How to Unlock TIGHT HIPS (With 6 Exercises)

How to Unlock TIGHT HIPS (With 6 Exercises)

Are you one of the many people out there struggling with tight hips or hip pain? 

Whether it’s caused by a previous injury, sitting for long periods, or a sedentary lifestyle, hip pain and tight hips can be a major roadblock to your daily routine. 

Rehab work can help improve our movements, BUT we have to KEEP doing it to see those results maintained.

Rehab must become prehab. 

That’s why I want to share 6 moves to help you keep those hips, and even your lower back and knees, healthy and happy. 

And at the end I’ll share a quick series you can do combining these moves to use daily!

Exercise #1: Rectus Femoris Foam Rolling

Especially if you spend a ton of time seated, you want to spend some time relaxing tight and overactive hip flexors.

One key hip flexor muscle to focus on is the rectus femoris. This quad muscle is the only one to impact both the knee and the hip so tightness can not only perpetuate your hip pain, but also your knee and even lower back aches and pains.   

To roll out this muscle, a ball works best but will apply more pressure so if needed modify with a roller. 

Lie face down with the ball in the middle front of your thigh. Relax over the ball, propping yourself up on your forearms.

Extend your leg out flexing that quad then relax. Repeat as you hold on the ball, breathing to help the muscle relax and release.

If you find you’re only tensing against the pressure, start with a softer trigger point tool.

Repeat for a few extensions then move the ball slightly up or down your thigh.

Exercise #2: Adductor Foam Rolling

Tightness of our adductors or inner thighs can perpetuate hip pain as well, causing hip alignment issues and even knee tracking issues. 

 If you find your knees tend to cave in and you struggle to feel your glute medius or side butt working, you may want to address any adductor tightness. 

The adductors are also a hip flexor, so tightness there may be limiting your hip extension as well. 

To roll out your adductors, a roller works best.

Place the roller to the side fo you and bend your knee to about 90 degrees placing the inside of your thigh by your knee on the roller. You can roll up toward your groin and work all along your inner thigh. 

When you find a spot that is tight, lift your lower leg and then relax it back down and even push down into the roller then slightly release.

Don’t just roll up and down quickly but instead focus on holding on any tight spots to help the muscle relax and release.

Then you want to include stretching. If you are doing this as part of your warm up series, stretches that get your joints moving through a full range of motion is key. 

Exercise #3: Bench Hip And Quad Stretch 

This stretch will help improve your hip extension and stretch out any short and tight hip flexors. The key with this move is to focus on that back glute engaging to drive that back hip forward.

This stretch will isolate each side independently and really start to warm up your legs as well as it is basically a balance lunge!

To do this stretch, set up with a bench behind you. As long as your knee allows, set up at the bottom of the stretch kneeling on the ground. If you need to reduce the range of motion, put a block or even a pillow or cushion down on the ground to kneel on.

Place your back foot up on the bench and make sure your front foot is firmly pressed into the ground. Engage that back glute to help you kneel up nice and tall and drive your hip into extension from the bottom.

Then pressing off your front and back foot, lift up.

Squeeze that back glute the entire time and lower back down. Pause at the bottom on the ground for a breath and repeat.

If you find balancing a challenge, you can use a suspension trainer, chair or foam roller to hold on to just make sure you aren’t leaning forward but instead staying upright.

Leaning forward would put your hip back into flexion! 

Exercise #4: Alternating Pigeon Pose

The pigeon pose stretch is an amazing stretch to improve your hip mobility, especially if you’ve ever had sciatic pain, lower back pain or even IT band and knee issues.

However, the static version isn’t a great way to warm up your body for work. 

With this variation, moving through that range of motion, you can implement this stretch while really mobilizing those hips.

To do this stretch, start on your hands and knees. Then begin to walk your hands to one sides on the ground as you swing the leg on the side you’re walking toward back behind you and across your other leg.

Your body will rotate as you move into that pigeon pose, sitting into the glute of that front leg with your shin perpendicular to your body. Flex your foot if you do feel any pressure in that front knee.

Focus on squaring your hips up toward the ground as much as possible as you reach that one leg straight back. Engage that back glute to drive that back hip into extension as you feel the outside of your front glute stretching.

