Unilateral Training Vs. Bilateral Training

Unilateral Versus bilateral training for the high performance athletes 

All sports involve a mixture of unilateral and bilateral movements, for example; in badminton the player can lunge for the shuttlecock or squat jump to get a clear, or in boxing squatting down or jabbing the opponent (Botton et al., 2013).

Bilateral training involves using both limbs simultaneously or in unison with one another in exercises such as squats, deadlifts or bench press (Teixeira et al., 2013). Unilateral training is when the athlete’s limbs are working separately of each other in exercises such as; lunges or single-arm bicep curls (Teixeira et al., 2013). There have been many studies investigating the advantages and disadvantages of both unilateral and bilateral resistance training for elite athletes; the main argument is which training method is the best to improve aspects such as power and speed (Costa et al., 2015).

One study by Jones et al., (2012) found that when male athletes performed bilateral exercises their body weight distribution was shifted over each side their body and with the unilateral exercises this was not possible. This result demonstrates that unilateral exercises can place more demand on the neuromuscular system and improve an athlete’s muscular strength and endurance more than bilateral exercises (Jones et al., 2012). This study also found higher unilateral isometric gluteus medius activity than in bilateral exercises and a greater quadricep muscle activity during unilateral than bilateral knee extension (Jones et al., 2012). These results indicate that athletes should use unilateral training with high resistance compared to performing bilateral training this is because there is evidence for better results in the neuromuscular system when performing unilateral exercises (Jones et al., 2012).

Costa et al., (2013) agreed with these results because the findings from this study also found reduced function in leg extension strength on bilateral training compared to unilateral training. However the findings from Makaruk et al., (2011) study contradict the findings in the above studies because it found that unilateral and bilateral plyometric training both show an improvement in power and jumping performance. This study tested on females with one group doing bilateral plyometric training and the other unilateral plyometric training and it resulted with both showing an improvement (Makaruk et al., 2011). The bilateral plyometric training also demonstrated the improved results for longer compared to the unilateral group (Makaruk et al., 2011). This evidence suggests the bilateral plyometric training can guarantee maintenance of high power performance for at least four weeks whereas unilateral exercise cannot (Makaruk et al., 2011). These findings suggest that both unilateral and bilateral training are valuable and should be considered in a strength and conditioning programme (Makaruk et al., 2011). However a limitation for this study was that it was performed on untrained females and the same result may not be seen within the high performance athlete population (Makaruk et al., 2011).

Bilateral deficit is also evident in the high performance athlete population; the deficit is a reduction in voluntary force during simultaneous activation of identical muscle(s) on opposite sides of the body, when compared to the forces produced unilaterally of the same muscle(s) (Dickin et al., 2011). A bilateral deficit has been found in both upper and lower limbs with the larger deficits occurring in the lower extremity (Dickin et al., 2011). This deficit appears to be a naturally occurring phenomenon that is present in nearly all individuals and can be overcome through training (Dickin et al., 2011). Hale et al., (2014) demonstrated an improvement for bilateral strength and reducing the deficit when the participants trained their ankles unilaterally. This study researched unilateral balance training in individuals with chronic ankle instability and the results suggest that training the athlete’s limbs unilaterally can help improve the performance when the limbs work bilaterally (Hale et al., 2014).

A study by Teixeira et al., (2013) also looked at bilateral deficit during resistance training in trained males to report if a deficit can still occur during a maximal isometric knee extension in physically trained individuals. The results from this study show that a bilateral deficit occurred at 120° of a maximum isometric knee extension and the report suggests that unilateral training can be an effective strategy for mobilising higher loads during resistance training to reduce this deficit (Teixeira et al., 2013). Limitations however were that all the participants used were male therefore the results do not reflect the female trained athletes, and using different participants may have changed the result (Teixeria et al., 2013).  However Botton et al., (2013) agreed with this result of unilateral resulting in greater values than bilateral exercises. For example this study looked at knee extension and flexion and found that both muscle actions demonstrated a reduction in peak torque during the bilateral movements compared to the unilateral movements (Botton et al., 2013). Evidence from both authors suggest that if muscle torque production is greater unilaterally, athletes and coaches should utilise unilateral exercises to increase training loads and performance (Botton et al., 2013 & Teixeria et al., 2013).

In conclusion, there is plenty of research supporting the use of unilateral training to help improve high level athletes with their performance (Botton et al., 2013). However using both unilateral and bilateral exercises in a strength and conditioning programme can give the athlete multiple benefits described above, for example bilateral exercises can result in gains that last for up to four weeks (Makaruk et al., 2011). Unilateral training can help to reduce the chances of bilateral deficit in trained individuals based on the evidence found in Hale et al., (2014) and unilateral training can improve jumping and power performance in trained individuals (Makaruk et al., 2011).

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