Social Media Roundup: Unilateral Lower Body Work + Seasonal Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I post a lot of small stuff on Instagram, but ultimately I care more about consolidating that info onto my blog where I can easily reference it for you all far into the future! So, I’m going to start to pair my instagram posts with blog posts so you can share and save more easily. Here are a few useful topics I’ve covered lately on Fit with Julia IG.

Benefits of Unilateral Lower Body Training

MULTI PLANAR MOVEMENT: it’s important to incorporate lateral movements into our program. This helps us to progress on basic lifts, build more resilient joints and ligaments, and prevent injury.

Pretty much anyone who’s ever done a workout with me knows I’m insistent on unilateral/single leg lower movements in almost every workout. Everyone hates it, so maybe knowing WHY will help you do push through those last few lunges during your next workout.

Benefits of unilateral training:

move more functionally and build balanced strength on both legs
improve performance on other lower body lifts like squats and deadlifts
improve athletic performance and agility (quick directional change, better coordination, etc)
improve balance in day to day life
improve knee and joint health by strengthening stabilizing muscles
increase speed/power output during cardio and explosive exercises
increase jump height
reduce rate of injury (better balance, stronger ligaments, more functional movement —> less injury over time)

Unilateral exercise ideas

Not sure where to start? Try adding one of these to each of your workouts. For form videos, use my youtube as a resource! type in any of these exercises. If you don’t see one your looking for, send me a message and I will either add it or provide a good video by another trainer.

Knee dominant/squat adjacent
exercises in the squat + gait family where the knee is the primary joint moving/bending.

lunges
step ups
split squats
front foot elevated split squats
Bulgarian split squats
lateral lunges
side step ups
pistol squats or pistol squat regressions
Skater squats

Hip dominant/hip hinge

single leg deadlift
one legged bridge variations (on the ground, elevated
one legged hip thrust
b stance deadlift

How to program them

Now that you have your exercises, here are some ideas for how and when to incorporate them into your workout.

To build a balanced program, we should select both knee dominant (squats/lunges) and hip dominant (deadlfits/bridges) movements.

HIRE ME or WORK OUT W ME (😉)
Select a movement. Try to mix it up and get both hip dominant and knee dominant moves each week (ideally multiple of each). Don’t neglect those lateral movements (side lunge + step ups!).
Message me or use my youtube library to find videos + form demos as needed. Use my Youtube library for form videos.
Find a weight that you challenges you after ~8-12 reps per leg to begin with. Perform 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions (you may have to do a warmup set first to prepare and find the proper weight, try not to count those sets.)
Ideal number of repetitions can vary based on the specific movement and your goal. For unilateral movements where balance is a huge factor, more moderate weights and higher reps (i.e 8-12) may make more sense for most of us (especially to begin with). This is mostly because using a weight heavy enough to fatigue major muscles after just 3-5 repetitions on a movement like the single leg deadlift would make maintaining form and balance impossible for many people. In the end, your relative level of fatigue is more important than the exact number of reps performed. there’s no magic number!
Remember to write down the weights used so you can progress in repetitions, added weight, or by dialing down form each week.

Citation

Liao K, Nassis GP, Bishop C, Yang W, Bian C, Li Y. Effects of unilateral vs. bilateral resistance training interventions on measures of strength, jump, linear and change of direction speed: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Roasted pumpkin Seeds 🍂

here’s a recipe for a little healthy baking this fall/winter!

Looking to get into the fall spirit with baking…but make it savory and make it nutrient dense? Or maybe you need something to do with all those decorative pumpkins? Try roasting the seeds! Recipes are everywhere, but step 3 + 5 are what sets this one apart.

Pumpkin seeds are a good source of fiber, healthy fats, and have a moderate amount of protein! They’re also a good source of Magnesium and Zinc (two things that many people - especially women - struggle to get enough of).

Ingredients

Seeds of one pumpkin (if you want to make pie with the rest, get a sugar pie pumpkin!)
2 cups water
Olive oil
1 TB salt
+ optional seasonings of choice (curry powder, chili powder, garlic powder…the world is your oyster)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cut off the top jack-o lantern style OR cutting straight in half (preferred if you plan to make a pie).
To get the gunk off of the seeds EASILY, place in a strainer and run cold water over the seeds. The seeds will easily come free from the orange gunk (its amazing!). Dispose of the rest of that stuff. Check out this youtube video if you don’t believe me.
Rinse seeds if any orange residue remains
To ensure the seeds are nice and salty all the way through rather than just on the outer shell, place in a pot with 2 cups water and 1 TB salt. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10m. Remove from heat and strain.
On a baking sheet, toss seeds with a small amount of olive oil, a tiny bit more salt if desired, and seasoning of choice (I used garlic powder!).
Place in oven and toast for 5-15 mins, or until the seeds start to become just slightly browned.
Let cool and enjoy, or give as a holiday gift!