A lot of talk (debate) about bilateral or unilateral lower body training for athletes. Seems like strength coaches want to make this an all or nothing thing, when in reality a good strength program utilized both.

Without a doubt I can say that the teams/athletes I work with perform primarily unilateral lower body training. It’s our main way to push lower body max strength via RFE Split Squats, 1-Leg RDL’s, heavy Sled Marches and 1-Leg Squats. We push these movements relatively hard and I’d personally argue these movements have more carryover to sport and are critical for injury prevention.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t perform bilateral lifts. We Trap Bar Deadlift, a lot of times pairing it with some type of jump in our Contrast/complex training. We Goblet Squat to train the pattern.

We just don’t Back or Front Squat — I think we can accomplish what we need to accomplish from a training standpoint via heavy 1-Leg work and Trap Bar DL. Just my two cents.