Strengthening The Hips

In our quest for more active body’s while we are aging, strengthening our muscles plays a key role. We have heard that the bodies metabolism decreases as we age! That is a fact. However, by maintaining our muscle mass we can offset that reduction by 7-8%, the same amount that our bodies lose in a decade, after age 50. (more on that later)

In training clients one of the biggest regions I see that lack of strength is the hip region. The hip is a joint supported by several muscles and helps the leg rotate properly in gait. It is the power source for the lower body. Having strong muscles that support the hips helps keep knees strong and the lower back happy!

Hopefully, we have the hips ready to work after our the last post about Hip Mobility. (Click Here to Read Hips Don’t Lie: The Importance of Hip Mobility) Notice that all the work we did in the hip is movement based dynamic stretches in our mobility segment. Save your static stretches for after your workout.

The back of the body also seems to get ignored and since we sit most of the time on our most important muscle, (in my opinion) our glutes, my first hip exercises feature muscles in the back and side of the leg.

These are three simple beginning strength exercises that help work the muscles around the hip.

**Remember all exercises should be done in a pain-free range of motion**

Check out My Video For Help 👇

Simple Hip Extension

This can be done at a counter, a bar, a TRX, on the ground or even laying on a ball.

• The action is simply extending your leg back.
• You can squeeze the butt while you lift the leg.
• Stand tall on your other leg, looking for the 3 points of balance on your foot, and keep your standing knee soft.
• Your leg does not have to come very far, 20-30 degrees, like a walking stride.
• Watch for rotation of the hip thru the back.
• Hips should remain forward.
• 10-15 times 2-3 sets or until fatigue. If your back hurts, try lowering your leg.

Glute/Hip Bridges

Glute or hip bridges are a simple way to strengthen the backside and wake up that bottom that’s been sitting.

• Simply lay on a mat and bend your knees with feet flat
• Align your feet and knee and shoulders.
• Raise your hips off the ground using your butt muscles.
• Pushing your heels down will help fire the glutes and not just the hamstring.

There are a great many variations you can do with this, but make sure you can do this basic one first.

Banded Side Walking

Banded side walking is an exercise that works in a different plane than we walk in and helps strengthen the muscles in the upper hip. These muscles help to pull the leg out to the side and also help rotate the hip. They are also very important to walking.

• Soften the knees.
• Loop a band or tubing (begin with a light one) around the bottom of feet and take a step to the side pushing the band with you.
• Your arms are relaxed and holding the top of the band.
• Take 10 steps to the right and repeat with the left.

You can always build on these simple exercise to make them more complex or add upper body components to them, but in their simplest form, they can be quite effective!

What is your favorite strength exercise for the hips?