Unilateral core exercises make up some of the most effective and challenging core variations and are a crucial part of any training regime. Thankfully there are so many of these types of exercise that you’ll likely never run out of variations to add into your training. Here are 8 of the most effective and challenging variations you can add directly into your workout.

What Are Unilateral Strength Exercises?

Unilateral exercises are exercises that are performed on one side of the body and then the other. This creates an imbalance as half the body is weighted and the other half isn’t, meaning that your body needs to compensate for it. This compensation often involves a great deal of core stabilisation even if the exercise isn’t a core specific exercises, take a suitcase deadlift or a single arm front rack walking lunge, both require large amounts of core strength.

Why Should You Add Unilateral Training Exercises Into Your Training Routine?

Improved Stability

The balanced required to perform a lot of unilateral exercises creates a high amount of stabilisation needed, this in-turn creates adaptations to all the muscles and body awareness that create a stable and strong core.

Improved Sport Performance

Unilateral training is used a great deal in sports performance training, this is because sports often require a high versatility of movement which unilateral movements lend themselves to more so than bilateral movements.

Mitigates Injuries

The increased stability caused by these functional uni-lateral movements can be very effective at aiding in mitigating injuries, especially in contact sports where a strong robust core is a requirement.

The 8 Unilateral Core Exercises You Need To Build A Strong Core