Pause for a breath then move back onto your hands and knees before rotating into pigeon on the other side.

If this feels like too much, or you can’t put pressure on your knees, try a seated bench variation, alternating pigeon pose on each side, pressing the knee gentle open as you hinge forward and sit back up before switching sides.

Next you want to include focused activation exercises.

While with the stretching you want to focus on what you feel even working to drive the stretch and begin that activation process, these moves are really key to get those underactive muscles working and improve your hip and even pelvic stability.

This first activation exercise focuses on activating those glutes. 

Exercise #5: The Wall Side Lying Lateral Raise 

Too often, especially if we’ve had previous lower back, hip or knee injuries, our glutes aren’t working as effectively as they should be and we need to work to improve that mind-body connection.

Isolation moves like this to create a slight pump and burn, but not fatigue the muscle, prior to our training are key.

The Wall Side Lying Lateral Raise is an amazing glute activation move to include because it targets both the glute medius and glute max to improve your hip stability.

The one thing we have to remember is the “right” moves only benefit us if the correct muscles are working.

And often we will allow our TFL or piriformis to compensate during lateral raise movements. 

That’s why this variation of the lateral raise is so helpful.

Turning your toe down toward the ground even just slightly vs letting it rotate open can really help you avoid that hip flexor or piriformis from taking over and the slight kick back helps also engage your glute max and avoid any hip flexor engagement to better activate that glute medius.

To do this exercise, set up lying on your side with the bottom leg bent and your butt a few inches from the wall.

You can fully lie on your side with your bottom arm straight out on the ground or you can prop yourself up to rest your head in your hand.

Lift your top leg up a few inches off your bottom leg and even slightly turn that top toe down toward the ground.

Drive your heel back into the wall behind you and feel your glute engage pushing into the wall.

Slide your heel up the wall lifting your leg and focus on the side of your butt lifting as you drive hard back into the wall. 

Do not let your body rotate or your toe turn open just to try to lift higher. 

Perform this lateral raise but do not rotate your hip open to raise up higher.

To advance this move, add a mini band around your legs above your knee.

The final exercise in this series will work on pelvic stability, engaging your core, glutes and even your hamstrings.

Exercise #6: Is Alternating Pelvic Tilt Leg Glides 

Often our hamstrings feel tight and we turn to stretching. 

But in many cases they are weak.

And even being weak they may want to take over for underactive glutes. 

That’s why exercises like this that work on core bracing as you strengthen your hamstrings can help improve your hip stability while also helping you avoid hamstring strains and injuries!

To do this move, lie on your back with a slider or towel under each heel and your heels a few inches from your butt. Feel the space between your lower back and the ground.

Engage your abs to get rid of the space as you press your lower back into the ground. Taking a deep breath and then exhaling as you draw your hip bones up toward your ribs can help you engage those abs.

Keeping your abs engaged, slowly slide one heel out, straightening your leg out.

Then curl that heel back in, pulling the heel in with your hamstring almost as if you are trying to drive the slider into the ground as you curl it back in.

Feel your hamstring work to pull it back in and avoid your pelvis shifting.

Move slowly and alternate sides, extending the other leg out. 

If you feel your hips shifting, stay on one side versus alternating.

Really focus on feeling your hamstring with that pull back in. Drive your heel down hard into that sliders to engage it and even your glute. 

If you don’t create that tension you won’t get the benefit of this move.

To combine these 6 moves, try this series below.

I like using intervals as it really allows us to focus on maximizing the movement over counting reps. While you can do each move up to 1 minute per move or side, even 30 seconds is a great place to start!

CIRCUIT:
30-60 seconds per side Rectus Femoris Foam Rolling
30-60 seconds per side Adductor Foam Rolling
30-60 seconds per side Bench Hip And Quad Stretch
30-60 seconds Alternating Pigeon Pose
30-60 seconds per side The Wall Side Lying Lateral Raise
30-60 seconds Alternating Pelvic Tilt Leg Glides

Ready to improve your mobility EVERYWHERE?!

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Exercises For Hip Pain RELIEF (5 Daily Hip Pain Moves)

Exercises For Hip Pain RELIEF (5 Daily Hip Pain Moves)

Unfortunately hip pain is an all too common complaint.

