The Language of Movement

My intention for this blog is to try and provide as much of the information I am exposed to in my work and study as possible. But given the depth and breadth of information available to discuss relating to human performance the hardest thing is knowing where to start. So I guess when in doubt start with the basics.

I recently attended the CrossFit level 1 certification which is open to anyone able to pay the attendance fee with an interest in CrossFit. As you would expect there were a significant number of personal trainers eager to add the CrossFit methodology to their training repertoire. There were also a number of CrossFit enthusiasts that just wanted to train from CrossFit HQ mainsite and understand the method better for their own training. There were even a few people there who had never even done a CrossFit workout before. The seminar instructors were very good, well prepared, charismatic and enthusiastic. The bulk of the material – as you would expect – was simplified into practical terminology and examples to make it as user friendly as possible for the broad range participants. Even with the simplified material a large number of the participants had trouble getting their head around the descriptions of movement. What is hip flexion, adduction, abduction etc. So I figure if a group of exercise enthusiasts and personal trainers struggled to get their head around the terminology, it couldnt hurt to revisit this topic as the first addition to the blog.


The language of movement is essential in our ability to understand and communicate human movement to each other. It is very difficult to describe human movement without a common language to help paint the picture. The beauty of understanding the language is it allows you to break down and accurately describe the component parts of different exercises and activities and can help you better identify any missing pieces when trying to improve your technique or performance. It provides a common language that all exercise, health and medical professionals can speak. And you can impress your physio or doctor with your perfect descriptions at your next visit.

Planes of Movement

There are 3 primary planes of movement, Frontal (coronal), Sagittal, and Transverse. These are kind of like the human movement compass, they don’t tell you what’s happening they only describe where you are going. Here are some examples of exercise in these different planes of movement:

Frontal – Strict Press, Jumping Jacks (star jumps)

Sagittal  - Squat, Running, Kettlebell Swing, Front Raise, Push Ups

Coronal – Russian Twist, Carioca Drill, Cable Rotations

Obviously, when you think about each of the aforementioned exercises you start to realize that they don’t fit perfectly into each category, that each exercise is comprised of a mixture of different movement planes. So now we know where we are going we just need to describe how it is we are getting there. This is where it can get a little confusing, but bear with me you will hear these terms come up time and time again in the health and fitness world and the more you are exposed to them the easier it gets.

Describing Movement

Start to think about some of the exercises that you do at the gym, in sport or at the CrossFit box and what are the primary movements of these exercises. For example, the squat is comprised of an intial flexion at the hip and knee and dorsiflexion of the ankle as you lower, then reversed by extending at the hip and knee and plantarflexing at the ankle.

The better you understand these movement descriptions the easier it will be to communicate to your clients, trainer or health professional what it is you/they are struggling with and what needs to be addressed.