have. Hanging from a pull up bar, face pulls and band pull aparts are also great for shoulder health.

[@mach5jeep]

Same thing here. I'm 53 and was doing 415# for my work sets on squats. My knee started really 'burning' during squats earlier this year and continued for a couple of weeks. I added static wall sits and Poliquin squats and my knees have never felt stronger. The poliquin squats quickly showed me how weak my left side was. I've since incorporated split squats into my routine as well and my bi-lateral squats have never before felt so controlled on the descent and I've never before felt so 'planted' during a squat. I highly recommend this. I'm only using 145# on my splits so I'm not going crazy with them and I've put 30# on my bilateral work set in a month and half. I know that's not record breaking but I'm a grandpa and sometimes miss workouts sporadically due to life,family, etc. I have no intention of competing. I just like knowing I'll be one of the strongest men in the retirement home. LOL

[@turo3066]

@@mach5jeep 👍❤️

[@Daniearp]

I really enjoy your drawings hahaha, digging this new format, even though the previous one was good too

[@johnharbour4936]

This is one of those things that kind of aggravates me about Rippetoe sometimes. He simply sees no need to do anything but squat, bench, OHP, and deadlift. He acts like just using all of those movements alone somehow guard you against any imbalances or anatomic pitfalls. Which is just simply not the case. And that's why eventually you have to look outside of the powerlifting bubble to broaden that base to keep moving forward.

[@carlmurphy2416]

Dogmatism is useful for beginners because it insulates them from bullshit and doing completely wrong things but once you've run through Starting Strength and have gained a good amount of strength and confidence in barbell movements it's time to move on from Rippetoe and expand your horizons knowing you've always got the basic foundation to return to.

[@CigEconomy]

@@carlmurphy2416 Exactly. Furthermore, Rippetoe isn't a powerlifting coach. Athletes and the general populace really don't need a whole lot of accessory work to get functionally strong, unless your sport requires that you be as strong as humanly possible (shot put, wrestling, etc). And most "imbalances" are bullshit invented by physical therapists who don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Unilateral work is certainly beneficial for even novices to do, but when you're just trying to get your athletes up the snuff and gen pop off the coach, it's just extra unnecessary crap that can be accomplished with a barbell and a few exercises. Not everyone has 3 hours a day to fit in a workout nor the capacity to recover from a ton of extra work. I was a collegiate sprinter, I know how difficult it is to recover from both lifting and extremely taxing sprint workouts simultaneously. The anti-Rippetoe reactionary push back has been so funny for me to watch because the younger audience just doesn't understand how horrible the fitness charlatanism was back over a decade ago. Rippetoe played a crucial role in knocking the science-based guys off their pedestal and bringing lifting back to its simple roots, and I'll always be grateful to him for that.

[@zerrodefex]

Yep someone who was a Rippetoe acolyte sent me down this path early on and is still salty that I abandoned SS after a few months when I started racking up injuries left and right from imbalances. Also speaking of charlatism hardly anyone brings up Rippetoe's past connections with Crossfit and also how SS is a messed-up ripoff of Bill Starr's older and better program The Strongest Shall Survive. Saying that imbalances don't exist is pretty much flat Earth nonsense at this point.

[@kyle8583]

Good stuff Alex. This rings true for my knee pain caused by a lack of stability and muscle imbalances.

[@Mfitzy]

Awesome video Bromley. I always try to preach unilateral work for both screening and preventative maintenance work. Developing stability is definitely a quality which has been overlooked in many lifters routines.

[@scraps4019]

Wise advise. An example is the important of of external rotations for rotator cuff stability.

[@mrness15]

Thanks Bromley, very interesting. Will try that against nagging hip pain.

[@SerratusAnterior]

I put one strength focused uni work (bulgarian split squats, etc) right after my heavy work and a few moblity focused uni work (ATG split squats, ankle moblity drills, reverse step-ups, etc) and one plyo metric on my light and cardio day. My knees do feel better and my strength is returning faster then I expected

[@D_Huckins]

Starting with bodybuilding movements and never touching a barbell for the first two years of lifting helped a lot in the understanding of my body and how to effectively use each muscle. On and off with powerlifting movements for the past 3 years, I find myself always wanting to go back to bodybuilding, while maintaining work with the big 4. I am just now trying to really push strength and have a lot of confidence in form and the movements themselves having started with focusing on muscle hypertrophy and mind muscle connection.

