Picture a gymnast performing a floor routine. Their options for movement are almost infinite – they can run, flip, cartwheel, jump or twist.
However, any action they take can be divided into three broad categories, which physiologists describe using three. plane of motion: They can move forward or backward or shuffle or turn to their left or right. (They can of course combine any of these types of movements, but more on that later.)
Understanding how your body moves in these planes will give you another tool that can help you make your workouts safer, more effective, and more fun.
What are the 3 planes of motion?
Motion planes are a way to describe and understand all kinds of human movement—from working to dancing to breathing—through a more precise, anatomical lens. You can think of these planes as sheets of glass that divide the body into different parts:
- Sagittal plane: Divides the body vertically into left and right halves
- Front Plane: Separates the body vertically into front and back
- Transverse plane: Divides the body horizontally into upper and lower parts
Any movement you make that is broadly considered to occur in a plane of motion parallel to any of those body planes.
Confused? stay with us
1. Sagittal (longitudinal) plane: forward, march
The plane we encounter most often in life – and perhaps the easiest to understand – is the plane sagittal, or longitudinal Plane This is the plane that cuts you in half vertically at your center line separating the left and right sides of your body.
Any movement where your limbs or spine moves along this line — or parallel to it — is considered sagittal or longitudinal. (Sagittal Derived from a Latin word meaning “bowman”..” Picture shooting an arrow from a bow at a distant target, and you’ll get the idea.)
Movement in Sagittal Plane:
Many classic gym moves are considered archer-dominant: lunges, squats, curls, crunches, sit-ups, and push-ups. In these exercises, your arms, legs, or spine all move parallel to that central, sagittal plane. (The front and back flips are also bows.)
Everyday movements like walking – where your arms and legs swing back and forth – are also mostly arched. It’s the most comfortable plane we’ve ever had.
From a therapeutic, or physiological, perspective, flexion and extension — curling the spine forward or bending backward — are classic examples of bow movements.
2. Frontal (coronal) plane: left, right and center
Photographing is difficult but equally important front or Coronal Plane This is the plane that runs vertically through the body, side to side, and separates the front and back sides of your body.
Picture yourself standing on a narrow ledge with the entire back of your body – heels, calves, glutes, upper back, elbows, backs of your hands and the back of your head – pressed against a wall. Any step you can take while maintaining these contact points is a forward flat step.
Movement in the frontal plane:
Forward plane movements include side steps, or side shuffles, extending your arms out to the sides, tilting your head left and right, or bending your entire torso to one side or the other. If you’re agile and daring, cartwheels can also be seen on the front plane.
Lateral-random movements in sports such as basketball and tennis are all frontal. Side-lunge is also a forward movement.
Physiologically, abduction—or lifting your arm or leg away from your center line—is a forward flat step.
3. Transverse (axial) plane: twist and scream
The ultimate plane of motion is one we don’t think about much, even though we pass through it all the time. This is the plane that runs parallel to the floor, also known as transverse or axial plain
This plane includes rotation around your vertical axis. A ballet dancer’s pirouette is a classic example: her whole body turns in a single, fixed point.
Movement in transverse plane:
We often see transverse plane movements in warmups — hip circles, neck rolls, ankle circles, and trunk rotations are all good examples. Some core movements — such as the Russian twist or the bicycle crunch — are transverse-plane dominant, as are many of the rotational stretches in yoga.
Many of the most powerful athletic moves you can make, such as swinging a bat or racket, throwing a discus, or executing a roundhouse kick or hook punch in MMA, are transverse plane moves; If you want to generate power, the transverse plane is your ticket.
Physiologically, rotating any joint along an axis is a transverse plane movement.
Physiological terms
Jargon Alert: The following terms — commonly used in medical or therapeutic settings — describe different body positions, directions, and types of movement. In all cases, assume you are a person standing upright with their palms facing forward, thumbs pointing outwards:
Directional post
previous | towards the front of the body |
posterior | on the back of the body |
deep | farther from the surface of the body |
excessively | near the surface of the body |
distant | The center of the body or body part is too far from the origin (ie, the heel is farther from the knee than the toe is farther from the heel.) |
proximal | Originating near the center of the body or part of the body (ie, the shoulder is near the elbow, while the elbow is near the wrist.) |
inferior | to the feet |
Superior | to the head |
Lateral | away from the center line of the body |
Medial | towards the center line of the body |
in the middle | midline of the body |
Conditions of movement
Kidnapping | Moving a limb away from the center line of the body (ie, from standing, raising your arm to the side) |
addiction | Moving a limb toward the center line of the body (ie, from standing, lowering your arm from an overhead position toward your waist) |
Everson | Lateral rolling of your feet (ie, toward their outer edges) |
opposite | Rolling between your feet (ie, toward the inside edge of them) |
extension | Opening or straightening a joint (ie, straightening your arm at the elbow) |
turning | Bending or closing a joint (ie, bending your knee) |
external rotation | Moving a limb away from the center line of the body (ie, from standing, rotate your leg at the hip joint so that your leg turns outward) |
internal rotation | A limb flexion toward the center line of the body (ie, from standing, rotate your leg at the hip joint so that your leg can rotate inward) |
pronunciation | Bending an arm or leg medially or toward the center line (ie, bending your palm down or putting weight on the inside of your leg) |
Supination | Bending an arm or leg to the side or away from your center line (ie, turning your palm down or putting weight on the outside of the leg) |
Why should you learn motion planes?
When you’re designing a workout program for yourself—especially if your goals include athletic performance, pain reduction, and longevity—it’s useful to consider planes of motion, not just the muscles your exercises are training.
By now you know that most gym moves – and workout programs – are archetypal impactful (just walk into the cardio area of any gym and the proof is there). It’s not bad – running, stair climbing, squatting, lunging and cycling are all great exercises.
But this type of sagittal movement doesn’t fully stimulate your stabilizing muscles, especially in your lower body. Over time this can lead to injury. So you’ll likely prolong your health in the fitness trenches by incorporating some forward and transverse plane movements into each workout.
The workout programs at BODi are designed to move you through three planes of motion while emphasizing compound (multi-joint) exercises, helping you feel fit and strong in everyday life.
A warning for speeding planes
The plane-of-motion model is not accurate; No human movement occurs exclusively in one plane of motion, and you can probably tinker with almost any movement classification.
An overhand-grip pull-up, for example, can be described as a bow move because the elbows move forward relative to the trunk. But if your elbow is going outward instead of forward, it’s moving forward-plane.
Our bodies are not made up of right angles, straight lines or hard edges. Every time you take a step forward or backward—a sagittal-dominant movement—your knee, ankle, and hip joints also move subtly in the frontal and transverse planes to absorb forces traveling through your skeleton. Every movement you perform occurs in all three planes.
The answer to this quarrel? Don’t worry about it. The plane of motion is approx.