Addressing unilateral lower body weakness

[Bwcfe]

I am starting to experience some weakness and instability in my legs when doing unilateral movements like carrying stuff up or down stairs, getting up off the ground from a half kneel, etc. One of the main reasons I strength train is to be able to move well doing basic life stuff and it is frustrating to see the early stages of decrepitude while I am still barbell training with a reasonable amount of weight.

60 yo male, 5’11”, 200 lbs
Recent numbers: Squat 5@275, DL 3@385, Press 5@155, Bench 5@195

I follow programming similar to what’s described in Barbell Prescription with focus on intensity and not too much volume. Certainly my numbers are not great but I don’t see any glaring weakness that would suggest why I’m having trouble doing simple movements.

I don’t lunge or do step ups or any other unilateral work. Even when I did that stuff while doing Crossfit 10 years ago, I didn’t find it particularly useful (and, to be honest, was never really all that good at it). My left side is weaker than my right but not a problem when doing bilateral movements.

Any suggestions other than continuing to fight the good fight?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Getting old is hell. Is something actually wrong with you, or is this just your impression?

[Bwcfe]

My impression is that I'm weak and unstable when just using one leg. Nothing really wrong. I just never had to think about things like getting off the ground, or whether walking down stairs while carrying a box was a good idea. I know, I know, on the scale of things that could be wrong with a 60 year old body, my problems are minor. But given that I'm not pathetically weak on two legs, I was wondering whether my perceived weakness on one leg is odd and could be remedied

[Mark Rippetoe]

Sounds like a practice thing to me, unless there has been an injury.

[Jason Donaldson]

My impression is that I'm weak and unstable when just using one leg. Nothing really wrong. I just never had to think about things like getting off the ground, or whether walking down stairs while carrying a box was a good idea. I know, I know, on the scale of things that could be wrong with a 60 year old body, my problems are minor. But given that I'm not pathetically weak on two legs, I was wondering whether my perceived weakness on one leg is odd and could be remedied

This is going to sound snarky, but it's not - any chance that getting notably stronger in general has set a higher expectation for you for the unilateral movements?

In other words, on one leg you're actually stronger than before, but it seems worse because of how much stronger you've gotten used to being on two?

[plumber]

I think Mark is right about the getting old part. I am experiencing this same thing recently. 60 in two months. I'm still working long hours but I find that these days getting up off the floor or from a kneeling position is hell. I also find that I favor one side when going up and down stairs especially when carrying tools or boxes. This gets worse at the end of the day. I'm just going to keep at it and hope to slow down the degeneration. I'm 5'9", 215lbs, 425 squat, 450 deadlift, 185 press.

[Bwcfe]

Thanks for the input guys.

And Rip, thanks for nearly three years of the covid thread. I’ve learned a lot from it