[@BluegillGreg]

Step-ups were my primary leg developer when I didn't have a squat rack. With the loadable dumbells they gave me more leg intensity per rep compared to the bilateral suitcase squat. I couldn't have articulated the benefits explicitly like you do, but it was clear that it was a great way to stay in shape for loaded mountaineering. A lot of fun stuff outside the weight-room trains the small and big muscles to "play well with others." I'm too old to play in the pick-up game at our Y, but before the closures I still shot baskets and grabbed rebounds after lifting. 360 degree acceleration and deceleration are excellent survival skills, and integrate a lot of parts and functions. Coming out of the bottom of the pedal stroke, a bicycle hill sprint gets the hip flexors to pull the pedal up while the hams pull it back. How could combining these two's strengths be wrong? Training makes other sports better, other sports make training better. Great video, very thought-provoking.

[@kenkenly3785]

Great video Alex. Just recently started doing lunges after never doing unilateral work before. Was amazed at how much weaker one side was over the other. I will be adding more unilateral work to my programming for sure.

[@NayomiPennant]

I always like to program a few unilateral movements especially for legs. I've noticed that this is more prioritised in physique building programs Vs strength ones

[@AoG611]

Thank you so much for this content!!! I'm about to start Candito and have been mulling over the "optional exercises ". Will keep this information in mind as I'm selecting exercises.

[@jdmalm123]

Band external rotations, pull apart, and dislocates, plus floor pressing fixed my 46 year old shoulders 100% (plus less inflammatory foods). Lunges, jumping Jack's, and more calf work is now fixing my hips (also front squatting has been better for my anthropometry). The rotations and lunges etc I do as warm ups for 3×10. Minimal effort but it has made a significant difference.

[@matthewsweat]

As a cyclist, the Bulgarian squat plays a big role on leg day. Also really enjoy using a safety bar with them. Much easier to focus on the movement.

[@ggooch97]

I've found carriers, drags, and prowler pushing helps to better round out everything. Hell a 1/4 mile at a steep incline on a treadmill helps a lot.

[@iloqin]

Like the info, getting even better with the drawing pad, love this stuff.

[@paoloh885]

I have been almost exclusively squatting and deadlifting since I started more than a year ago, and the more I do it the tighter my hips and adductors get. It's time to stop avoiding unilateral work.

[@cosmicalian]

A good comparison would be facepulls when your shoulders ache from benching

[@AlexanderBromley]

Good point. Chronic shoulder pain is very common with guys who just work mirror muscles. Same principle applies.

[@dave7061]

Your work is amazing. I can’t believe this information is accessible for free. I only just started watching you but I have learned a lot already

[@vivinvincent692]

posterior leg elevated lunges.. helped massively after my acl reconstruction.. cheers. thanku for sharing the info. much appreciated.

[@CnCstrengthperformance]

Very well spoken and love the content. An informed athlete will always last longer in there sport. And this information will keep you grinding in your 60s

[@dard4642]

How do you feel about hypertrophy blocks versus adding hypertrophy exercises to a strength program? I find the hypertrophy work to be so much less taxing that I kind of use it as a prolonged deload (I'm also 50 yr-old and deloads are more important than they've ever been for me.)

[@davidgascoigne2266]

Great content. I’ve had to pull back from squats and deadlifts due to pain in my lower back. After lots of message and PT it turns out I have SI joint pain cause from a weak ass and groin. I’ve found that if I warm up well before a work out I can go right into a squat or deadlift pain free. This also controlled the pain I was experiencing in my IT bands. Turned out that getting back into side lateral movement both fast and slow paced was a great warm up. Mark Bells hip circle is great for warm up sets on squats. One other great exercise which falls into the unilateral movement category like you spoke of is the single leg Romanian deadlift. Great for building stability from the toe up.

[@davab]

I had a right knee pain. I realized my right glute is smaller and proceeded to do more single leg squat on my right. Even just body weight was enough to get my right hip so sore. After a month of doing this more regularly, my knee pain is gone. Now I am able to squat again

[@alexandrucernatoiu6523]

I used to train my legs with just squats, bare minimum parallel depth, leg press and just some hamestrigs curls or whatever and i ended up with bad knee pain pretty much after every leg workout. After changin my squat form to a more "ATG" approach and training my glutes more (lunges, RDL) it got so much better. Basically no more pain just a little bit of disconfort due to my bad warm up routine which i should work on and not the best knees.

[@ag135i]

Thanks for the informative video, unilateral exercises help build symmetrical muscles bilateral though increase endurance also results in imbalanced muscles.

