If you read Part I, you have seen that elite sprinters and jumpers do not use a strictly “tight” core as many coaches now preach. The torso and hips actually wind up and release energy with each stride, creating a longer lever arm (creating more speed/force at the end of the lever) and using elastic energy more efficiently by utilizing the body’s stretch reflexes to a greater degree.
Moving while actively twisting and undulating the pelvis also provides more effective muscle sequencing for both performance and injury prevention, as small movements in an athlete’s proximal core (pelvis/low back) create whip-like effects that allow the more distal muscles to work more efficiently, firing from the core outwards (a la Doug Heel’s Be-Activated).
It is worth mentioning again that most coaching (and consequently, training) is primarily based in the sagittal plane. This makes sense – it is the easiest plane to see, and arguably the most important plane for a straight line sprint, seeing as that is the plane in which an athlete is actually displacing their body. However, even in straight-line sprinting, the transverse and frontal planes play a huge role. This is why most elite track & field coaches include some amount of training in those planes of motion.
As an example of an athlete training in three planes of motion, here is the second best high jumper in the world, Bohdan Bondarenko, doing various jumping drills in all three planes of motion – forward, back, and side to side off of a short box, and rotational jumps off the ground. This is not an isolated athlete, though most social media training posts center around the “sexier” sagittal plane movements (where one can theoretically lift the most, run the fastest and jump the highest), pretty much all Olympic medalists do some forms of training in other planes.
Bohdan Bondarenko jumping in multiple planes of movement
Training in multiple planes does a lot for athletes both in a physical preparation (muscle/tendon stiffness and resiliency) and coordinative capacity. I have seen several cases of uber-talented but oft-injured athletes that are really strong in the sagittal plane and really weak in another, which I believe to be a contributing factor to their inability to stay healthy. Further, jumping, whether in a basketball game, dunking, or track and field, produces huge forces in all planes especially when converting a large amount of horizontal speed to vertical velocity. More skilled jumpers handle higher forces, particularly in the frontal plane. Look at how much force is being produced in the frontal plane in the following one and two legged jumps:
Dunk with speed into takeoff
“More skilled jumpers handle higher forces in the frontal plane”
This article will cover:
- What good frontal plane technique looks like for sprinting and single leg jumping
- Drills to improve frontal plane mechanics for running and jumping
- Exercises to strengthen the musculature of frontal plane mechanics, set up as a circuit
Frontal plane technique – what to look for:
Ideal movement in the frontal plane raises the free hip as the stance leg pushes through the ground. In one legged jumping, this is a very pronounced dip and rise of the free side hip at takeoff. Watch the pelvis’ movement in the frontal plane as both NBA Dunk Champ Zach Lavine and world champion high jumper Bohdan Bondarenko go into their take off. The free side of the pelvis markedly dips either prior to or on contact of the takeoff leg, immediately followed by the free side rising way above the stance (takeoff leg) side of the pelvis.
This small but rapid movement is essential and involves the eccentric/isometric stability of the gluteus medius and the elasticity of the IT band on the stance side, as the QL, obliques, and other muscles (lats, intercostals, iliacus) are working on the free side.
The shoulder axis will often dip to counterbalance the hip movement – essentially making one side of the torso get really long and the other get really short, providing an “extra” range of motion in which an athlete can impart force upon the ground. It’s a bit hard to see with blurry dunk videos where an athlete has a matching uniform, but in a bright yellow high jump uniform it’s impossible to miss!
High Jumping makes this technique much more obvious, as the ability of an athlete to run a curve gives them a horizontal lean that allows them greater range of motion of their pelvis in the frontal plane. This is a reason many top one-legged dunkers will intuitively run a curved approach. It gives them a better position to apply force to the ground through a longer range of motion. How many AT’s and physiotherapists are looking at the range of motion of the pelvis in relation to the rest of the torso? Yet it is essential to function healthily and perform at high levels!
The same principles follow for sprinting. Look at Asafa Powell accelerating here. Large ranges of motion in the frontal plane. As speed picks up, the ranges of motion are less pronounced, but must still be present.
“Same deal. Pelvis uses large ranges of motion, shoulders counterbalance.”
Drills for Frontal Plane Strength and Coordination
Wickets
“Free hip raised, same side shoulder dropped just slightly. Little movements at the center produce big changes at the extremities.”
Wickets are a classic track & field drill. The drill, when performed with quality at high speed, is by nature an external cue and forces the body to learn to organize itself correctly to run over the wickets. By cueing the athlete to apply vertical force to the ground and/or to “run bouncy,” they tend to display correct frontal plane technique. As we already know, good frontal plane technique allows an athlete to run with more vertical force production (leading to longer flight time →longer strides →more speed). This drill can also be done with a dowel overhead or on the shoulders to further stress the frontal plane and teach more upright posture and neutral pelvis.
Frontal plane and rotational plane movements of the pelvis are dependent on the pelvis being relatively neutral and immediately on top of footstrike. The pelvis is too far behind the foot, too far in front of the foot, or too anteriorly or posteriorly rotated, it will not want to move in the frontal plane of its own accord as the muscles controlling the frontal and transverse planes are not in the positions that they are designed to optimally work in. Thus, the “neutral pelvis” is very important after all. It should just be noted that it is a neutral, dynamic pelvic position that we are looking for, NOT a neutral static pelvic position.
