My athlete looked a little uncomfortable. That’s okay, though. It’s my job to make my athletes uncomfortable, so I kept explaining his accessory work. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” I replied. “You can always ask questions. You know that.”
“This isn’t anything I’ve ever seen in traditional weightlifting programming,” he said. “So...why do I need to work on this stuff?”
 
Good question.
 
I had been demonstrating a core rotation drill—a movement pattern not usually included in weightlifting or powerlifting programs. I mean, why include these exercises if the lifts you’re training don’t require it?
 
The biggest reason, which is priority number one in ALL of my programming whether it’s for a young competitive weightlifter, an octogenarian with two knee replacements and type 2 diabetes, or a masters-division powerlifter, is to build strong, resilient humans who are resistant to life’s unpredictable forces. What good is a 600 lb. deadlift if you get injured putting on your socks in the morning?  I know accessory work is not as fun, but hear me out: the squat, bench press, deadlift, snatch, and clean and jerk are all extension-based exercises in the sagittal plane. Our bodies are not their happiest doing the same exercises in the same direction, over and over and over again—so it’s important to change it up and do some different things to stay healthy and strong and pain-free.
 
Still more reasons to include a wide variety of movement patterns in your training are to develop stability, spatial awareness, and coordination. Consider that in strength sports, technique is king and even a millimeter’s deviation in the bar path can make or break a lift. At the same time, our bodies are not symmetrical. Even the greatest athletes are a motley collection of worn-out joints, unbalanced muscles, and compensatory patterns. A strength athlete’s ability to control the inevitable slight lateral and rotational shifts when they’re putting a heavy barbell in the place is what separates the great lifters who win medals from the broken ones who love to tell everyone what they used to lift in the garage.
 
Finally, even in strength sports where the forces are generally predictable, the unexpected does happen...and when unexpected things happen while you have 200lbs over your head, you want to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have the strength to control the weight back down to the floor without shooting your spine out your butthole. This stuff is important. So, to that end, here are three movement patterns that don’t get enough attention in the gym and some ways to include them.
 
Frontal Plane (Lateral) Motion
As mentioned above, all the big competition lifts are extension-based sagittal plane exercises. It’s great to build strength in that direction, but the rest of life depends on things like getting in and out of vehicles, picking up children, and running away from zombies. Developing some strength in the frontal plane will make you a more functional human being and more resistant to unpredictable forces.
 
Lateral Lunges
YTLW
Side Planks w/variations
 
Rotation and Anti-Rotation
 
Working on rotational strength will increase the structural integrity of your abdominal capsule, which in turn will make you a better weightlifter. It will also protect your spine against injury and stabilize your pelvis and hips.
 
Rolling Plank
Med Ball Throws
Chops and Pallof Presses
 
Spine Flexion
When training the snatch and the clean and jerk, we focus on maintaining tension in spine extension - which makes a lot of sense since the shorter and tighter we can get our backs, the more weight we can lift overhead. We tend to focus on anti-extension when we’re adding abdominal accessory work to balance this out, but for spine health (just like adding extra rotation work) it’s important to consider resisted spine flexion as well.
 
FR T-spine CARS
Anchored Rev Ab Curls
Slo-Mo Knees to Elbows
 
These are just a few ways to incorporate some different movement patterns. There are a million ways to shake things up in the gym. Learn to hula hoop, throw a ball around, dance, crawl, roll—playing is a really great way to keep things fresh and break up the monotony of training the same lifts all the time. If you can find a way to work some non-sagittal-plane exercises into your training four or five times a week you’ll increase your body awareness, athleticism, and overall strength. You’ll look and feel better and hey, you might even have some fun with it! And in the process you will build a stronger, more resilient body.