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Build a Better You: Start prioritizing your hip mobility
Good hip mobility supports proper alignment, reduces injury risk
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I feel like it's safe to say we are always looking for ways to stay moving in the wintertime to prepare our bodies for when the weather gets warm. Good hip mobility is a good place to start.
Hip mobility allows for efficient movement patterns, reduces the risk of imbalances and injuries, supports proper alignment, helps in daily activities, aids in injury rehabilitation, and promotes overall comfort and freedom of movement. If you haven't given much thought to muscular tightness and joint restriction, there's no better time than now to start prioritizing your hip mobility.
Here are six exercises to promote flexibility and freedom of movement in your hips.
Figure four glute stretch
- Lay supine on your back.
- Lift your knees above your hips.
- Cross one shin across your thigh with the hip turned out, actively flexing the foot.
- Hold for at least 45 seconds to a minute before switching to the second side.
Tabletop one leg hip circles
- Find a tabletop position, hands under shoulders and knees under hips.
- Use padding under both knees if needed.
- Hover one knee under your abdomen and draw a full range of circles with your knee to lubricate your hip.
- Complete five circles in each direction before switching sides.
Technique tips: As you move, do your best to stabilize the core so only one hip moves.
External rotation clams
- Lay on your side with knees bent towards the navel.
- Stack shoulders, hips and knees as best as you can.
- Keep the heels together and externally rotate your top hip as far open as you can without the core moving or letting the heels come apart.
- Repeat six to eight repetitions before switching to the second side.
Technique tip: Focus on the range of motion and isolating the gluteus.
Internal rotation side lying
- Lay on your side with knees bent toward the navel.
- Stack shoulders, hips and knees as best you can.
- Keep the heels together and lift the top heel off the bottom heel, internally rotating the top thigh.
- Repeat six to eight repetitions before switching to the second side.
90-90 hip opener low lunge
- From a kneeling position, step one leg forward into a low lunge with the back knee on the mat.
- Position your back knee right below the hip so that both legs create a 90-degree angle.
- Without changing the position of your body, activate the core to stretch the front of your hips.
- Position your back knee right below the hip so that both legs create a 90-degree angle.
With consistent practice, including targeted exercises and stretches, you will typically begin to notice improvements in hip mobility within a few weeks to a couple of months.
Just like any exercise, regularly performing mobility exercises, incorporating dynamic stretches and maintaining an active lifestyle that promotes hip movement may speed up progress.
Isabela Joyce is a certified personal trainer and nutritionist at The M.A.C. She can be reached at IJoyce@the-mac.net.
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