Short excerpt from my book Ultimate Hockey Training on the “bilateral deficit”.
Humans are wired to move in alternating, reciprocal patterns. The bilateral deficit helps explain an underlying neural mechanism for why we produce more force one limb at a time compared to using both simultaneously.
There are structural, biomechanical and neurological reasons for why single-leg training is essential for sport performance, and advantageous for general population folks. Of particular interest – fatigue is pattern specific, so a focus on single-leg training leads to fatigue resistance in single-leg patterns, which characterize the bulk of athletic movements.
Feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com
P.S. If you’re interested in understanding the “why” behind the most effective hockey training methods, check out: Ultimate Hockey Training
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Kevin has rapidly established himself as a leader in the field of physical preparation and sports science for ice hockey. He is currently the Head Performance Coach for the Boston Bruins, where he oversees all aspects of designing and implementing the team’s performance training program, as well as monitoring the players’ performance, workload and recovery. Prior to Boston, Kevin spent 2 years as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks after serving as the Director of Performance at Endeavor Sports Performance in Pitman, NJ. He also spent 5 years as a Strength and Conditioning Coach with USA Hockey’s Women’s Olympic Hockey Team, and has been an invited speaker at conferences hosted by the NHL, NSCA, and USA Hockey.
“Kevin is a great resource. He has taken the complex ideas behind posture and movement quality and made simple ways for any coach or player to apply them to training.”
Darryl Nelson, Strength and Conditioning Coach, US National Team Development Program