The Human Body Loves to Rotate

Traditional strength training is mostly done in the sagittal plane. The Human Body Loves to Rotate. Training in the sagittal plane involves exercises that move in a straight line vertically (think squats and deadlifts) or horizontally (think bench press and dumbbell rows). 

The Human Body Loves to Rotate: Train Movement, Not Just Muscles

The reason for this is that sagittal plane exercises are usually the most stable, and they put the body in positions where it can be its strongest in moving an object. These factors make the sagittal plane a very efficient way to gain strength. If your goal is to get strong and increase your muscle mass, having a strength training routine of mostly sagittal plane exercises is an efficient route.

But the sagittal plane is not the only way our bodies move. We can also move side to side (the frontal plane) and rotationally (the transverse plane).

The Human Body Loves to Rotate movement and expresses it in many ways. You can see it in sports when we throw a baseball, swing a golf club or tennis racket, perform twists and flips in gymnastics, and dive. More subtly, it’s how we most efficiently move when walking or running. Fluid movers will have good rotation in their hips and ribs as they move around in daily life. Unfortunately, as adults, a lot of us move less and do fewer physical activities than we did as kids, so our ability to rotate diminishes. Thankfully, rotational exercises are easy to add in while strength training, and can help increase our ability to move fluidly again. 

At Real Fitness, we often use exercises such as rotational medicine ball tosses, landmine rotations, and cable rotations as ways to make sure our training is getting members strong while also maintaining their ability to functionally move well and maintain their ability to rotate.

A strong body that is also capable of moving well will not just add years to your life, it will increase the quality of life during those added years 🙂