Hips

Hips

            Most people wouldn’t think of your hips as being a muscle or even something that has any importance but they couldn’t be any more wrong.  Hips are what flexes your whole body, they give motion to everything from long track runs to short punches in a fight.  Many exercises require hip rotation and strength and even more exercises work the hips and make them stronger.  The rotation and power of the hips are what separate good athletes and mediocre ones.  This post will discuss all the different forms and exercises that involve your hips and hip flexors. 

            First off, the hips are what move your whole body, you move your hips your body naturally moves with them, some better than others.  It might seem simple to just move your hips, but lots of people don’t know how to move them right or they are poor in moving them.  Boxing, running, wrestling, swimming, tennis, soccer, MMA, and many other sports use the rotation of the hips to get done what needs to be done.  Even though may not notice it, hip rotation is everywhere.  Take it from Elvis and his crazy hip shaking, it’s important. 

            So to insure that your hip movement is good, let’s look at a few exercises to help you.  Romanian dead lifts (RDLs) are a great lift to bring lots of weight to your hip flexors.  First grab a barbell with fairly heavy weight on the ends of it, and then hold it next to your body while standing straight up.  Allow the bar to slowly descend down against your thigh, with your legs straight, until it reaches the top of your knee.  When you let the bar fall down your thigh keep your back as straight as you can and only bending your knees slightly as you go down.  Stick your butt out as you do it to activate your hips.  Once you reach the top of your knee, pull the bar back up to the starting position and repeat the motion.  With this lift, sticking your butt out while performing it brings flexibility to your hips.  The same lift can be performed with one leg, where you do the same motion but now as you let the bar fall you stick one of your legs behind you keeping your leg straight and then bringing that leg back when you finish the lift. 

           Other exercises like rack pulls bring maneuverability to your hips while also really challenging your balance.  With a rack pull you create the same motion as an one leg RDL but when you bring one leg up as you bring the bar down, you leave it up, pulling it through, as you do the remainder of the lift. 

These are your basic lifts for hip rotation, hip movement, and balance that you most often see in the gym and can help you in many different things in life.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.