Single leg strength is quickly becoming one of the most popular aspects of athletic training. For many years improving single leg strength through unilateral exercise was simply considered"functional exercise", an exercise that worked on stabilizing the core, maintaining flexibility, and improving sport specific on the field motions. However, more recently, single leg exercises have taken center stage in the performance enhancement community.
Can Single Leg Exercises completely replace Bi-lateral exercises?
Absolutely not. While recently world renowned Mike Boyle has claimed that he no longer performs squats in his program, I am not ready to jump to that conclusion. There is a reason that the parallel squat has been considered the king of all exercises for decades. While Boyle's modification of the squat to a rear foot elevated single leg version is certainly effective. It does not replace some of the benefits of a two leg squat. First of all the body does not recruit as many muscle fibers because the weights are not heavy. Secondly, the back is not put under the same load even though the legs are, so the posterior chain is not stimulated as greatly as it should be. Finally, the exercise is very difficult to perform without proper flexibility coordination and a good spotter. Overall, there still is no replacement for the two legged squat. Yet.
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