[@365ramone]

thanks! Awesome content and great timing. Ive been thinking about this since your Joel Seedman vid. I agree with you but just to play a little devil's advocate... Isnt our lack of emphasis on unilateral work, transverse plane, fascia, oblique sling, etc what makes the "functional training guru" type possible? You said what I was just thinking about a bare minimum dose being good enough considering we get benefits from doing alot of compound movements.

[@zerrodefex]

Listened to someone early on that "unilateral is a waste of time, imbalances work themselves out". Yeah well that led to increasing imbalances and new pains and tendonitis and having to spend a few months on unilateral work to fix these problems that I should have addressed early on.

[@Paulkersey5921]

Thanks! I squat and deadlift almost every week year round.Without doing accessory excercises like single leg or hip machines.I have had nagging injuries most of last year and been pain free this year .The difference (i think) came from adding volume on the squat and doing more shoulder excercises this year.

[@jackdemoguitar]

Hmmm this is something I don’t usually do, maybe I’ll start with doing step ups or split squats as a warmup

[@jackgerman1629]

Hmmm that name sounds familier🤔

[@chriswebster839]

I'm a weightlifter so probably not your usual audience, but the clean and jerk is inherently an imbalanced lift, and it does show in other movements like my back squat. I'll definitely be implementing lunges and perhaps some other unilateral stuff in my program after this. Your content is excellently produced and very informative, good stuff!

[@leojamesfitness6031]

A fitting follow up to your critique of Seedman. It's nice to see a more tempered, level headed approach to unilateral programming. Too many are touting it as a cure- all

[@jacobsvetich8735]

Yep its just another too to improve your overall physical performance, and health, not a magic cure all. Ivevalwaus thought it was kinda obvious that after your compound movements you should be doing lighter unilateral work to target weak points.

[@JordanDinstrumentals]

Thanks.

[@ollvi]

i can reverse lunge way more than i squat, because i've exclusively done single leg movements beside trap bar dl, because of hip issues, only recently i've been starting to back and front squat again. I have learn to love single leg movements

[@CCSABCD]

Wow that's pretty unique.

[@ProphetFear]

I will probably always hate split squat variants, but I will say time and time again that the unilateral leg press really is the most underrated quad lift.

[@diarmuidbalfe7264]

Fantastic stuff Alex 🤘🤘

[@johndoiron9615]

I do most of my single leg work on machines, as I have a fused left foot and full left hip replacement. I don't have enough balance to do anything from the floor without holding onto something.

[@Bruh80122]

What about “unilateral comments for the Algo” work?

[@lg20a1]

I always been and hip squatter everytime I stop doing lunges for a week or two whether it is in the smith machine or barbell lunges I feel my quads start taking over my squat and my knees feel achy the next day and I feel more unstable while squatting so yeah unilateral movements are very important

[@sambsialia]

I just started including split squats in my work. I do them after squats as a super set. I still dont trust holding much weight with them. I have been told by the local track coach that they are great for athleticism.

[@B5Byrne]

I see Tuscherer scribbled behind you, hope to see your thoughts on his ideas or emerging strategies etc, im a big fan of his.

[@AlexanderBromley]

Got his book on my desk. Ive just been procrastinating

[@maxxfury13]

@@AlexanderBromley its very VERY outdated. Like a decade behind what he actually does now. Its a great book. More a historical piece now though. Is fully on a bondarchuck inspired framework now.

[@AlexanderBromley]

Thanks, I ran into this problem with 531. Way i see it, its up to the writer to update their content and discontinue outdated books if their principles shift. Ill still cover it for the fact that its still sold as the main book on his website. Will definitely look into his current methods to give it some context though.

[@B5Byrne]

@@AlexanderBromley long story short he doesn't really use "fatigue percents" etc anymore over just tracking what the athlete can recover from, and favours a bottom up approach to planning training to avoid some of the assumptions in classic periodization models. Emphasises following individual responses to training and to trying and find the "signal" of what's helping the athlete in the "noise" of the whole plan.

[@djdeej.]

Thanks you the video. What are your thoughts on working movements left and right on the median plane?

[@bengaston1620]

Descended from hobbit folk was funny 😂

[@dbjmk8083]

Is the Jefferson deadlift a viable option for targeting these kinds of imbalances?

[@patrick_bike_run6168]

I have a few questions about split squats and equipment. I have a barbell with plates, dumbbells, and kettlebells. How does different loading (e.g. dumbbells held down at arms length, a single kettlebell held goblet style, a barbell in a high bar back position, etc.) impact the training effect of single leg squats? Second, is there any value in doing them with unbalanced weight setup? For example, would holding a 32 kg kettlebell in one hand and a 24 kg kettlebell in the other enhance any training effect or would it jeopardize the safety of the movement?

