• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Whey Protein
    • Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Unilateral Exercise Improves Endurance On Both Sides

Did you know if you do exercise or skills on one side of your body, it can carry over to the non-worked side? A recent study examined gene expression in the rested side of the human body.

Doug Dupont

Written by Doug Dupont Last updated on December 12, 2012

Remember years ago hearing about the benefits to strength when you strength train just one side of your body? Even if you don’t work one arm at all, but work the other, the arm you don’t exercise will get stronger. If you don’t remember, it was a pretty big deal at the time with far reaching implications, particularly for therapies in people with damaged limbs. One application for most of us is that if we get an injury or even just have a sore joint going into the gym, we can still work to maintain strength on the injured limb while we recover.

Strength isn’t the only thing that can be gained from working one side and not the other. If you were to analyze the handwriting of your non-dominant hand you would see that it is quite similar to the writing of your dominant hand. If you were a criminal, a forensic handwriting analyst might catch you even if you only wrote with your non-dominant hand while committing crimes. This might seem trivial to most of us, but it’s actually pretty important. It means not only does strength transfer from one side of the body to the other, but so does skill and technique, even for fine motor skills like writing.

For the first time ever, a recent study in Plos One researched gene expression in resting muscles when the other side was exercised. Specifically, they studied the genes that control endurance factors like burning fat for fuel. What they discovered was pretty fascinating.

Not only do strength and skill transfer from one side of the body to the other, but so does activation of the genes that determine short-term endurance factors. For as long as days after exercise, the side that is not targeted can show genes active that support enhanced endurance. This is likely due to circulatory factors (stuff in your blood) that activate these genes remotely, for example free fatty acids (the fat that circulates in your blood for use as fuel), adrenaline, and so forth. If these factors really are responsible for increased gene expression, then it may be true that exercising for endurance can improve endurance in all the muscles of your body so long as the workout is challenging enough. This makes sense also in clients I’ve had who experienced an increase in running endurance after fasting, even if they did not lose any weight. The activity of their aerobic system is heightened to compensate for lack of energy intake.

This study, like the ones that preceded it, has critical uses for people with immobilized limbs. You won’t win any powerlifting or marathon competitions from the changes you get by working only one side of the body, but you can help in healing and the subsequent recovery of full ability later.

One aspect of these results that should be fleshed out even further is if chronic endurance exercise can make long-term improvements to muscles, even if they are worked out in other ways. Could combat athletes who do a lot of cardio, which often has a lower body focus, rely more on strength training in the upper body without needing specific endurance training there to develop champion level muscular endurance? Could we benefit from daily endurance work on non-consecutive limbs and get a greater benefit overall than in bilateral (working both sides) exercise? As you can see, the answers to these questions could make any athlete better.

References:

1. Milène Catoire, et. al., Pronounced Effects of Acute Endurance Exercise on Gene Expression in Resting and Exercising Human Skeletal Muscle, Plos One, 7:11 (2012)

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Doug Dupont

About Doug Dupont

Having grown up at the foot of a forest covered mountain in rural Vermont, Doug was active from a very young age. Hiking, running, and climbing were a part of everyday life in the Green Mountains. This culture of exercise led to dabbling in martial arts as a teen, and also getting work in a local powerlifting focused gym. Doug continued to pursue knowledge and training in exercise, becoming a certified personal trainer while still a teenager. Once in college he began his hand at the business side of fitness, taking a management position at a large local gym. During that time he became a founding member of the UVM Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club, and was the first among their competition team. After only a few months he was assisting in coaching, and ran conditioning program for the club.

Out of college Doug set up his own training center. He grew his list of clientele including several professional MMA athletes, eventually going so far as to corner a world title fight. He has continued ­­­to develop his business into today.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

sprintersquatting1
Women: Protect Your Knees With the Sprinter Stance Squat
pistolsquatholdingkbhdr
Work Your Muscles with Unilateral Training
dumbbelllunge
Center Your Training on Unilateral Movements
sbi
Create Muscular Balance With Unilateral Training

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

Strongman Legend Hafthor Björnsson Receives International Sports Hall of Fame Induction

Iain Valliere Believes the 212 Division Should No Longer Exist in Bodybuilding

Ryan Terry Diagrams His Ambitious 1,874-Calorie Mass-Building Protein Shake

Andrew Jacked’s Trainer Thinks His “Best” Will Come at 2023 Arnold Classic

Latest Reviews

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

Best Home Gym Machines

Best Home Gym Machines

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About