More Bilateral Training from Mathieu Roy

The bilateral training In this article, we will see what’s the bilateral deficit as well as the benefits of bilateral training. Before developing these topics, here's a little reminder. Unilateral training includes exercises where each side is worked individually or alternately. A single leg press or a single leg curl and a split squat or lunges are examples of unilateral exercises. Bilateral exercises however include exercises that involve the simultaneous work of two members. Squat and deadlift are good examples. In theory, if you add the strength that can generate each of your members, the amount will be higher than if you perform the same movement with the two members simultaneously. For example, if I add the load lifted by each of my leg on the leg curl, the weight lifted will be higher than if I would do it with my two legs together. This phenomenon is called the bilateral deficit (BLD). It should be noted that normally the BLD is greater for beginners than for experienced people in training. It is therefore relevant to those who begin training to run a few bilateral exercises to reduce their BDL. In addition, bilateral exercises are often easier to implement because it is easier to control the movement since our base of support is larger. Bilateral exercises also help to lift heavier loads and have better gain on your strength in general than unilateral exercises.
So as you can see there are more advantages to use unilateral exercises if you want to improve your physical qualities for a sport, prevent injuries and even when we want to increase your muscle mass. Indeed, given that unilateral exercises allow a better recruitment of type 2 fibers (high activation threshold fibers) and that these fibers are better in order to gain mass, you can get great gain in muscle mass.
In summary, a good training program will include a variety of exercises that will develop all you need and is specific to your sport muscle physical qualities (j’enlèverais les 3 derniers mots, c’est mélangeant). Depending on the experience in training of the athlete, the amount of bilateral and unilateral exercises will be different.