Transverse Plane Evangelists Forget This Rebuttal

You’ve seen them. They are on your social media (usually talking trash about methods that aren’t theirs). And, luckily for the observer, you can buy the solution they are selling. 

Here’s some helpful context. The fitness industry is mostly authority figures (self proclaimed and otherwise) arguing with each other and ultimately turning off and confusing the customer that needs them most. 

One of the most common sources of dogma is rooted in a very simple and very true premise:

There are three classic planes of motion. 

The sagittal plan, the frontal plane, and the transverse plane. To be a human means to move in all planes of motion in your life (and definitely in sport). There is a most natural bias, however, in the gym where the sagittal plane becomes the dominant practiced plane of motion. For example, squats, deadlifts, bench press, and most of the gym-movements you could name are all sagittal plane movements. 

The frontal plane gets much less love, but because it’s the “side to side” movement plane of motion it does get some love. The transverse plane, however, is all about rotation. This means it gets left out a lot.  

ENTER: the transverse plane evangelists. 

These folks usually come out hot with what is actually a good point. They essentially advocate for the transverse plane with lines like “it’s often forgotten about” and “look at your sport! It’s all rotation and I’ve never seen a deadlift on a basketball court.” 

All true. 

Now, the step they go too far is to say that since your life and sport never has these controlled movements with two feet on the ground or two hands on the barbell that we should throw them out. They’re response is all to often to demote the other two planes of motion as a means to elevate the transverse plane. 

The rebuttal that trumps this perspective here is simple:

Deadlifts and squats and the sagittal plane arsenal are not in programs to mimic life and sport.

They are in programs because of their loading potential. Training these movement patterns have the opportunity to build strength, drive neural response, and create adaptation in the human structure by resisting appropriately large loads with posture and position. 

The transverse plane absolutely needs to be advocated for and included in programs. It just can’t replace the other planes because you can’t load the transverse plane nearly as well. 

Keep going.