Posted by: Muscle Nerd
Changing things up in your workouts can be a great way to keep making progress (provided it's done the right way).
It may be a change in exercises, or a new set and rep scheme but there is one powerful change you never see anyone using.
What is it?
Unilateral training.
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 and 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 also boosting your strength.