Reply With QuoteDoes this make any logical sense to you?Originally Posted by IndianaGains
Member
Single legs exercices
I had some knee injury and thankfully recovered. I went to see a sport doctor to ask about lifting and they recommended to switch the squat and deadlift for single leg exercices, the reason being that they think those would help me address some imbalances responsible for my injury while also reducing the chances that I hurt my knee again while recovering. While I am not stoked about giving up heavy dual legs squats, I am willing to give the doctor a listen. However, I am unsure of how single legs exercices would fit into the program.
Let’s say that I were to replace the squats by single-leg bulgarian squats and the deadlifts by single leg romanian deadlifts, how much gains would I leave on the table? Would it even make sense to still follow the program? Would I have to introduce some extra assistance exercices to make up for giving up of the dual legs exercices? Should I use other single leg replacement exercices?
TMPHBITEU
Does this make any logical sense to you?
Member
I have never understood why unilateral exercises are thought to "correct imbalances" based on everything we, and for that matter, the fitness community at large, know about how strength training works.
For a unilateral exercise to correct imbalances any better than a bilateral exercise, you would have to be able to load the two sides differently. For example, if you can only do 135x5 for a split squat on the left, but can do 150x5 on the right, then you would try to load those two sides differently such that eventually, you can do the same weight on each side. But this is so rare, and so extreme, that it falls into the category of rehabilitation. Someone who needs this won't be able to squat correctly.
If, as is more commonly the case when "imbalances" are diagnosed, you do the same weight on both sides, and it just "feels a little harder" on the weak side, then what, exactly, is the utility of the single leg exercise as compared to the bilateral movement? The body finds itself in the same situation either way: one side works a little harder, one side works a little less hard, and the adaptation produced is therefore going to be identical, however with all the downsides of the single leg exercise over the bilateral movement.
I suppose it operates as an extension of the model which these types use to discard the compound movements, and variations upon which they decry as "poor form": bilateral movements somehow allow the "strong" side to "compensate" for the weak side, letting the weak side become "lazy." However, given the physics and anatomy involved, it is even harder to imagine how this is the case. The small extension of the legs during the barbell row indeed does make the movement somewhat "easier" for the back (the disagreement being whether or not this actually matters), but one wonders how a strong left leg could ever make the task of the right leg any easier.
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I guess I would lift more weight when doing squats than when doing split squats. If I fuck up and put it all on one knee a at a bad angle probably the more weight on my back the worse it is. But to be honest I didn’t put that much thought on it, most of the time when a doctor told me to do something it turned out to be the sensible thing. How I look at it is that I came to them in the first place because they were the one with some knowledge.
✓ Member
The industry fascination with "imbalances" assumes a lot, not least of which is that having one side of a bilateral pair stronger than the other is destined to cause disfunction and disability. This ignores the fact that people have talked about "strong side" in physical contexts from about as far back as we have records and literature... We have many an account of a hero, king, or god who "stretched out his mighty right hand" without the next clause being, "which left him in crippling agony until his next chiropractic session and six weeks of corrective unilateral exercises."
Even if the answer were to ensure precisely identical development of each side, which do you think is more likely to approximate this? An extremely subjective you trying to make sure to work each side to precisely the same capacity, or the unyielding, objective hand of gravity operating while you keep a bar observably level while moving it with your whole body, in a way that more closely corresponds with how your whole body is going to operate for real?
TMPHBITEU
Yeah, that's the situation.
Thank you for being honest. Let me ask you a question: If you decided to add another room to your house, would you ask your doctor about it?But to be honest I didn’t put that much thought on it, most of the time when a doctor told me to do something it turned out to be the sensible thing. How I look at it is that I came to them in the first place because they were the one with some knowledge.
Member
Sometimes I wonder if these questions are planted by sleeper SS staff to add content for Rip's podcasts.
Member
It's amazing how stupid a doctor can be.
These types of exercises can even be harmful because they place the leg in a weak situation.
but, at the very least, I can tell you that they will not help you.
Member
I would assume then that it would be preferable to find a way to avoid overloading the knee by mistake rather than going for single leg?
Thank you for taking the time to address my question.
No I would not ask my doctor, as it's not their area of competence. I would consult some tradespeople and/or a architect though.
Member
Here is your problem.
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