As a hockey player or any athlete, the ability to move well is essential to becoming a beast! The second piece to that is becoming strong in all of your movements…and the third and final piece is the ability to be move well and be strong in all the planes of motion!
What are the Planes?
Planes refers to the 3 planes of motion that we can train the body in. They are sagittal, frontal, and transverse. We’ll keep the breakdowns relatively simple to understand!
Sagittal
- Movement forward and backward, Ex: Squats, Deadlift, Pushup, Pullup
Frontal
- Movement Side to side, Ex: Lateral Lunges, Skater Jumps
Transverse
- Rotational Movement, Ex: Rotational med ball slams or twists
How to Train Them
This could be an entire article in itself! The most important thing to think about when your writing your program is how many planes of motion am I hitting in this workout? Not every workout necessarily has to have all of them in it but it’s important to not overtrain one over the other or leave one out completely! Now most exercises are sagittal, so starting to incorporate more side to side movements and rotations into your training would be the best start to making sure you are becoming strong in all planes of motion! Here’s a quick 5 exercise sample workout maximizing all the planes of motion!
Why Train the Planes for Performance
For all athletes but especially hockey players the planes of motion are going to be crucial to your success as an athlete! Hockey is a game of stops and starts which requires a lot of lateral movement as well as rotation.
- Improved movement efficiency in all directions
- Increased speed and power output through increased strength in all positions and movements
- Reduced injury potential as your stronger and more agile in your movements
- Increased Stamina since you’re not wasting energy through poor movement patterns
Not sure where to start in designing a program with efficient plane work? Check out our youtube or instagram for more info and workouts …or get it straight from the source! Reach out to us to set up a movement assessment and we can see where you can optimize your off-season program!
#unleashthepotential
Written by:
Rob Jost – ACE-CPT, NSCA-CPT
Suggested Article: Have Your Best Off-Season Yet
Take action… Now!
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