FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Hi, Scott - hope you're well in these crazy times! I'm making my way through this thread again but it's taking a while, planning on running FT when the gyms reopen (I've not looked as good as I did when I was training this way 3 years ago).

Was thinking about possible exercises to do and wondered what you thought about using a unilateral exercise for isolation (split squats for quads for example), not sure if this is a route I'm going to go down - but with the layout of my gym it would open up more possibilities without having to try and hold equipment between 3 long rooms. I was thinking that if I did do an isolation I'd rest before switching sides.

Thanks

I'm guessing you mean a unilateral exercise when zig-zagging, i.e., for Loading Sets.

If so, yes, you can do that, but I'd do the sets one, right after the others (with minimal rest between sets for each side). Otherwise, you'd end up with a large rest differential between the two legs that at the very least would change the nature of the training stimulus for one side vs. another (e.g., if that were the last exercise you zig-zagged) and also create an asymmetry when doing exercises after the unilateral exercise.

Also, it being unilateral, it shouldn't tax you cardiovascularly so much that you'll need a long break, although I know romanian split squats can whack you pretty good. (The rest interval between zig-zagged sets is longer for Thighs for this reason - to be sure that being "gassed out" isn't the reason you reach failure during your sets.)

If you have one side that's smaller / weaker than the other, I'd simply train that one first and then match reps on the other side (if the size differential is high) or alternate which side you train first, if there's no unilateral discrepancy you're concerned about and just take them both to 1-2 reps shy of failure, or failure if the last set and it's a compound exercise - same rules as when using bilateral compound movements.

-S