Speaker 1: Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. All right.
Speaker 1: Quick fit tip Asymmetrical training again one of those terms
Speaker 1: some of you may have heard of, many of you
Speaker 1: might not, and those who have heard of it probably
Speaker 1: still somewhat confused as to what it is. So that
Speaker 1: is the subject of today's fit tip. Now. I did
Speaker 1: do a fit tip not too long ago on offset training,
Speaker 1: very similar kind of part of this, so I will
Speaker 1: talk about that. But if you want a little bit
Speaker 1: more info on this type of training, listen to that podcast.
Speaker 1: I did quick bit tip on offset loading, but the
Speaker 1: related and I will talk about that as well. All right,
Speaker 1: So let me just go back to when I was
Speaker 1: a trainer. Couple quick stories that relate to this. And
Speaker 1: one client who when I would ask him to do
Speaker 1: a dumbell bicep curl standing dumbbell bicep curl, one arm
Speaker 1: would go up ridiculously faster than the other, so much
Speaker 1: stronger on one side than the other. And that is typical,
Speaker 1: not like that. That was a typical in that like
Speaker 1: it was so pronounced, but we are not symmetrical. I
Speaker 1: would have those clients too, that were a little too
Speaker 1: focused on the aesthetic and would fixate on the fact.
Speaker 1: They would look in the mirror and say, oh, my gosh, look,
Speaker 1: I am not symmetrical. Oftentimes I didn't see it, it
Speaker 1: wasn't visual, but it was to them. They'd say things like,
Speaker 1: you know, look at my calves. One is bigger than
Speaker 1: the other. Oftentimes no one else noticed, right, but we're
Speaker 1: not symmetrical. We're not symmetrical often visually, not to a
Speaker 1: large degree as this and and many other clients perceived,
Speaker 1: but definitely from a strength perspective, and that can cause problems.
Speaker 1: And so we want to employ so many different kinds
Speaker 1: of training. And that is a big part of this
Speaker 1: short discussion is that this is not the one way.
Speaker 1: This is something you will add into your training to
Speaker 1: help balance out those asymmetries as well as potentially do
Speaker 1: a couple other things. Okay, so asymmetrical training is against
Speaker 1: similar to that offset loading, or it is one type
Speaker 1: of offset loading. And so let me give you four
Speaker 1: are actually three and then a fourth I'll add in
Speaker 1: as a combination of the two quick types of asymmetrical
Speaker 1: training to go, what the heck is it? How do
Speaker 1: I do it right. Well, it's loading one side of
Speaker 1: the body, just one side, okay. So for those of
Speaker 1: you who know what a farmer's carry is, you may
Speaker 1: have seen people doing this in the gym or online.
Speaker 1: You're holding dumbbells or kettle bells something in both hands
Speaker 1: and you're walking. It's a great way to strengthen the
Speaker 1: lower body. Right, And one way you make this asymmetrical
Speaker 1: is just you just hold one dumbbell, a dumbell or
Speaker 1: a kettle bell something. You load the body on one
Speaker 1: side and not the other. So that is one type
Speaker 1: of asymmetrical training. Again, why would you do this A
Speaker 1: couple of reasons and shortly, but one is to help
Speaker 1: with those asymmetries, right, You're gonna hold it on your
Speaker 1: weaker side to help balance out your body. Then the
Speaker 1: second is offset loading right where you're gonna use two
Speaker 1: different weights. So let's go back to the farmers carry.
Speaker 1: You're gonna hold maybe a twenty pound dumbbell on one
Speaker 1: side and a fifteen on the other, So two different
Speaker 1: weights on either side of the body, and let me
Speaker 1: go back to the first one if you need one.
Speaker 1: More example would be doing a dumbbell chess press with
Speaker 1: just one dumbell. So that's loading one side of the
Speaker 1: body with just a weight on that side and no
Speaker 1: weight on the other side. Okay, that was number one.
Speaker 1: Just another example. So you got farmers carry and then
Speaker 1: the dumbbell single arm chest press, but only holding one
Speaker 1: for that entire set. Okay. Then again number two using
Speaker 1: two different weights on either side of the body. That
Speaker 1: goes to offset loading. Okay, So that is another way
Speaker 1: of doing asymmetrical training. So offset loading is in essence
Speaker 1: a form of asymmetrical training. Just words, right. And finally,
Speaker 1: you can perform exercises unilaterally versus bilaterally. I'm a huge,
Speaker 1: huge proponent of unilateral exercises. If you've read my books
Speaker 1: like The Marathon Method and The Twelve Week Triathlete. One
Speaker 1: of the reasons I am injury free are unilateral exercises.
Speaker 1: So really quickly, if you're doing a squat with both
Speaker 1: feet body weight squad normal typical body weight squad, that's
Speaker 1: bilateral two ft. If you are doing a single leg squad,
Speaker 1: maybe you put a ball, a big inflataball stability ball
Speaker 1: against the wall, you lean against it, then you stand
Speaker 1: on one leg. I'm doing it as I speak and
Speaker 1: you go up and down. That's unilateral, so that takes
Speaker 1: out the dominant side. That allows you to focus on
Speaker 1: one side at a time, right, Because yes, one side
Speaker 1: of the body tends to dominate, and when we do
Speaker 1: bilateral exercises, that strong side, that dominant side tends to
Speaker 1: take over, and that goes forward. Doing a barbell bicep curl, right,
Speaker 1: if your right arm is a little stronger, it is
Speaker 1: most likely going to do more work as you were
Speaker 1: trying to curl that bar towards your body. When you
Speaker 1: use dumbbells, it takes that out to some degree. Right.
