As an athlete, you must attack and take control of your frontal plane motion.
This means your right and left (lateral) movement.
Without this control you would fall to one side or the other when you balance on one leg.
This may not seem like a big deal when you are static.
But when you are in motion the stakes are substantial.
That’s because of a much higher impact of forces on your body from ground reaction, gravity and whatever resistance you add.
Frontal plane instability takes away from your ability to harness those free forces to control subsequent motions.
This diminishes your ability to be reactive, explosive and agile in your favorite activities.
It lowers your capacity to decelerate and increases your risk of injury..
In addition, since your body is not able to disperse and dissipate those forces for the good of motion, those forces get trapped in your tissues.
This unnecessary strain turns to stiffness and reduces your durability and longevity as an athlete.
The good news is that there’s a lot of effective exercises to help you make progress.
5 basic exercises to help you develop frontal plane control:
- Side squats
- Suitcase walks
- Frontal Plane Step ups
- Single leg balance with Arm Reaches
- Modified Side plank with Isometric Clamshell
With each exercise listed above, there are many variations of regressions and progressions to work with.
In closing, be sure to include frontal plane training in your weekly program to improve your performance and prevent injury.
Your coach,
Adam