One Leg or Two? Which Makes You Stronger?
The Effect of Unilateral and Bilateral Leg Press Training on Lower Body Strength and Power and Athletic Performance in Adolescent Rugby Players
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Unilateral training improved single-leg strength by 20.2%—nearly twice as much as bilateral training (12.4%)—yet both improved two-leg strength equally.
Most assume bilateral training (both legs) is superior for overall strength, but here, unilateral training outperformed it for single-leg gains without sacrificing bilateral gains.
Practical Takeaways
Add 2–3 unilateral leg exercises (like single-leg leg press, Bulgarian split squats, or step-ups) to your weekly routine if you play rugby, soccer, or any cutting sport.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Unilateral training improved single-leg strength by 20.2%—nearly twice as much as bilateral training (12.4%)—yet both improved two-leg strength equally.
Most assume bilateral training (both legs) is superior for overall strength, but here, unilateral training outperformed it for single-leg gains without sacrificing bilateral gains.
Practical Takeaways
Add 2–3 unilateral leg exercises (like single-leg leg press, Bulgarian split squats, or step-ups) to your weekly routine if you play rugby, soccer, or any cutting sport.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Human Kinetics
Year
2023
Authors
Xiang Zhao, A. Turner, J. Sproule, Shaun M. Phillips
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Claims (6)
For small muscle groups, unilateral and bilateral resistance training produce equivalent hypertrophic adaptations when volume and effort are matched.
When teenage rugby players train one leg at a time on the leg press machine, they get much stronger in that single leg than when they train both legs together at the same time.
Even though the players got stronger from doing leg presses, they didn’t run any faster after five weeks — meaning just getting stronger on a machine doesn’t automatically make you sprint better.
Training one leg at a time makes that leg much stronger than training both legs together — even though both methods make you equally strong when using both legs at once.
Doing leg press exercises twice a week for five weeks makes teenage rugby players much stronger when pushing with both legs at once, whether they use one leg or both legs at a time.