Most guys have a strong side and a weak side (yes, even you). While you don't consciously try to make one arm bigger or one leg more powerful than the other, it happens when you only perform bilateral moves. These moves--like the bench press or barbell squat--work both limbs at the same time, allowing your dominant side to overpower your non-dominant side, says James Sjostrom, owner of CrossFit NRG in Salt Lake City, Utah and creator of the 4-Week Body Fat Detonator. The result: Your strong side keeps getting stronger and your weak side doesn't.
Luckily, there's a simple fix. Unilateral movements--like a single-arm dumbbell curl or a single-arm overhead press--prevent imbalances (ironically) and increase total-body stability by training each limb independently.
You'll reach new levels of muscle and strength, too. "When doing one-sided exercises, you can use a heavier load," says Sjostrom, whose new Men's Health program the 4-Week Body Fat Detonator contains workouts filled with unilateral exercises. "That's because they don't fatigue your central nervous system--which controls muscular function and coordination--as quickly as bilateral moves." Think about it this way, he says: If you overhead press with 35 pounds in each hand, your body has to support 70 pounds--the combined weight of both dumbbells. That's more work for your CNS, which eventually limits your ability to crank out reps and sets. When you perform a single-arm overhead press, however, your body has to support less weight overall. Ultimately, that's less stress on your CNS, so you can increase the load of the dumbbell and complete more reps than you ever could with a lesser load in both hands.
Want to enhance your balance by going one-sided? Watch the video below to check out one of the many unilateral drills featured in Sjostrom's 4-Week Body Fat Detonator.
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