Even though people who trained one leg at a time ended up lifting heavier weights than those who trained both legs together, both groups ended up with the same muscle size and overall strength — so lifting heavier with one leg doesn’t automatically make you stronger overall.

Whether you train one leg or both legs at once for 12 weeks, your legs get just as big and strong overall — the way you do the exercise doesn’t change how much muscle you build or how strong you become in general.

Doing leg extensions one leg at a time for 12 weeks makes each leg stronger and more active when tested alone, better than doing both legs together — even though both methods improve overall leg strength similarly.

If you lift light weights but push them until you can't do another rep, you can grow your muscles just as much as someone lifting heavy weights—so long as you're putting in the same total effort.

To get stronger, it matters more how heavy the weight is than whether you push to your absolute limit—lifting heavier weights makes you stronger, no matter if you stop short of failure.

Training one leg at a time makes it harder for both legs to work together at full power, while training both legs together makes them work better together — the way you train changes how your legs coordinate.