We move in both angular and linear planes.
Angular planes are
- Yaw (like shaking your head “no”)
- Pitch (like shaking your head “yes”)
- Roll (like moving your ear down to your shoulder)
Linear planes are
- Moving up/down
- Moving side/side
- Moving forward/back
As a tactical athlete you want to ensure that your training program incorporates all planes of movement.
This is important not only for your ability to physically move your joints and generate force in that plane, but to maintain your situational awareness with those movements.
Maintaining situational awareness with any angular or linear movement requires your vestibular system.
Your vestibular system contains some of the fastest reflexes in your body.
It allows you to keep a target in focus and maintain head and trunk position with angular and linear acceleration/ deceleration movements.
When you’re in the gym lifting or out for a run, you’re training your vestibular system.
You can easily incorporate strengthening your situational awareness capabilities by being more intentional with training in all planes of movement while also adding in even greater acceleration/deceleration forces.
You will want to ensure that as you train these you have specific targets that you focus on during those movements. Adding in targets with acceleration/deceleration training will strengthen your vestibular systems capability even more.
Don’t just stare at the floor. Be intentional with your targets with any acceleration/deceleration movement.
Are you training angular and linear planes of movement?