Training in Planes
By Karl Frank

No, not airplanes! I am referring to planes of body movement. The body moves through space in 3 primary planes of movement. The FRONTAL PLANE in which the body moves up and down; the SAGITTAL PLANE in which the body moves forward and backward; and the TRANSVERSE PLANE in which the body rotates. For example when we run we are moving through the “sagittal” plane. When we jump we are moving through the “frontal” plane. When we swing a baseball bat we are moving through the “transverse” plane. Body movement can also be “multi-planar” in that we can move through more than one plane at the same time. An example would be a broad jump where one stands with toes on a line and feet about hip-width apart then jumps forward as far as possible.

In this case the body is moving forward (sagittal plane) AND upward (frontal plane). Some body movement can even occur in all three planes of movement at the same time. Picture an ice skater who is skating forward or backward then leaps into the air and spins! Of course this is very difficult to perform and takes great coordination and endless practice. To perform such a difficult movement do you think that the skater should only train in a single plane of movement? How affective is training when performed in a plane of movement that is outside of the primary plane/planes that the athlete must perform in?

For training to be maximally effective we must be conscience of how the body is required to perform in the competitive event. Weight training is a good example of training that is commonly performed through planes of movement that are not the primary planes of movement that the athlete must actually perform in. Weight training is surely beneficial to athletes of all sports but in many cases it is misused. Power-lifting movements, e.g. the clean, snatch, squat, etc., are movements that are performed in the frontal plane. If the athlete’s game is played primarily in the sagittal plane how much emphasis should be placed on frontal plane training regimens? I am not implying that no training should be done outside of the primary plane of movement but if most of the athlete’s training time is spent there is the training maximally effective?

The above referenced power-lifting movements are excellent for enhancing explosive power but if the athlete needs to be explosive through planes other than the frontal plane than we need to be training to meet those needs. In weight-training programs throughout the country great emphasis is placed on the bench-press. It is used as a measuring stick to assess an athlete’s strength, especially football players. If we examine the bench-press we see that the athlete is lying still on a bench and must push the bar through the frontal plane. Yet football players are required to play in a standing position with their feet moving and fight resistance (their opponent) in the sagittal plane. In what sport is an athlete required to press heavy resistance while lying still on their back? As for football players, if they are on their backs I can assure you they are not going to make many plays! Again, I am not implying that there is no need to perform the bench-press, but should we place as much training emphasis on it as is commonly done.