THE HIPS DON’T LIE
“You’re too young to have anything wrong with your bones, but get the x-ray anyway because it’s free” was what my doctor said to me as I walked out the door with an MRI referral for a suspected torn labrum. How wrong he was. I mean, I did have a torn labrum too BUT turns out my “tight & sore hip flexor and lazy glutes” was actually symptomatic of me having the hip of a 65 year old.
At the ripe old age of 37, I was diagnosed with osteoarthrtiis in my left hip. In the space of 8 months, I went from being an athlete to someone who could barely walk across a room without assistance. I couldn’t sleep at night because of the referred pain. I couldn’t train. I couldn’t even put my pants on after the shower because I couldn’t stand on one leg. And when I needed to take clients in the gym, I sat on a stool in the corner and yelled instructions. I was left with no alternative but to get a full hip replacement if I wanted to walk again. So that’s what I did.
It still amazes me how much we take for granted when it comes to our bodies and what they can do, until all those skills and abilities and movements that we’re granted, are taken away from us. BUT on the flip side, having to work through such a significant injury forced me to reevaluate the way in which I was training. It made me a better coach, a better athlete and a better human. I learnt empathy, I got more educated and I realised that there’s something inherently satisfying about to completely break down and rebuild yourself. Especially when you exceed everyone’s expectations, including your own.
Now, I have zero pain and zero restrictions. Here is some of the helpful sh*t I learnt along the way.
The What
The hips are quite literally the drivers of ALL powerful movement. They don’t just allow you to walk, sit, sprint, squat and deadlift but they also stabilize, connect and co-ordinate movement between the lower and upper body through the “core”. And let me tell you, Shakira had it absolutely right when she said “the hips don’t lie.” From personal experience, I can tell you that if the hips aren’t happy then neither are you!
Sadly - with the amount of booty building programs currently on the gram - when most people think about the hips, it’s really just about perky posteriors and meaty hamstrings. But they are so much more than that, and if YOU want healthy hips for years to come, then it’s time to get acquainted with the importance of training a few other incredibly influential muscle groups.
The Hip Flexors
These run from your lower back through to the front of your hip and help keep your pelvis aligned. They bend your hip and bring your knees towards your chest, and play a key role in squatting (pulling you down into the bottom position) and in deadlifting (achieving full hip extension at the top). Because they are attached at the front and the back, ANY tightness or weakness will create an imbalance all over the body. And what most people don’t know is that tight hip flexors usually also mean WEAK hip flexors, so they need both direct stretching AND strengthening work.
The Adductors
Outside of moving limbs towards to the midline of the body, these have important roles in helping to flex and extend the hip, and can help make you a better squatter, deadlifter and sprinter. Sadly, unless you’re a horserider or breast stroker, the adductors receive very little work in everyday movement. BUT weaknesses/imbalances here lead to faulty biomechanics at the hip joint, which can transfer down the chain and contribute to knee issues that arise from incorrect alignment/tracking. If you’re going to do a bunch of booty band work that’s abduction focused (moving away from the midline), then you NEED to include direct adduction work in the opposite direction (towards the midline).
The Obliques
Whilst having a strong and stable core that’s able to brace and support the spine during loaded movement is incredibly important, there’s often not enough emphasis placed on the obliques which play an integral role in working with the gluteus medius to stabilize the hips and pelvis when you walk, run or move in any direction. I tend to favor “anti-movements” and offset loading to challenge this part of the core musculature, and side plank variations feature heavily in my training, where you get the added benefit of improving the stability of your shoulder girdle, and consequently the connection between your ribs and hips.
Top Tip: Specific exercise selection can allow you to improve strength/length relationships and train strength through length. For example, Lateral Lunges or Cossack Squats strengthen the glutes/hamstrings whilst lengthening the adductors.
The How
The lists below gives you an idea of some of the exercises that directly work the “weak links”. At the most basic level, you could just pick one exercise from each column to make a tri-set that could serve as a warmup or accessories/supplementals on a lower body focused day.
The Hip Flexors: Banded Mountain Climber, Seated Straight Leg Lifts, Banded Reverse Squats, Glute/Hamstring Bridge Psoas March
The Adductors: Lateral Lunges/Cossack Squats, Copenhagen Side Plank variations, Sumo Stance & Seated Good Mornings, Hip Adductor Machine, Sidelying Straight Leg Adduction
The Obliques: Side Plank variations, Single Arm Carries, Pallof Press variations, Russian Twists, Cable/Band Woodchops
“HIP-CENTRIC” SAMPLE SESSION
This simple yet effective workout addresses both Strength & Length through exercise selection. The best part – you can do all the exercises at the gym AND at home #noexcuses.
A1. 12 x Seated Straight Leg Lift Overs e/s
A2. 12 x Half Kneeling Hamstring Flex e/s
2 sets
B1. 8 x Single Leg Hip Thrust e/s
B2. 8 x Lateral Lunge/Cossack Squat e/s
B3. 30 secs Modified Copenhagen Side Plank e/s
3 sets
C1. 10 x Hand Resisted Dead Bugs e/s
C2. 20 x Banded Mountain Climber
2 sets
D1. 60 secs Couch Stretch e/s
Top Tip:
The foot/ankle/calf complex is incredibly important given that your feet are your proprioceptive HQ. The better the feet and ankles are functioning, the better the innervation all the way up the kinetic chain. Single leg work indirectly strengthens the feet and ankles through the balance aspect, and I often train in bare feet so I can better “feel” the floor.
If you feel like you could benefit from more sessions like this, then come WORK WITH ME on my exclusive online training platform.