This is Your Quick Training Tip, a chance to learn how to work smarter in just a few moments so you can get right to your workout.
If you’re serious about weightlifting, you already understand the benefits of unilateral training. Working one side of your body at a time with moves such as the Bulgarian split squat and single-arm dumbbell row can help boost muscle recruitment and reduce muscle imbalances. But if you’ve ever decided to challenge yourself in the lunge, Romanian deadlift, or any other unilateral lower body exercise by holding a single weight in one hand, you might have found yourself wondering which hand is actually the correct one to use for the most gains.
You have two options, of course. The first is to hold the weight in the same hand as the working leg—a technique that strength coaches call ipsilateral training. If you hold the weight in the opposite hand, it’s called contralateral training.
Both unilateral lifting strategies target the same muscles, but some research shows that they result in slightly different activation patterns. If you’ve ever experimented with ipsilateral and contralateral training, you also know that it’s harder to maintain stability with ipsilateral training.
In practice, that means ipsilateral training has the edge in terms of muscle recruitment, as your body will have to recruit more stabilizers to keep yourself steady. But it also means that you’ll likely have to use a lighter weight, which gives contralateral training the edge when it comes to maximizing your load.
Your move: Incorporate both ipsilateral and contralateral training in your workout program. You can do that by switching hands halfway through each set, alternating your loaded side in successive sets for the same leg, or shifting between ipsilateral and contralateral training each week.
But no matter how you go about it, the result will be greater stability and kind of dynamic, real-world strength that improves your performance both in the gym and beyond.
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