HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training (2015)

PART 1
GETTING STARTED & UNDERSTANDING HIIT

2 HOW YOUR BODY MOVES

A very important aspect of any workout plan is to use as many planes of movement as you can to get great results.

I see so many workouts that only ever focus on one range of movement, and the result of this is overloading center muscle groups, causing injuries, and negatively affecting posture. And if body sculpting and toning is what you want, then using the three ranges is essential; it nips and tucks you in from every angle.

The three planes are:

· Sagittal (which is forward and backward motion); this is the most typically used plane.

· Lateral, also referred to as frontal (which is sideways movement).

· Transverse (which is twisting and rotational movement).

I like to explain to my clients and in my books and apps just how the body works when we are exercising, because I believe the more you understand what you are doing, the more you engage with your workouts.

Knowledge is Power

LET’S LOOK AT THE SAGITTAL PLANE

The sagittal plane is the most common plane of movement that we do not only in exercise, but also in day-to-day life; this is simply moving the body forward or backward.

The following exercises are done in the sagittal plane: walking, running, rowing, cycling, lunges, squats, and push-ups. So if you followed a workout that was just running and then squats and push-ups, you would only ever be working your muscles through the front and back of your body and missing out on all your side muscles.

Frontal movement is taking the range of movement out to the side, so this movement would be used a lot in racket sports, where you step out to the side or strike a racket by lifting your arm to the side. This movement is also in exercises such as skater‘s lunges or the famous star jump. (Used in the HIIT workouts, this is a great lateral movement; in fact, this gem moves through all the ranges.)

Then finally transverse is a rotational move, and good examples of this would be golf, boxing, or certain styles of swimming, such as the breast stroke. And a great example of this as an exercise is the Ab Shaper used in the 7-Minute HIIT Workout (p.64), as this targets those side muscles, your internal and external obliques, that help draw in the waist.

So whenever you are working out, it is always a good idea to make sure you are using at least two ranges of movement. I have coded all the HIIT workouts in this book so that you know what planes of movement are used.