Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › pistol squat and other Unilateral Movements, good or bad? › Re: pistol squat and other Unilateral Movements, good or bad?

07/19/2015 at 3:52 pm #76104
AvatarKaren Santamaria
Participant

I’m not an MWOD representative, but I know they definitely subscribe to unilateral exercises. In fact, two of their lower body archetypes are unilateral (lunge and pistol). If you think about it, walking is unilateral. So unless walking is bad, then unilateral movements are not only fine to do, but extremely important.

You are correct about putting your hip in an unstable position… if you are not doing them right. Whenever we load up one side, your body naturally rotates away from that side (ie. if you stand on your right foot, your body rotates to the left). That rotation causes a bunch of compromising positions from your ankle all the way up to your shoulders. What we have to do is resist that rotation while training. If we can focus on that, they movements are not only safe, but they make us stronger in a way that bilateral movements don’t quite replicate.