Guest guest Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 , Yes, but one must also be careful how he implements unilateral training and for what cases. Naturally, a untrained organism presents a bilateral strength deficit . which averages somewhere at 5-10%, but in some cases it appears it can be very significant (up to 25%). This can be changed with prolonged bi-lateral training. The organsim become bilaterally facilitated, phenomena which can be seen in weightlifters for examples. Also, affirmations like " compete on one leg, train on one leg " used by functionalists are pretty much false. It appears that patterns for muscular activation are much more similar to the ones in running, for example, during squat, and not single leg squat (IIRC, this comes from Charlie Francis, he was quoting a study of Chu) Implications are multifaceted: 1. In a normal person, unilateral training can yield increase muscle activation (due to the ability to bear more (normalized) load than in the bilateral movement), hence yield stronger training effects. 2. On the same time on must recognize that neurally, it is extremely important to train accordingly to the type of activation present in the sport. Due to the phenomena of bilateral deficit, it is unwise to accentuate unilateral movements in sports where we have a bilateral activation. It is very important to gap the deficit, and even become bilaterally facilitated. This cant be done with unilateral training. Same holds true in cases where unilateral activation is greatly involved in sport. Excessively using exercises which involves bilateral activation may lead to bilateral facilitation in time, meaning you will express more strength in bilateral movement than in the unilateral movement (again normalized). You dont want that. 3. Recognize that some exercises may have improper neural recruitment strategies , with respect to your competitive exercise. This, may cause problems and possibly raise the probability of injury during sport practice. Just something to keep in mind Dan Partelly Oradea, romania > > > > > > > > > > I think you may have misunderstood my post - the bench press can be > > > > useful > > > > > as part of a BALANCED training program, but it can easily be > > > > overused. An > > > > > athlete cannot train like a bodybuilder - I see this all the time > > > > with the > > > > > kids here and I see their performance suffer when they start > > > > training with a > > > > > particular person here who has a bodybuilder background and who > > > uses the > > > > > bench press as the " end all " measure of strength. > > > > > Samoans bulk up very easily and too much upper body bulk is > > > > detrimental to > > > > > sports performance. > > > > > > > > > > I personally prefer full body, strength and balance training, and I > > > > know it > > > > > works because my sons are trained that way and they are elite > > > > athletes and > > > > > among the best in the world in their sport (Samoan Fireknife). > > > > > Functional strength was not necessarily coined by ppl who are > > > > involved in > > > > > fads, it simply describes strength that is useful in real life > > > > situations.It > > > > > is also used by ppl who know VERY WELL what they are doing - Troy > > > > Polamalu > > > > > went back to this way of training (at Sports Lab) for the past year > > > > because > > > > > the traditional training he was getting from the " pros " at camp was > > > > resulting > > > > > in poor performance and injuries. Dos Remedios also uses this > > > > type of > > > > > training and he certainly knows how to train athletes and his > > > > results are > > > > > unquestionable. > > > > > My oldest son loves the bench press and was resistant to our > > > > instructions > > > > > to balance out his workouts - he neglected his lower body and > > core and > > > > > stopped placing in competitions - his baseball game also suffered > > > > because > > > > > he had developed short,bulky muscles in his arms and shoulders and > > > > became > > > > > really tight in those areas. > > > > > Certainly some people need to work really hard to develop upper body > > > > > strength - Samoans are genetically prone to obesity and need to > > > > train for a > > > > > leaner, more athletic body. However, those who profit from the fact > > > > that you > > > > > can take a Samoan kid, bulk him up, and put him on the line do not > > > > look at > > > > > the damage that is done after the kid's career is over. This was the > > > > purpose > > > > > of my post. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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