Planes of Motion

In the future, I will address additional equipment necessary to becoming Steel Cut.  But first, I want to address how we move---so bear with me.  The absorption of a few, not overly burdensome, principles will aid in understanding efficiency in exercise, and how best to maximize the results of working out.  

So, yeah, PLANES OF MOTION.....  Three "planes"--the Sagittal, the Frontal, and the Transverse--exist to explain movement, and all forms of life, even Harry Reid, pass through them.  An example of Sagittal plane movement is the nodding, backward and forward, of the head; whereas, Transverse movement swivels the head, and Frontal plane movement, like the hands of a clock, occurs along the "line" an arrow makes when penetrating one ear and passing out the other.  Servants bow in the Sagittal plane.  A metronome ticks in the Frontal.  And President Obama, when orating, moves in the Transverse.

  

Please, rise....  The best way to remember something is to imprint it on the brain, not through passive reading but trial. You up?  Good.  Dance....  What you'll discover, if surrounded, is that people in the vicinity, more or less, think you're weird. But also that activity in a single plane rarely occurs independent of subordinate planes.  In walking, for instance, the dominant plane is Sagittal.  However, in transferring from one foot to the other, the trunk must stabilize, to control sway, in the Frontal, while concurrently rotating about the axis of the spine.  The spectrum is used, each and every plane, and while forward motion occurs largely in the Sagittal, a basketball player shuffling to prevent a slam-dunk has shifted emphasis to Mr. F.P.  An ice-skater decked out in Victoria's Secret incites the crowd by becoming a blur---"A girl atwirl in the Transverse plane!"  

Got it?  You're prepared.  You know more kinesiology--the science of movement--than 99% of personal trainers, and are poised to apply it to your workout regimen.  Perhaps you dream of touching your toes.... the English Channel....  the North Face of Kanjenchuga?  Excellent.  Grasping "kinetic principles" provides the template for goals.  Play baseball? Rotary power in the Transverse plane will transform dribblers into scalding line-drives.  Tennis?  The serve is a classic three-plane movement.  I, Steel Cut Oats, am not one of those curiously orange trainers who, after a daunting struggle with diet, becomes an orange "success"---I've been in shape all my life.  "Shape" is relative, however, and it wasn't until I learned the Principles of Motion, and how to apply them, that I reached the "next level."  How did this occur?  Why did injuries--the balky hip, the bad back--disappear?  Because I worked in mechanically sound ways.  Future blogs will address specific exercise invaluable to supporting joints while enhancing kinetic power. 

--- Foot Strengthening  

   --- Bosu 

--- Ballistic Exercise

--- Weighted Balls

Indeed, invaluable.  Once I grasp video, this site will feature text-supported demonstrations of me blasting through work-outs so exacting that the difference between function and flailing is clear.  Until then, remember: You don't need a ticket....  All that's required to pass through a plane is a burning desire too GET OFF YOUR _____!! 

 Makten, Steel

Next Blog: Foot Strengthening.... 

Note: I realize that the video isn't exactly High Def.  I shot the original sideways and, instead of starting over, "filmed the film," a technique pioneered by Marvin Scorcese.  If re-production is in order, please let me know.  

Equipment

When it comes to equipment, "simplicity" is the best way to go.  The fitness industry, with its machine-packed clubs and devices, too often gets in its own way, and instead of educating those it seeks to help, presents a muddled picture.  Here I abide by the concept: less is more....  And Rule Number One is---Avoid Those Machines.  Why?  Because, though they look fancy and fill space in the club, machines don't address "functional movement." When reaching for the pot above the counter, you don't find an attached pulley guiding you in a specific direction. The weight is "free," requiring you to balance, direct, and guide it through "space."  As a result, you recruit and fire, not one but a set of muscles, working together, as opposed to a single muscle, isolated on a cable, pulley, or track.  Functional movement is "synergistic," translating to how we move in daily life.  

The old-fashioned push-up is a perfect example.  As opposed to sitting upright, your stomach relaxed, while pressing a lever, the push-up, beginning in plank position, recruits a spectrum of minor and major muscles.  To maintain "plank," toes must press through the surface, firing the hip flexors and, to a lesser degree, the lower quads....  Lumbar muscles "synergize"with the abs, preventing the pelvis from collapsing to the floor.  Meanwhile, the upper back and the shoulder girdle--the teres major and minor, the serratus, the lats, and the rhomboids--stabilize the trunk above the diaphragm.  The chest and arms work within a system "turned on" to facilitate movement.  And the floor that made it possible didn't cost a single dime....

This concept applies to all training with resistance.  Bench press, be it with an Olympic bar or individual dumb-bells, requires you to "balance" weight while raising and lowering it in exercise.   This "functional" movement translates to activities (to pushing a lawn-mower or making a tackle), more effectively than cable-guided, machine-based movement.  We've all seen the moron who loads the leg-press ten to a side, sits in the thing and, show notwithstanding, moves the rack an INCH.  This epitomizes futility.  Not only is he working from a non-functional position using supported weight, he's telling the gym he's more focused on pretending to be strong than actually getting there.  The benefit from this exercise, the strength-building component, derives exclusively from loading and unloading the apparatus.  

And the same holds true for other machines--curl, tricep, leg extension....--none of which is as effective as its free weight counterpart.  Here the adage "you get what you pay for" is turned on its head, for no other industry spends thousands of dollars to create the illusion of "essential technology," when, in fact, "weight" can't be improved.  A set of dumb-bells, capable of training every body part, costs a fraction of the machines, not a single one of which is half as effective, needed to duplicate its repertoire.  So, remember: "Free Weights" recruit muscle the way LIFE recruits muscle.  They're inexpensive, effective....  Use them, and pass through life: Steel Cut!

Next Blog: Movement Principles: Planes of Motion

 Makten, Steel....

A Word from Steel Cut Oats

Subject: First Blog

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Bonzai.....

Steel Cut Fitness, a fit-lifestyle blog, is maintained and written by Greg Halvorson--a.k.a. Steel Cut Oats--a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Physical Therapy, where, in 1995, he earned a Masters Degree.  Halv, or Oats, as he is often referred, is a lifelong practitioner ( a word he learned in Grad School!) of functional movement, and has been known, when he checks into a hotel, to CARRY his wheel-less satchel, two-by-two, to the Upper Echelon (Excelsis Deo!) of Sweat.  This epitomizes his philosophy---move, keep moving and, given the nod, TAKE THE STAIRS!!  "Take the Stairs," in fact, is the name of his business, an "old school" enterprise, where the willing, and not so willing, see exertion, not as torture but a link to the past, a bridge to days when hominids chased dinner and, on occasion, became it. (Note: Caveman Fitness failed the focus group.) Where, ultimately, this leads, Greg cannot say, for he blogs without a net....  There exists no lodestar or Guiding Light to steward discipline.  Which is to say, he could wander, peregrinate and occasionally expound, when distracted, on marsupials, self-reliance, and mozzarella fondue.  Let not it be said that a well-written segue on practically any topic won't crunch the abs!  Humor, advice, and an offspring with ad revenue in the high six figures--hell, make it seven!--are integers of an equation whose sum isn't known.  That said, Oats, in both 3rd and 1st Person, promises to teach, advise and, in the end, promote HEALTH, all in the spirit of science and fun.  

Makten, Steel