2+1(1)=stronger

Let me start off by saying that I love me some crossfit, I like my lifting, short to medium metcons long metcons are for people with the patience of a turtle.  I am quite fond of my Olympic lifts.  Barbells is what life is made of, gripping the bar with both hands before that pr lift is similar to being scared and happy all at once.  Gripping the bar with both hands bring me to the above equation 2 being bilateral work and 1(1) one limb each.  I am in no way generalizing when I am writing this as i know every box has its own way of doing things, i am speaking from experience mostly and feel crossfit needs a little more of of the unilateral stuff.

Double up

We do a great job at getting our athletes to use the barbell proficiently, with the right moves techniques coupled with the right intensity in most cases.  But these movements mostly involve two hands on the barbell at the same time, whether it be strict presses or back squats.  Ideally we would like our body to work at equally but that is just not the case all the time.  In most cases we lean to one side for better stability and the other for strength.  In my case for instance I am not as strong or stable on my left side even though that is my dominant side. But i have better coordination, and I bowl and throw on that side.  These differences are usually magnified when doing maximal effort work such as push jerks, strict presses for the upper limbs.  One side might be lower on one side than the other on the press/jerk.  One of your hips might feel more tight on back squats.  This can also show up during metcons as well.  Have you ever paid attention to how you feel after you finish high rep pull ups and one arm is more pumped than the other?  or check your self out in the mirror did you see differences in muscle definition? 

When one side is being over worked it could possibly be linked to injuries as well.  so we as crossfitters should probably do something about this so we can get better faster and prevent injuries. 

The case for 1(1) work

With bilateral work comes anterior overload which brings in the quads and not enough posterior work but that is another post.  Doing unilateral work combined with bilateral goodness will help decrease some of the deficiencies  in your game and actually bring you back to more asymmetrical wholeness.  as seen in this pubmed study it can actually give a different stimulus http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18438258

 the arm that is not being used is also working hard to balance things out.  I know in crossfit we preach functional fitness and doing movements that challenge uneven movement ranges are important as well.  This should be used as an added on tool rather than the rule but still vital to everyday application. 

If you think about your daily life for a second, how many things do you do perfectly with both limbs upper body, and lower body.  when you pick things up, you are more likely to do a one legged deadlift which requires foot/knee stability hamstring/glute activation and reaching out with one arm.  carrying groceries are usually uneven loaded farmer carries etc.  These are usually classic progressions in strength and conditioning and should be combined within a crossfit program from time to time.  

Another benefit that is forces you to flat out become stronger in your weak half of your body. which brings me to the strength portion.  You definitely build more of a stimulus of building strength carrying the heaviest load possible using both but you build better awareness, stability, technique by doing one limb at a time.

ill leave you with this random song, album dualism, song singularity......get it