Balancing Your Body with Three Planes of Motion
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When we think about strength training lifting weights most likely comes to mind. But there’s more to strength training than lifting something heavy, and that’s where agile strength comes in.
What is agile strength?
“Raw strength is how much I can move at one time,” Sam Laceky, Cooper Fitness Center Professional Fitness Trainer, said. “Agile strength is the ability to move and change directions quickly, with precision and power. There’s more fluidity to it than raw power. It’s how quickly can we produce that force and how many repetitions we can do.”
That might sound complicated, but we’ve all seen it done in real time. If you’re watching a football game, you’ve seen a player juke or spin as they try to get a touchdown. Each sudden movement they make is agile strength. A player who takes the ball and runs over another player is using raw strength. Both can be effective, and both have their advantages.
You may work on your agile strength regularly without realizing it. For example, your agile strength is used when you have to grab a heavy bag or box and carry it around your house or up the stairs. Incorporating deadlifts into your exercise routine helps improve strength and force production, which are needed to lift heavy objects in a one plane of motion but it does not help with moving that heavy object.
“We want to stay symmetrical with our body,” Laceky said. “Just like we wouldn’t want to skip leg day, we wouldn’t want to brush off agile strength.”
To understand the full importance of agile strength, we need to look at the three planes of movement and how agile strength affects how we move.
Three planes of movement
Sagittal Plane - The imaginary line of the sagittal plane runs down the middle of your body, splitting your left and right sides evenly. Forward and backward movement are in the sagittal plane of motion. This includes flexion, extension and hyperextension of your joints, as well as moving your ankles.
“If I’m working to improve someone’s vertical leap, I’m looking at the sagittal plane,” Laceky said. “In theory you might think doing a squat to build power would result in a stronger jump, but it doesn’t translate that way. It’s a short bend and then a jump, which comes from agile strength.”
Sagittal movements are the most common among your daily activities—movements such as sitting down, bending forward and pushing a shopping cart.
Common exercises in the sagittal plane include:
- Walking, jogging and running
- Climbing stairs
- Sit-ups
- Forward and reverse lunges
- Quarter squats
Frontal Plane - The frontal plane, also known as the coronal plane, is represented by an imaginary line splitting your body into front and back halves. Side-to-side or lateral movement are in the frontal plane. This includes abduction and adduction of your arms or legs, elevation and depression of your shoulders and eversion or inversion of your feet.
“One of the first things I do when working with a new client is test their movement,” Laceky said. “It’s important to see how they handle pushing off with their foot or their change in direction. Most people don’t work on their lateral movements a ton, and if you go out and start playing tennis or another sport unprepared, it could lead to an injury.”
Frontal plane movements in your daily activities include turning doorknobs, pulling to shut your car door or standing on the tips of your toes. Actions in this plane are less common, which is even more reason to train your body to prepare for them.
Common exercises in the frontal plane include:
- Lateral raises
- Jumping jacks
- Lateral lunges
- Side shuffling
- Side planks
Transverse Plane - The imaginary line of the transverse plane splits your body in half at the waist, separating your upper and lower halves. Movements parallel to this line are in the transverse plane; they typically involve the rotation of your torso.
Traditional strength training tends to focus on the sagittal and frontal planes. Movement in the transverse plane is the least common for most people, including athletes. Most sports injuries occur from rotational force. So, if you're getting ready to pick up a tennis racket again or hit the golf course, it's vital to adjust your body to transverse movements.
Common exercises in the transverse plane include:
- Seated twists
- Dumbbell flies
- Russian twists
- Forward lunge with spinal twist
- Side plank with rotation
Just as all muscles deserve attention, so do each of these planes of motion. When you plan your workouts, add exercises that work your frontal plane such as lateral shuffles and lateral raises and exercises that work your transverse plane. You’ll develop a more balanced physique, lower your risk for injury and be more functionally strong and agile.
A professional fitness trainer can tailor an exercise routine that incorporates all three planes of motion to custom fit any individual. For more information on personal training or to schedule a session with a professional fitness trainer, visit cooperfitnesscenter.com or call 972.233.4832.