Speaker 1: So then the question is very simple. Many people would have, well,
Speaker 1: why wouldn't you just do those unilateral exercises because research
Speaker 1: is showing that there might be more to it. There's
Speaker 1: definitely more to it. In willing give you three quick reasons. Okay,
Speaker 1: your core right, so when you are holding just one,
Speaker 1: like when you're doing the farmers carry, your core has
Speaker 1: to stabilize yourself in a totally different way than if
Speaker 1: you're holding two dumbbells. Right, So you're when the farmers,
Speaker 1: farmers walk, farmers carry, whatever you wanna call it, you're
Speaker 1: holding one dumbell and you're walking, You're out of balance.
Speaker 1: So how does your body resist that rotation and overcome
Speaker 1: that asymmetry. You're using more muscles and a huge part
Speaker 1: of that is from your core. So amazing. Throw the
Speaker 1: word functional out there. I believe all strength is functional,
Speaker 1: but I understand why the term is used the way
Speaker 1: it is. You are going to recruit more core musculature
Speaker 1: stabilization functional different, right, and then you're going to again
Speaker 1: strengthen the non dominant side in isolation of the dominant side.
Speaker 1: So we talked about that, right, you want it to
Speaker 1: be in isolation, but when you are doing it with
Speaker 1: like a farmer's carry, you're adding in that core stability,
Speaker 1: so you're getting a different effect and added effect as well.
Speaker 1: But here is the very cool thing, and this is
Speaker 1: what gets me excited. Oh gets me excited. But what
Speaker 1: the research is showing and what you would experience when
Speaker 1: you do this is there's a different mind body connection.
Speaker 1: Right when you have to concentrate on using one side
Speaker 1: of the body that is loaded or loaded differently from
Speaker 1: the other, there's a neural component. Still learning about it.
Speaker 1: I don't see a downside to it. You don't want
Speaker 1: to again do this exclusively, but as part of your
Speaker 1: exercise arsenal, what an amazing new workout. If you're not
Speaker 1: doing it, how many times a week should you do it?
Speaker 1: I would say one for the vast majority of people,
Speaker 1: one time asymmetrical. I mean, many different ways to program
Speaker 1: it in. But we want to get strong first. You
Speaker 1: gotta build that base of strength. So I would go
Speaker 1: in this order, bilateral right, you gotta you gotta get
Speaker 1: good first, then unilateral right, and then the different one
Speaker 1: or two different methods of asymmetrical training, either loading just
Speaker 1: one side of the body doing the offset loading as
Speaker 1: I said, And let me give you just one more option,
Speaker 1: doing you anilateral and asymmetry at the same time. What
Speaker 1: is that? Very simple? A one legged dumbbell deadlift. Okay,
Speaker 1: so just more options. And one great thing about options
Speaker 1: and variation, it keeps you interested. Going to the gym
Speaker 1: can be really boring if you're doing the same thing
Speaker 1: over and over again. And if you do the same
Speaker 1: thing over and over again, you know, stop seeing the
Speaker 1: same type of results. You're gonna plateau as your body
Speaker 1: gets acclimated to that. So it's just another element to
Speaker 1: add in to your training. Repertoire based on your goals.
Speaker 1: But when one of the major goals for myself and
Speaker 1: hopefully for you is to stay injury free and to
Speaker 1: help balance out those asymmetries, because we're only as strong
Speaker 1: as our weakest link, then asymmetrical training along with that
Speaker 1: offset loading element is a great way to do it,
Speaker 1: all right, So you go try it once a week.
Speaker 1: If you're working out three times a week, do your
Speaker 1: traditional workout, and you can even do it within Everything
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be asymmetrical. But if you're doing three
Speaker 1: strength workouts, doing two of your normal ones and throwing
Speaker 1: in some offset loading, some asymmetrical training, gonna mix it up,
Speaker 1: gonna make it more interesting and gonna challenge your body
Speaker 1: in a different way. You're adding in the core musculature,
Speaker 1: you're adding in a neural component which is going to
Speaker 1: make mind body connections different and better. Potentially, These are
Speaker 1: all good things, all right. There you go. Asymmetrical training
Speaker 1: questions comments reach out Tom h Fit Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker 1: Tom h Fit can also email me through Fitness disrupted
Speaker 1: dot com. Please follow the show, subscribe to the show,
Speaker 1: rate the show, whatever you can do, it's greatly appreciated.
Speaker 1: Greatly appreciated, and the most recent book is The micro
Speaker 1: Workout Plan, which is the basics that I just talked about, bilateral,
Speaker 1: unilateral stuff that keeps me injury free. But it's about variation,
Speaker 1: not one way. You know, this was once pitched to
Speaker 1: me by someone, the offset loading, and it was like,
Speaker 1: this is the way, it's not unillateral. So they had
Speaker 1: to denigrate uniateral training to pitch the asymmetrical slash offset loading. No, no,
Speaker 1: they're all good. And if you do all of these
Speaker 1: things a little bit, it's the excessive moderation. People. If
Speaker 1: you do some bilateral training, some uniateral training, some asymmetrical training,
Speaker 1: holy smokes, are you gonna be in great shape? Holy smokes?
Speaker 1: Are you gonna be functionally fit? And at fifty three,
Speaker 1: my goal is to be able to do everything I
Speaker 1: want to do, like run across the Grand Canyon, not once,
Speaker 1: but twice. I think I'd go back now, I think
Speaker 1: I may go back again and sometimes in the future.
Speaker 1: So amazing. But my point is to do different things
Speaker 1: consistently so that you can have your best life, because
Speaker 1: that's my goal for this show. All right, enough, it's
Speaker 1: a fit tip. We're done. Thank you for listening. I'm
Speaker 1: Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted. Believe in yourself. Fitness
Speaker 1: Disrupted is a production of I heart Radio. For more
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