[@marshaldavis6566]

Great stuff bro. I want to buy a GHR machine rack thing for my garage gym. Is it worth it to get. I already have the yoke squat rack, bench farmers walk and other barbell I think a GHR would make a great addition. What do you think bro?? Is it worth it? They are pricey.

[@AlexanderBromley]

I really like them for raises and situps and banded reverse-hyper stuff. You're right, they can be expensive. I lucked out and got an old beat up one from a high school but I had to wait because I refused to pay $500 for one. If you've got the money or get a good deal, jump on it, but don't break your bank for one.

[@marshaldavis6566]

Alexander Bromley Thx for the help and the info

[@Anton-os5lk]

I noticed my right leg has quite a bigger muscle jsut under the glute. I've always had slight issues of shifting a bit to the right in squats. Time to add some unilateral

[@anthonyluisi7096]

Bromley , what about using the bamboo bar for the smaller stabilizing muscles ?

[@maxxfury13]

Great vid.. I still hate unilateral work 😂 I do it only when I don't want any more 'heavy' axial loading.

[@joeysung311]

the way he says "my hammies" lmao

[@michaelanthony4750]

cossack squats are great

[@roebuckmckinney]

I don't know how common this is, but I have a coordination issue with lunges. I can split squat pretty well and I include those and single leg RDLs in my programming, but whether it's reverse or the standard forward walking lunge, I spend way too much time getting the movement right to get in any kind of volume.

[@TenSaikyo]

Does focusing on unilateral can improve my bilateral strength too? Since unilateral exercises is much harder?

[@mattc4266]

Speaking facts

[@catedoge3206]

I'm a powerlifter. Unilateral work do be difficult.

[@andreabarone4964]

I have tried one armed deadlifts and I have found out that with my left I can pull more than my right, does the one armed deadlift translate to the normal deadlift and should I try to train them to be even? (I’m not talking about suitcase deadlifts I’m talking about one armed deadlifts that look a lot like sumo but are done with one hand), so would it improve my actual deadlift or is this just fucking me up and I shouldn’t care about the slight imbalance?

[@gracefool]

It's a fine exercise but too light to carry over much to your deadlift. Some unilateral strength imbalance is normal and nothing to worry about unless you have a known issue (e.g. shifting to one side in the squat).

[@andreabarone4964]

@@gracefool thank you for your explanation I apreaciate it💪🏾

[@nigelthomas8315]

I had same pain in my hip for years I used to think it was it band physio said it wasn’t then I blamed glute medius? Nope so last physio told me to do Bulgarian squats 3x6 and I have only done them a couple of times and pain is much reduced and glute pain nearly gone too

[@arisuiskind949]

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[@arisuiskind949]

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[@arisuiskind949]

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[@TheBardicWolf]

Another one inspired by knees over toes guy

[@zerrodefex]

Wish I had found that guy years earlier.

[@ivan_9386]

Only unilateral exercises that I like are walking lunges and Arnold press. Big fan of barbell work(and SSB, log, axle, swiss bar...).

[@orthocatsr.8723]

5:52 + LMAO I understand. I'm an old grown man who can still calligraphy hee man shit and karaoke judas priest

[@its_james_fitness]

Don't worry Alex nobody was planning on doing step ups with 500lbs 😂 I'm struggling with 135lbs @210lbs bw for 15s. Doing them 90° on bench

[@snorlaxcom]

Is this a major waste of time for noobs and their limited recovery? Big movements are a priority of course for them, but little movements are useful?

[@ken-yo2hz]

For noobs? I mean, yes you’ll need to learn the compound techniques first. I would throw in one or maximum two exercises but as a beginner, focus on the compounds

[@zerrodefex]

Nope, I wish I had done more unilateral work earlier as a noob it would have saved me a lot of time fixing the imbalances later when they became worsened by heavy bilateral work.

[@Jmack7861]

I’ve always done this with upper body, never had any issues with lower body though, not sure why. Maybe from skateboarding

[@jediknight1209]

Your not even telling anyone how to stabilize you are just throwing stuff out there and your personal experience and how a doctor said to you this or that was a problem for you In reality people arnt going to do this crap there are to many questions on if I do the exercises slightly differently etc that will make a difference or won't it who knows how you tense which you tense why you tense it's all bullshit People just worry about it and then say....Oh maybe that's why I cant lift heavily etc And you can't know weather someone's physiology is this or that weather they need to do this or that exercise differently based on limb lengths etc ...just another bullshit video

[@AlexanderBromley]

Lol..... wut