Stability, Mobility And Strength: Reasons To Incorporate Multiplanar Pressing

Multiplanar pressing doesn't so much get a bad rap as a nonexistent one. The term doesn't help: multiplanar sounds like something to do with physics or airplane design, and most people are content with just one pressing movement already (can you guess which one?).

So, seeing that Bench Press Bro is pretty pleased with the pressing movement he already knows, why are we discussing a sophisticated set of pressing variations? 

Because you need multiplanar pressing.

In order to convince youthat that's the case I have to tell you what it is — but also what it's not. A movement isn't multiplanar if it's uneccesarily complicated. A step up bicep curl isn't multiplanar, the same way a bosu ball renegade lunge isn't functional. It's just a waste of time. Multiplanar pressing isn't a fad or a cure-all.

So What Is It?

Multiplanar refers to "more than one plane." 

A plane is a line of movement. So if you look at the human body you'll see the three that you're familiar with: the saggital plane, the frontal or coronal plane and the transverse plane. Your saggital plane divides your body down the middle into left and right. Your coronal plane divides your body into front and back. And your transverse plane divides your body into top and bottom. At this point you can think of them as axes. Up-down, left-right, front-back.And it's pretty obvious that most of the training we do in the gym is focussed around just one at a time. Squats are an up-down movement. Benches are a front-back movement, and so are rows. 

A multiplanar movement is one where the line you're pressing along is passing through more than one axis.

Why Is That Good?

Let's talk about anatomy, my favorite subject and everyone else's least favorite subject. When you perform a military press, which muscles do the work? Given that the other name for a military press is a "shoulder press," you might be handy with an answer: but you'd be wrong. Because the whole upper and middle back, chest and arms are involved in pressing a weight overhead. 

Multiplanar pressing teaches the body to apply force through more than one plane at once, so joints become more stable. It teaches you to press throuugh wider ranges of motion so the body becomes more mobile. And it teaches you to press with more neurological activation, more muscle mass involved, and more proprioception involved in the movement. Which means that when you go back to your big, simple lifts (they're good, by the way, I'm not knocking them) your numbers will skyrocket. And that elbow and shoulder pain you assume is a badge of honor that proves you lift? That will fade away.

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I'm going to talk you through three classic multiplanar pressing moves, each with a distinct benefit. 

Multiplanar Presses For Stability, Strength and Mobility

1: Turkish Get-Ups

Yawn. You thought the first one would be something exciting involving straps and bands and bosu balls, right? I thought I'd start with something everyone knows works. TGUs are a staple of kettlebell geeks, functional fitness nerds, sports trainers and people all over the world who want to bulletproof their shoulders and teach their bodies to act as one mobile, stable piece. 

Why It's Multiplanar: The load starts above you with your arm at right angles to your body (front-back) and ends overhead (up-down).

Why it's great for stability: Your shoulder has to control the position of the load as you move it and your body through space. They're surprisingly tiring and while they're not the first choice to build muscle directly, TGUs are a great way to build injury-proof, rock-solid stability throughout the body, not just in the shoulders.

How it's done: Floor press a dumbbell or kettlebell (or two fat ladies on a bicycle: don't let me hold you back) and press your body upward on one elbow and the opposite knee. Shoot your non-loaded foot back into a low lunge, stand up and finish with your feet together.

2: Reverse Pushup To Shoulder Support

These are a calisthenic classic, great for building shoulder ROM you can actually use and a killer stabiliser workout as well as building strength.

Why it's great for strength: You're always at a mechanical disadvantage, so it's perfeect for developing strength in any direction

Why it's multiplanar: You move from having your hands overhead, pressing downward, to having them next to your hips, pressing downward. That's about half the ROM of your shoulder joint, loaded. 

How it's done: I assumed some familiarity with TGUs. These are a little more off the beaten track, so I'll go into more detail. Start in a pushup position with your thumbs, not your fingers, facing forwards. Bend your knees until they amlost, but not quite, tocuh the floor. Keep your arms straight. That's one "end" of the movemet. At this point you should be face to face with the floor, arms overhead, hips pushed back; think of it like an overhead squat ar right angles to the ground. Now allow yourself to move forward, still keeping your arms straight, and take the weight into the very tips of your toes as your bodyweight comes forward. This is the other "end" and at the finish, you should be on tip toes, with your hands almost under your hips. Roll your shoulders forward to take the weight. 

3: Around The World

Maybe you remember this as a yoyo trick. Put that thing down: this is something else. After you do a few of these you'll remember your old pressing workouts with a warm glow of nostalgia.

Why it's multiplanar: You're using the movement of your arms to move the load into a different position while keeping the line of push the same. It doesn't change relative to gravity but it changes relative to you.

Why it's great for mobility: Taking your shoulders through a nearly-full range of motion under a load is a great way to discover the gaps in your mobility: the bits you swing your arm through bnecause you don'thave the strength and control to move smoothly. Do these and you'll soon develop strong, fluid mobility that lets you move freely, strongly and safely.

How it's done: Lie on your back with your feet tucked up, as if you were about to do a glute bridge. In each hand, hold a weight. Your arms should be straight, palms up. Don't start with heavy weights. Hold your hands next to your legs. Your arms should be about 30° off the horizontal, so you're pressing upward. That puts the movement intop the scapular plane which is more shoulder-friendly. Now, slowly and simultaneouusly move both hands around in a circle until they're about shoulderwidth apart overhead. Return to the starting position. That's one rep. 

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