Training one leg can make the other leg kick faster—even without lifting weights on it!
Contralateral training effects of low-intensity blood-flow restricted and high-intensity unilateral resistance training
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
If you train one leg with light or heavy weights, your other leg—without any training—gets better at kicking quickly, but not stronger or bigger.
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Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
If you train one leg with light or heavy weights, your other leg—without any training—gets better at kicking quickly, but not stronger or bigger.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 554 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Mendonca GV, Vila-Chã C, Teodósio C, Goncalves AD, Freitas SR, Mil-Homens P, Pezarat-Correia P
Related Content
Claims (6)
Training one limb with resistance exercises can result in increased strength in the opposite, untrained limb.
After four weeks of one-sided leg training with restricted blood flow, the opposite leg does not become stronger or develop larger muscles, even if the trained leg does.
When one side of the body improves in how quickly it can generate force, this is linked to higher electrical activity in the soleus muscle on the opposite side during the first 50 milliseconds of movement. This suggests the improvement comes from better early neural signaling, not from changes in spinal reflexes.
Training one limb with low resistance and restricted blood flow can improve strength in the opposite, untrained limb just as much as high-intensity training does.
Training one limb with resistance exercises can improve the speed at which the opposite, untrained limb generates force, without making the muscle bigger or stronger overall. This suggests the improvement comes from changes in how the nervous system controls the muscle, not from physical muscle growth.