Squats, lunges, split squats, step ups, etc. are all great exercises that you should absolutely be incorporating in your strength training, but they all only work in one plane of motion. If you are an avid runner or walker you are constantly in this one plane.
Your body is meant to move in all different directions, so restricting it to one plane can cause some weakness and imbalances. This can lead to injury and you don’t want nagging injuries to hold you back, especially as a runner. Subjecting yourself to this one plane can lead to overuse injuries because you are doing repetitive movements all in this linear direction. Incorporating movement and exercises in different planes allows your body to adjust to any natural movement your body makes throughout the day and during exercise.
As a runner you are constantly using your quad muscles, which in turn can cause some glute weakness. We show you a couple examples of exercises you can incorporate as a runner to apply movements in other planes other than our sagittal plane to strengthen the gluteus medius. The gluteus medius is our #1 hip stabilizer muscle so it is going to be vital as a runner to strengthen these muscle groups.
Please let us know if this information helps and if you want us to go over some more exercises in other planes of motions so you can expand your workout routines! Also: if you are in the area and are experiencing an injury that you need help with, please reach out to us at 678-400-0300!