Stair Running/Bounding
In part I of this article, rotational sprinting, we talked about how bounding is a great way to develop rotational power. Given what we now know about frontal plane mechanics and how important they in developing vertical force whilst sprinting, it would make sense that adding a vertical component to an exercise would further recruit movements in the frontal plane!
Many exercises that involve a VERTICAL component can be great teaching tools for proper frontal plane mechanics. Check out Olympic Gold Medalist Greg Rutherford in his Instagram photos running and bounding up stairs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPkrT50jiZV/
The best in the world in the long jump and formidable sprinter, with a 10.2 100 meter result to his name, Rutherford is one of the greatest in the world at utilizing his frontal plane to generate freakish amounts of force. Keeping hills and stairs in his training year-round is likely a reason why.
Check out the aggressiveness with which he drives his free hip!
Bohdan Bondarenko hurdle skip overs
Here are some great examples of drills you can use as part of a warmup or lighter day of training. Hurdles also provide an excellent external stimulus to build coordination in raising the free side. You can do these drills with slight changes once they start to get stale – have athletes race each other or the clock, spread them out, make them higher, put a dowel or barbell on the back, held overhead, etc.
Look at how much movement he is getting in the frontal plane (how high his free hip rises above his stance hip).
General Strength Adaptation: Frontal Plane Circuit
The following is an easy 20+ minute circuit to strengthen the muscles that work to control movements of the frontal plane. It uses some equipment, but not too much, and the weight does not need to be changed during the workout. This can be done on a day that does not tax the nervous system much, as this style of circuit training improves endocrine fitness and enhances recovery from high intensity sessions. This is not to be combined with a traditional sprint or heavy squat day, for example.
This circuit would be something that is traditionally used more during a general prep period, although I’ve found that it has helped many of my athletes to keep this style of lifting in the program when extra recovery is needed, even during competitive cycles.
NOTE: You’ll notice that this circuit protocol seems somewhat similar to the 1×20 method discussed in other places on this site. I am not an expert on the 1×20, but I know that this circuit provides many of the same benefits that 1×20 advocates claim it promotes (wide variety of exercises, increased strength of both muscles AND connective tissue (ligaments/tendons), improved capillary density, increased work capacity, stimulus of anabolic hormones, etc. etc.). While it may not be the same protocol, in general coaches should not be asking which to use (1×20, circuit training or classic multiset) but instead when each may be appropriate, as they can even be used within the same microcycle. The circuit below and others listed on my website support recovery of the systems depleted during heavy, low repetition weight training.
-Equipment:
1 dumbbell/kettlebell (example weight: 40 lbs)
1 weighted barbell with lock collars on (example weight: 95 lbs)
1 pullup bar
-Weight is not meant to be super heavy – athletes should feel a decent burn by rep 8 and fatigue should accumulate due to short rest times. I included example weights but you may be surprised who needs more or less weight for these exercises – as the frontal plane includes relatively smaller muscle groups, your “strong kids” may not be as much so here. However, it should again be emphasized that this is a general circuit and pushing heavy weight is not a goal. Technique and power output are priority, if these remain high, this circuit will do its job and enhance recovery from neutrally taxing training days as well as provide a training stimulus.
2 sets of 8-12, 1 minute rest between sets/exercises. For unilateral exercises, 4-6 each side for 8-12 total. The exception is single arm overhead walking lunges, where we do 5 each leg/10 total per set for each arm. This means we are doing 2 sets per arm with 1 minute rest in between them for 4 sets total.
- Single arm overhead walking lunges (5 each leg/10 total per set – 2 sets per arm with 1 minute rest in between them, 4 sets total)
- Hanging serratus crunches
- Hanging side hip crunches
- Single arm overhead pigeon squats
- Kettlebell (can be dumbbell) windmills
- Side barbell deadlifts
- Barbell tips
- Barbell good morning twists
If you would like to see more circuits like this one, please visit my blog daodesport.com and medium.com/daodesport.
Conclusion
Knowing more about how the core of the body works in the frontal plane consequently must change the way that we coach our athletes. To start, training programs must involve exercises in all planes of motion, even for athletes primarily moving in a straight line. Track & field coaching legend Anotoliy Bondarchuk insisted on these ideas in the training of his throwers back in the 70’s and 80’s, including at least one exercise each in the frontal and rotational planes in daily training.
Upon closer examination of many modern programs frontal and sagittal plane training is sometimes neglected and often completely ignored, perhaps simply because coaches do not understand its importance for injury prevention and performance. As a coach I have personally found the most success including rotational and frontal plane exercises consistently in the form of multi-jump circuits and general strength circuits.
Secondly, understanding that the body is constantly moving in several planes at once must also change the way that we teach skills. Ever notice that certain drills and cues trick athletes into looking like high-knee robots? “Technically correct” to some, but clearly missing something. The language and drills we use actually lead to the wrong movement pattern. Drills and exercises where athletes are not working in multiple planes of movement must be critically examined because of their tendency to build bad habits. Athletes must understand that we move from the inside out, and that tiny movements of the pelvis are a secret that separates elite athletes from also-rans.
About Sam Wuest
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Improving speed is one of the most popular topics in the athletic performance equation. Where there are many ideas and thoughts out there, as to particular training exercises, or setups, the more core aspects of speed training often go without mention. These include the fundamental aspects of what makes an athlete fast, specific sprint-power concepts, the relevance of "3D" motion, motor learning and more.
Velocity 101 will help you take a leap forward in understanding of what makes athletes fast, and how to train it effectively