Here are some definitions that will help navigating this post. There are three planes of motion that our body moves in: sagittal, frontal and transverse. Frontal is side to side movement, transverse is any type of rotating movement and sagittal is forward and back movements. Here is a picture which should help a little more.
Now that you have a little schema on the subject I will let you know why you would want to train in these planes and not just in the traditional saggital plane.
Most every activity occurs in all three planes of motion: sagittal, frontal and transverse. Even though some movements are dominating in one of the planes of motion the others are still needed. Say you dropped something on the floor and you pick it up; let us say that you choose to pick it up in this manner.
We all have done it, and let’s face it most of the time we do not have a golf club or something to help us balance. Yet we still do it, and if you look at the different planes you would say that this movement is in the sagittal plane. You would be right with, yet the other two planes of motion are also in play. The musculature of the legs, core and even upper body are battling to keep you moving in a straight line. The muscles that help you rotate in the transverse plane( core, and hip muscles) are actually stabilizing your knee and upper body so that it does not rotate, the same goes for the muscles that move you in the frontal plane( hip muscles, abductors), that are stabilizing you so that you do not tip over and fall. So why do we still only train in the sagittal plane?
The only reason that I can think of is lack of exposure and/or relevant information. Which is the reason for this post, and even if people know about the different planes, they might not understand the importance of training in them. Two main reasons that I can think of are; to prevent injury, and to improve performance/ active life style.
Weather you are trying to stay healthy for sports or to do some gardening, you need to prevent injury to continue to do what you enjoy. Training in different planes will allow your muscles to gain; strength, endurance, and be recruited when they are needed. When doing a movement we would hope that all muscles that can help will, which is not always the case. When that happens injury is sure to follow. View the clip bellow to see a great multi-planar exercise.
Once your body is able to move in the different plans of motion it can actually produce force and give you higher performance. Now who does not want more muscles doing their job. So look up more ways to train in different planes of motion and you will prevent injury and perform better.
