Build Muscle and Boost Your Training Intensity Now

Home
>
Muscle Building & Bodybuilding
>
Build Muscle and Boost Your Training Intensity Now

Build Muscle and Boost Your Training Intensity Now

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.

Gregg Gillies

Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com His articles have appeared in Ironman Magazine and he is a regular contributor to Body Talk Magazine. He has written two books, available at his site. He has also written a free report, Fast Mass, available at Fast Mass Muscle Building

In The News:

How to gain muscle for skinny guys
Fox News
If you were born skinny, you may not have the potential to gain the bulk of an NFL lineman, but it's completely possible for a skinny guy to put on muscle. The bonus for you is that your body fat levels are naturally low, so when you do gain muscle, ...

TMR Zoo
New Rockin' Refuel® Muscle Builder Launches At GNC® For High-Protein, Low-Carb ...
MarketWatch (press release)
PHOENIX, May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Athletes across the country now have a revolutionary way to naturally build muscle and enjoy the great taste of real milk to boot. Rockin' Refuel, from Shamrock Farms, has teamed up with GNC to launch ...
New Rockin' Refuel Muscle Builder For High-Protein, Low-Carb Muscle-BuildingTMR Zoo

all 19 news articles »

How to build muscle in your body with the help of a popular supplement
Gilroy Dispatch
A supplement that's exploded in popularity over the past 20 years, creatine is often used by professional athletes and casual weightlifters alike, in hopes it will enhance their performance and help build muscle. A naturally occurring compound found in ...

and more »

Hardgainerzone.com Reveals Full Body Workout Tips for Hardgainers
SBWire (press release)
Most hardgainers that want to build muscle don't know what a hardgainer exercise program consists. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/22/2012 -- A lot of hardgainers that want to build muscles and gain weight don't know the proper way to do a hardgainer ...

and more »

Hardgainerzone.com Is a New Muscle Building Website Created
SBWire (press release)
Hardgainerzone.com will provide free information on how to build muscle and gain weight which is commonly a difficult task for hardgainers or skinny people. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/22/2012 -- Hardgainer Zone is a new website dedicated to helping ...

TopNews Arab Emirates
High reps with low weights can also build muscle
Atlanta Journal Constitution
By Denise Mann and Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD Want to build up your muscles in time for beach season? High reps with low weights may be the way to go, a new study suggests. "There is nothing magical about heavy weights beyond the fact that they ...
Lighter Weights Can Still Make A Big Fitness DifferenceNPR (blog)
low weights can build musclesPress TV
Light weights build more muscleMSN NZ News
TopNews Arab Emirates -TopNews New Zealand
all 61 news articles »

Men told to pump iron, women to fit in a bikini
Charlotte Observer
Worry more about building muscle than burning fat. Women “focus on working out with low weights and high repetitions, using weights that are significantly lighter than objects they lift all day long, such as children,” fitness trainer Tom Holland wrote ...

and more »

Men's Fitness
High Reps With Low Weights Builds Muscle, Too
WebMD
By Denise Mann April 27, 2012 -- Want to build up your muscles in time for beach season? High reps with low weights may be the way to go, a new study suggests. "There is nothing magical about heavy weights beyond the fact that they make you work hard," ...
Light weights 'better than heavy' for building muscleTelegraph.co.uk
Quick Tip: Build Muscle With Light WeightsMen's Fitness
Muscle Building and Muscle Recovery Scientific Secrets You Need to KnoweMaxHealth
Times of India -Everyday Health
all 12 news articles »

Creatine is not the answer for building muscle in boys
Chicago Daily Herald
There's some evidence that it can help young athletes build muscle mass. And it may improve athletic performance that requires short bursts of muscle activity, such as sprinting or weightlifting. These benefits are established mainly in younger men, ...

and more »

Gender the word in fitness magazines
Albany Times Union
We won't get huge without added testosterone, but some magazines still perpetuate the notion that men should build insanely huge muscles and women need to lose fat. A recent Muscle & Fitness magazine cover, for example, promised "75 of the best muscle ...

and more »

Google News