And the best rehab is prehab – preventing those injuries before they really build up by recognizing and addressing those “minor” aches and pains.

Too often we simply try to push through a sore hip. We accept a limited range of motion.

We just keep training hard because it “loosens up” as we go or “only hurts at specific times.”

But those little nagging aches and pains are what end up resulting in injuries.

That’s why I wanted to share 5 moves you could include in your warm ups and weekly routine to prevent those annoying little aches and pains from ever resulting in an injury!

Best to act BEFORE the problems really occur!

So what are those 5 prehab moves?

 

5 Exercises For Hip Pain:

Rectus Femoris Foam Rolling:

The psoas is the sexy hip flexor muscle to talk about, but this hip flexor muscle, which is also a quad muscle, can directly impact both the hip AND the knee so it is a key muscle to pay attention to – it’s the Rectus Femoris.

Tightness of this muscle will not only hinder proper glute activation but lead to lower back, hip and knee issues.

It may be why you had a knee issue on one side and now have hip pain!

So because of the impact this muscle has on multiple joints it is a key muscle to include in your prehab routine.

Usually this muscle becomes short and overactive, which is why it is key you start by relaxing and releasing it through foam rolling.

That will then allow you to better activate your glutes and improve your hip extension and mobility.

If you have had issues or injuries on only one side, you may find you only need to address tightness on one side.

To roll out the Rectus Femoris, place a ball in the middle of your quad. You can also use a roller to reduce the pressure on the muscle. While you want to apply pressure to help the muscle relax as you hold, if the pressure is too much and you tense against it, you won’t benefit. So start with a softer ball or foam roller instead.

Hold and then even tense the muscle and relax as you hold to help it release.

Spend at least 30 seconds on any tight spots you find and hold up to 1 minute.

Piriformis Foam Rolling:

Piriformis issues are all too common these days and are often linked with the fact that we simply spend far too much time seated. Not to mention many of us even choose to do exercise activities, like cycling that still keep us in that seated position!

So it is key we address the fact that this muscle can become tight and shortened and then lead to issues like hip pain and even sciatic compression BEFORE the problems really occur.

That’s why I like to include some foam rolling for the piriformis in my prehab or warm up routines.

A ball works best to really apply more pressure, but you can use a roller especially starting out. You want to find the spot where the top of your back jean pocket would be.

If you use a roller, cross one ankle over the other knee to really help address tightness of the muscle as you lean into that side.

You can then push your knee open and relax out as you hold on the spot.

If you’re using a ball, you may find it helpful to lift and lower the leg as you hold.

Just make sure you breathe and relax as you hold.

Single Leg Hip Thruster:

After starting to relax overactive muscles, you want to start to stretch and work the hip through a full range of motion.

And a great way to do this while also activating our glutes, which are commonly UNDERACTIVE is through activation moves like the Single Leg Hip Thruster with Knee Hug!

Activation moves like this stretch out tight hip flexors through a process called reciprocal inhibition. Basically by engaging your glute to drive your hip into extension you stretch out that shortened hip flexor.

So especially if you’re short on time, you can use this move to stretch and activate all in one!

To do this move, you’ll hug one knee in toward your chest as you set up with your back on a bench. You can look down slightly toward your knees. This cervical flexion can actually help with glute engagement and can help you avoid arching your back.

Use that posterior pelvic tilt to brace your abs as you drive up. Squeeze your glute to extend your hip and avoid arching your lower back to get up higher.

Relax back down and repeat.

Unilateral moves like this are key if you have one side that is weaker or tighter; however, it also makes the exercise harder.

You may find you start with the glute bridge variation of this OR even an 80/20 hip thruster so that you reduce the resistance on that single leg.

You want to make sure your glute is the prime mover and that you don’t feel your hamstrings or quads compensating instead.

Hinged 3-Way Hip Circles:

It’s key we not only work on hip extension but also abduction and even flexion. Basically we want to make sure we mobilize our hip through a full range of motion while building stability through that full ROM.

That’s why this Hinged 3-Way Hip Circle move is so amazing.

