Transverse plane movements refer to any rotational patterns in your body in various angles. Your internal and external obliques work with other muscles in your torso and hips to rotate your body. They also assist in keeping your body in alignment and work with other breathing muscles to contract and expand your abdomen when you breathe. Therefore, the National Academy of Sports Medicine recommends that you incorporate different muscle groups with your obliques during transverse plane exercises.
Benefits
Many injuries in your muscles and joints occur in the transverse plane, particularly in turning and twisting movements, says physical therapist Gray Cook, author of "Athletic Body in Balance." Training in the transverse plane can get your mind and body familiar with the movement patterns to minimize your risk of injury. You may also discover that you can move with higher range of motion or with more coordination on one side of your body than the opposite side. Cook suggests that you train one or two extra sets on the less coordinated or mobile side in each training session until both sides feel relatively equal.
Medicine Ball Rotations
This exercise works on horizontal rotation of your torso as you swing the medicine ball to your left and right repetitively. Use your hips and torso to generate force to swing the ball as you keep your posture upright. Stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, and hold a medicine ball with both hands in front of your chest. Start with small turns to your left and right, and gradually increase the range of motion as your body warms up. Exhale as you swing across your body. Perform two to three sets of 20 reps.
Medicine Ball Chop and Lift
The chop is moving your arms down and across your body from a high position to a low position, while the lift is moving your arms up and across your body from a low position to a high position. This exercise uses your obliques to assist in stabilizing your torso as you rotate your shoulder girdle. These two movement patterns are the fundamentals to many activities and sports -- golf, martial arts and soccer to name a few -- that uses many diagonal patterns of your torso and limbs.
To do the medicine ball chop, stand with your left foot in front of you and hold the ball over your left shoulder. Swing it down and across your body toward your right hip without moving your body. Your abdominals should automatically stiffen to maintain your posture. Bring the ball over your shoulder and repeat the exercise.
To do the lift, stand in the same position as the chop exercise and hold the ball by your right hip. Swing it up and across your body toward your left shoulder without moving your body. Perform each exercise for three sets of eight to 10 reps per side.
Kneeling Diagonal Throw
This exercise is like the power version of the chop exercise, in which you throw the medicine ball down and across your body in a kneeling position. The kneeling position stabilizes your body and prevents your pelvis and legs from compensating the throw, forcing your obliques and other ab muscles to produce and control force as you throw. You can do this exercise by kneeling on both knees about 3 to 4 feet away from a sturdy wall with your left side of your body facing the wall. Hold the ball with both hands over your head toward your right. Throw the ball down and across your body toward the ball, and catch it after it bounces off the ground once. Do not turn your torso as your throw, but you may turn your shoulder girdle. You can also do this exercise with a workout partner who would catch the ball and toss it back at you.
References
- "NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training"; Michael Clark; 2007
- "Athletic Body in Balance"; Gray Cook; 2003
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