Build Muscle with a unilateral weight training program. Whether you are feeling stale on your current routine or just looking for a way to improve your workouts and start making progress again, unilateral training is a perfect way to increase the results of your training time and help you build muscle.
What is unilateral training? It is simply working one side of your body at a time. This is not the same as, say, alternate dumbbell curls where you do a rep with the left arm, then a rep with the right, etc. You do a complete set for one side before moving to the other.
For example, do a set of 10 reps on the leg press with your right leg only then do a set of 10 reps with your left leg only. Unilateral training allows you to increase your focus on the muscle you are working by doing a better job of isolating the working muscle.
Your intensity increases because you increase the muscle involvement due to the bilateral deficit. The bilateral deficit means the total weight you can lift by working one limb at a time is more than the total weight you can lift when working both limbs together.
This increase in focus and intensity will help your muscle building efforts while boosting your strength.
Here are a number of exercises that are well suited to unilateral training that can help you build muscle mass -
Smith Marchine Squats
Leg Press
Leg Curls
Leg Extension
Calf Raises
Cable Crossovers
Pec Deck
Pullups or Pulldowns
Seated Cable Rows
All types of lateral raises for the shoulders
Dumbbell Press
Seated overhead dumbbell extensions
Tricep Pressdown
Dumbbell Preacher Curl
Cable Curl
If you are looking for something different to help you break out of a rut and build muscle or you just want to increase the intensity and productivity of your current workout, you should definitely give unilateral training a try. Give it a fair shake and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Gregg Gillies
Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com His articles have appeared in Ironman Magazine and he is a regular contributor to Body Talk Magazine. He has written two books, available at his site. He has also written a free report, Fast Mass, available at Fast Mass Muscle Building