You can do a version of this move fully standing and balancing, which is a great option IF you really want to focus on that balance element. You can also do it quadruped.

Even implementing all three over a progression can help you get the best results.

I find using the balance assist and slightly hinged position though really helps to better activate the glute through both the extension and even abduction for most people.

Lean forward against a wall or on a chair or bar for support.

Drive your leg back first. Think less about how high you kick up and almost think about stopping the lift with your glute. Feel yourself squeeze your glute.

Then bend your knee as you lift your leg out to the side. Focus on really feeling that glute lift over rotating away to lift up higher.

Fight to keep your lower leg parallel to the ground. We tend to either want to raise our foot up higher and internally rotate our hip (use the TFL) or externally rotate our hip (which can utilize more piriformis) so really focus on that glute medius.

Then with the knee bent, drive your knee in toward your chest and even round slightly to feel your abs.

We aren’t just mobilizing the hip but also activating muscles to improve our hip stability!

With this move you’re hitting your glute max, medius and even your abs!

Side Lying Series:

The glute medius is key to improving our hip stability and even our glute max activation, which is why it’s essential we include activation exercises for it.

Strengthening this muscle will help us avoid hip pain and even help us lift more and run faster!

One of the simplest but most killer activation series for it, is the Side Lying Series. It is key though that you avoid letting your TFL take over.

Using a slight internal rotation of that lower leg, so turning the toe down toward the ground is key.

Do not let your body rotate open. AND if you’ve had piriformis issues, definitely be careful you don’t start to turn that toe open or externally rotate your hip.

So often we want to allow our TFL or piriformis to compensate for that glute medius.

You’ll then lift the leg up at least 8-10 inches off the bottom leg. This will engage the glute before you even start.

You’ll then run through all, or a combination of side lying moves on one side before switching. Do not rush through or disengage by lowering your leg.

You can do the side lying leg raise, front kicks, back kicks, front to back kicks and then even the bicycle.

All of these hit different aspects of the glute medius AND work it while in both hip flexion and extension.

This series is amazing for runner’s especially using the bicycle because it works on that hip mobility through a full gait motion.

SUMMARY:

The best way to avoid annoying chronic hip pain is to do prehab or those mobility and activation moves to address common postural distortions or previous injuries BEFORE pain adds up.

These moves can be used in your warm up to even help you get more out of your workouts by improving your range of motion and helping you prep proper recruitment patterns BEFORE you lift or run.

If you’re looking to prevent ankle, knee, hip and lower back aches and pains, check out my BOOTY BURNER program!

–> LEARN MORE

 

The Hip Mobility RStoration Workout

The Hip Mobility RStoration Workout

Preventing injuries is a 3 part process – foam rolling, stretching and activation. (It’s what I call the RStoration Method….cause it sounds sexy 😉 hehe)

All too often we are doing one, or maybe too, and it’s “helping” but the results don’t seem to fully last.

If we want to not only relax tight muscles, but get the right muscles working, we need to do all 3 pieces!

This “workout” below is the perfect way to use all three parts in your warm up to improve your hip mobility and activate your glutes.

It’s under 15 minutes and can help you prevent low back, hip and knee pain!

The Hip Mobility RStoration Workout

Spend about 30 seconds on each of the foam rolling areas below. Do one round through that circuit. Then do one round through the stretches, completing the reps listed. After one round through the stretches, do 1-2 rounds of the activation. Rest up to 1 minute between rounds of the activation if needed.

FOAM ROLLING:
30 seconds per side Hamstring Foam Rolling
30 seconds per side Quad Foam Rolling
30 seconds per side Hip/Glute Foam Rolling
(For the foam rolling moves, click HERE)

STRETCHING:
5 reps Dynamic Squat Stretch
5 reps per side World’s Greatest Stretch
10 reps per side Dynamic Half Kneeling Hip and Quad Stretch
10 reps Frog Stretch with Interval Rotation

ACTIVATION:
20 reps Mini Band Bench Clams
20 reps Mini Band Hip Thrusters (6:09)
20 reps Mini Band Reverse Hypers

You don’t have to roll or stretch or activate every body part every time. Focus on YOUR areas of pain and tightness and the muscles you plan to work!