According to fitness expert Ari Weller, Founder of PhilosoFit, a leading edge movement training studio in East Hampton, NY, âLife in the body expresses itself in three dimensions. Movement specialists label these the Sagital Plane, the Frontal Plane and the Transverse Plane.â
Ari describes the three planes as follows:
SAGITAL: front to back movement. Think bending to pick something up off a counter.
FRONTAL: side to side movement. Think jumping jacks.
TRANVERSE: rotational movement. Think swinging a golf club, or curtseying. Â The twist. Rotational movements are small, but critically important.
ARIâS ADVICE ON âTRAINING SMARTER:â
âThe greatest athletes are the ones who are naturally and effortlessly move their bodies through all three planes, through multi-dimensional space. Have you ever considered why a dancer or martial artist can flow so beautifully through space while a bodybuilder, rower or cyclist seems stiff, perhaps robotic? Look no further than the WAY THEY TRAIN, HOW MANY REPS THEY PERFORM IN A SINGLE PLANE OF MOTION.
When making decisions about how to train smarter, make sure that training in three planes is one of the most important considerations in your program. THIS MEANS Â INCLUDING ALL THREE PLANES IN YOUR STRENGTH, MOBILITY AND CARDIO TRAINING.â
START YOUR DAY WITH A MOBILITY PREP
Ari shares, âI always try to start my day–and my workouts–with a mobility prep that moves my body in three planes from head to toe.â
He suggests that you follow these steps to do the same, PERFORMING EACH MOVEMENT FOUR TIMES:
1. âStart with the HEAD. Move it gently and fully, up and down, side to side and into rotation.
2. Next the SHOULDERS and ARMS. Straight arms up and down in front of the body, then side-to-side. While holding the arms out from the sides, twist one arm all the way toward the front, from the shoulder, while simultaneously turning the other arm all the way out.
3. Next is the MID-SPINE or THORAX. While keeping your head steady, cave your chest and stomach in. Then reverse that movement: lift your chest gently up to the sky on a 45-degree angle. Â Next open your feet wider than shoulder width and keep your knees straight. Â Raise one arm up and side bend your body into the opposite direction. Â Change arms and alternate sides. The final plane in the thoracic area is to stand straight and without moving your low back or head, gently rotate your torso from side to side.
4. The PELVIS is next. Put your hands on your hips and tilt your pelvis front to back and then side to side. Now, without moving your thorax, rotate the pelvis forward, one side at a time. Working your way down the legs, place your hands on bent knees and gently bend and straighten. Next, move side to side, like a skier on the moguls. Finally, rotate the knee joints in circular motions, both clockwise and counterclockwise.
5. Finally, the FEET and ANKLES. Lift one foot off the ground (if needed you can do this sitting or holding onto something). Point and flex the foot. Then guided by your foot instep, move the instep (the arched middle part of your foot that is between the ball and the ankle) down and then up. This is called eversion and inversion. Not a large movement. The last movement is to circle your foot and ankle in both directions. This completes a 3-D body movement scan.â
Ari states, âOn top of the obvious benefit of gently and powerfully training your body to move in all three planes, these exercises OPEN YOUR MINDâ¦literally. This is a larger conversation that will have to wait for another blog post!â
Ari joined me on âTurn the Pageâ to discuss âHow to Build A Better Body: Achieving Maximum Fitness with Minimum Wear and Tearâ During this conversation, he provides three core principles and related tactics that can transform the way you view and practice fitness. Just as heâs done through this post, the practical guidance he offers can help those who are impacted by injuries or other health conditions to restore functional movement, and with that, their life force.
Want to move more like a dancer or martial artists? Contact Ari and his team through PhilosoFit to experience his training methodology, which is based in a thorough assessment that reveals functional deficiencies and forms the basis for the design of a workout program.
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