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Author:
Gregg Gillies

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.

About the Author
Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com His articles have appeared in international publications such as Ironman Magazine. He has written two books and is a regular contributor to Body Talk Magazine. Check out his site http://www.buildleanmuscle.com

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Fat Burning... Why Less Is More When Trying To Build Muscle One of the biggest myths I deal with as a personal trainer is that many people still believe it takes hours in the gym to build muscle and get a lean, muscular physique. Not true. In fact, the best results I've seen, both with my own training as well as clients, come from spending no more than 3 to 4 hours a week in the gym. And that's the time spent weight training and doing cardio each week. I spend no more than 3 hours a week weight training and my online clients spend the same amount. And we achieve great results. So if you're currently spending more than 3 hours a week weight training, you may be seriously limiting your gains by overtraining. You see, when trying to build muscle, its not the amount of time spent that matters. It's how you spend that time. Muscle growth occurs from stimulating the muscle with heavy weight (overload)then allowing the muscle to rest and recover. Proper rest and nutrition during this time is vital. By working out too much and too often, you don't allow your muscles the needed rest. And this is the time in which the muscle repairs itself from the effects of intense training. And if a muscle does not recover, it does not grow or get stronger. So it's important you spend no more time than necessary for muscle stimulation to occur. I've used this analogy a lot before with clients, but let's do it again. Suppose you want to get a tan. There's a certain amount of sun you need. Too little sun and you will not get a tan. But too much sun and you'll get a burn and not the nice dark tan you wanted. And what happens if you get a burn but keep going out in the sun anyways, still trying to get a tan. Right! You can seriously get injured with 3rd degree burns. You don't...