Fluid & Confident Movement: Hip Mobility Exercises

 With the role of controlling the raising and lowering of the legs, you’d think more focus would be given on managing our hips and their mobility. Unfortunately, because it’s not as glamorous as building muscle, it’s often neglected. However, maintaining your hips’ mobility is just as crucial, which is what this blog will explore through our hip mobility exercises.

Benefits of Hip Mobility Exercises

Hip mobility is the ability for your hips to access ranges of motion. Hips of high mobility enable your legs to reach greater ranges of motion, potentially giving them an athletic advantage during sport. Furthermore, mobile hips tend to have elastic muscles, reducing the risk of strain injury via overstretching. Along with being highly beneficial to athletes, sedentary workers (i.e. office jobs) will benefit as their hip muscles tend to shorten and tighten from sitting down all day.

5 Essential Hip Mobility Exercises

Here are some exercises to improve your hips’ mobility. They are of varying intensity, taking into account all levels of flexibility.

·       Hip Circles: Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. Slowly rotate your hips in a circular motion, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. This exercise gently loosens up your hips joints.

·       Butterfly Stretch: Sit on the floor with your feet together and knees bent outwards, grab your ankles, and use your elbows to gently push your knees down. You should feel a stretch in your hips. This encourages the lengthening of your hip flexors – crucial for athletic performance.

·       Seated Leg Raises: While sitting on the floor with your legs extended, raise one leg as high as you can while keeping it straight. Hold for a few seconds, then switch to the other leg. This exercise promotes flexibility in the hips and hamstrings.

·       Pigeon Pose: Begin in a plank position and bring one knee forward, placing it behind your wrist, lower your hips toward the floor, feeling a stretch in your hip and glute. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

·       Lying Hip Rotations: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Gently lower your knees to one side while keeping your shoulders on the ground. Hold for a few seconds and return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side.

Incorporating into Your Routine

To reap the benefits of hip mobility exercises, it’s essential to incorporate them into your daily routine. Aim to perform these exercises at least three times a week. This could be first thing in the morning, or in addition to an existing fitness routine. Consistency is key when it comes to improving hip mobility, so make it a habit.

A Final Note

Mobility is an attribute that individuals don’t understand the significance of until they enter both ends of the mobility spectrum. Poor mobility will be reflected in increased injury risk and discomfort during expeditious movement, whilst excellent mobility is reflected in fluid movement and confidence athletic performances. Instil discipline to your mobility routines, and the fruits of your labour will soon flourish!

For exercises focusing on improving hip mobility, physiofrog.io’s team of physios and performance coaches have collated the most successful exercises at improving one’s hip mobility, and have presented it in a routine format – free of charge! To kick-start your mobility journey, visit physiofrog.io – the software aimed at preparing individuals for athletic activity via exercises of injury prevention and recovery.