Bulletproof Your Body: Beyond the Sagittal Plane

Human Movement

We’ve discussed how movements in various planes of the body are important for ensuring proper core stability and strength.

Now, we’ll discuss other planes in more depth, why they’re important, and provide some example exercises for you to try. As the title points out, we’re going to help you bulletproof your body through effective, controlled movement.

As always, consult with a doctor or personal trainer before trying something new or strenuous to prevent injury. Please view our disclaimer for more details.

Structure and Planes

The first thing to note is that human movement was never designed to be purely up/down or forwards/backwards. We’re primates and our evolutionary pathway has always tended towards versatile mobility, meaning we can move well in 3 dimensions.

This versatile mobility has help humans survive despite being small, weak and biologically unarmed. Basically, it reduces the odds of getting eaten. Moving well, as a human, means moving in 3-dimensions.

What do we call these 3 dimensions? The 3 planes:

• Sagittal – forwards and backwards
• Lateral (or Coronal) – sideways
• Transverse – rotation

Sagittal Movement

There’s nothing wrong with being strong in the sagittal plane. Much of the extensive strength work you’ll see in any gym is performed in this plane. Being strong in every direction includes sagittal – you can’t be an effective squatter or runner without mastering this plane.

The real problem occurs when you ONLY train forwards and backwards (or up and down). This type of training treats life as a drag race where there are no corners and all you do is develop power in one direction. As mentioned above, however, human life and movement is a winding road, and you have to be able to move effectively in any direction.

Becoming stronger is not necessarily the answer to this problem. Increasing your squat strength won’t fix any rotational problems in the hips, for example. Adding strength to dysfunction only exaggerates the inevitable train-wreck – injury, when it finally happens.

What to do?

This is why we consider non-sagittal training to be one of the most important and effective ways to strengthen and bulletproof the body. Developing health and fitness is all about improving performance, quality of life, and longevity. Moving in more directions will improve all of these aspects.

It’s as simple as adding an increased range of exercises to the end of your training session. By adding 15 minutes of work, or replacing crappy core work (like crunches) with effective non-sagittal movement, you’ll improve every aspect of your fitness from physical appearance to long-term spinal health.

Lateral Movement

The lateral plane is sideways movement – moving to your left or right. It can also be combined with sagittal movement of varying levels, allowing you to move in 360-degrees from your starting point.

Lateral movement is important for a variety of reasons. There are many muscles that function by moving you laterally or medially (the opposite of lateral: towards your midline). These muscles are only trained optimally by moving sideways.

Training laterally also conditions the joints for these uncommon movements, and will provide the strength and stability while reducing your risk of injury. Strengthening the joints is a key part of preparing for sports and/or life in general, and it will contribute to balance and longevity, reducing the chance of falls and fractures for the rest of your life.

Lateral Exercises

Banded Crab-Walk

The banded crab walk is a common warm-up, primarily used to activate the glutes and other muscles of the hip. It can also be used as a general strengthening and posture exercise to keep your spine safe and your hips strong.

Kosack Squat

The Kosack squat is a great way to begin moving sideways and developing the strength, flexibility and balance necessary to progress to more difficult movements. This is a great exercise to add to your warm-up or at the end of your workout to keep the hips relaxed and open.

Plank Lateral Walk

Plank lateral walks add a totally new dimension of dynamic movement, core stability and upper body strength. These are a comfortable warm-up but can also be used as a great core and health exercise at the end of a workout.

Transverse Movements

Transverse movements cover rotation and anti-rotation, meaning that they cover a wide variety of movements. These movements are especially important because they constitute most of how humans move – intentionally or otherwise.

Try to walk, run, or swing a bat without rotating through your hips and core. You’ll immediately realize how difficult it is and how ridiculous you look. This is because human movement is inherently rotational: our bodies are designed to move through “slings” of muscles that wrap around the body in helical patterns.

There are two key ways to look at transverse movements: rotational and contralateral. Rotational movements are exactly what you might think, whereas contralateral movements involve moving opposite sides of the body (a form of rotational/anti-rotational training).

Transverse Exercises

The Deadbug

The deadbug is the starting point for any effective form of training. It requires you to move the opposing arm and leg without moving your core: an essential part of the foundation for rotational movement. This is where you should start, even though it can be very difficult in its own right.

Pallof Press

The Pallof press is the standard loaded exercise for training rotational strength and stability. It involves holding position and thus promotes the ability to rotate and prevent rotation – essential for performance and spinal health.

Single Leg Deadlift

Taking a regular movement that requires effective hip control and doing it one-legged with the weight in your other arm is exactly what the single-leg deadlift is all about.

This exercise allows you to add a more serious load to your rotational movement and challenges the core and hips while also developing excellent coordination. It requires you to brace across the body, rather than rushing the movement.

Closing Remarks

Adding 1-2 movement from each of these neglected planes is a great way to add serious value to your training session with only an extra 5-15 minutes. Try integrating these exercises and see how your body develops.

You’ll experience far less injury and stay healthier for longer simply by moving in a controlled manner through new movements (and by stretching correctly, too). These are neglected areas that can easily show huge progress! Let us know how they work out for you in the comments below.

Resources

• For Yoga practitioners – This Is How the Planes of Movement Can Help You Identify Imbalances in Your Body

Author: Liam Rodgers

Good coaching and good writing rely on attention to detail, forward planning, and a deep knowledge of the technical aspects. As an Olympic weightlifting coach and the director of Apex Sport and Fitness Content, Liam lives these out: he has huge enthusiasm for sports performance, nutrition, narrative and immersive, engaging writing. View all posts by Liam Rodgers