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
IT Band issues that just won’t fully seem to go away?
Frustrated that every time you seem to build up the mileage or start lifting heavy that old pain comes back and even starts to aggravate your hips and knees….maybe even your ANKLES?!
If you’ve been struggling with annoying IT Band issues, it’s time you paid attention to this hip flexor muscle…
The TFL or tensor fasciae latae.
Before I go over 3 moves you can include in your prehab routine to prevent the pain and overload, I want to discuss how the TFL can lead to IT Band problems.
So let’s break down what the TFL does…
The TFL contributes to hip abduction (lifting your leg out to the side), hip flexion (bringing your knee up toward your chest) and hip internal rotation (rotating your hip to turn your leg in toward your other leg).
At your pelvis it assists in anteriorly tilting you pelvis, which, if the muscle is tight, can lead to excessive arching of your lower back.
And at the knee it also contributes to tibial external rotation, which is what causes your foot to turn out.
This hip flexor muscle has the power to impact your lower leg because of the tension it creates through your IT Band.
And this is why it’s key we look beyond just the exact point of pain.
When our TFL becomes tight and overactive it can have a far reaching impact.
But most notably it often starts to compensate for an underactive and weak glute medius.
The glute medius is supposed to be our primary hip abductor.
HOWEVER, if the TFL becomes shortened and overactive, it may restrict our glute medius from firing effectively and efficiently and even try to carry more of the load than it should.
This is then what can create tension through the IT Band and accumulate leading to overload and injury.
So how can you tell if your TFL is taking over for your glute medius?
Have you ever done Mini Band Monster Walks or Lateral Raises and really felt your hips burning?
Like you end up rubbing the front outside of your upper thighs instead of the sides of your butt?
That may be because the TFL is trying to take over for your glute medius instead of allowing it to work as it should!
That’s why I wanted to share 3 mobility and stability exercises, and some key form cues to help you relax your TFL if it has become overactive and tight while better activating your glute medius so you can avoid IT Band aches and pains.
3 Moves To Help Prevent IT Band Issues:
Exercise #1: TFL Foam Rolling
It is key we first start with relaxing the overactive and tight muscle. Often otherwise we tend to keep performing improper recruitment patterns during the moves meant to make us better.
For instance during any glute medius abduction activation move, we still tend to let our TFL take over when it is overactive as that muscle does assist in abduction.
So doing all of the “right moves” ultimately doesn’t pay off the way we had hoped.
That’s why before you do activation, you want to foam and relax the TFL.
To roll out your TFL, a ball works best but you can use a roller if a ball applies too much pressure.
To find your TFL, lie on your back with your legs out straight and hands just in front of your hip bones under your pelvis, internally rotate your hip and feel that muscle contract.
You will want to lie on your side with the ball positioned there. Hold and breathe, lifting and lowering your leg as you hold to help the muscle relax and release itself.
Exercise #2: Wall Side Bend
This is a great way to stretch your TFL without even going down on the ground.
It is key when you do this move you engage your glute max to drive your hips into extension, even using a slight posterior pelvic tilt as you do.
Because the TFL can contribute to anterior pelvic tilt, by performing posterior pelvic tilt you are actually stretching the short and tight muscle.
To do the Wall Side Bend, stand with your side to the wall and place your forearm and elbow on the wall at about shoulder height or just below. You will then want to step your leg closet to the wall a foot or two from the wall.
Cross your outside foot in front of you toward the wall to help you balance as you then drop your hip toward the wall.
Do not rotate as you drop your inside hip toward the wall. Squeeze your glute and maintain that posterior pelvic tilt even to make sure you don’t lean forward or flex your hips.
Feel a stretch through your TFL and even IT band. Then relax out of the bend before driving your hip again toward the wall.
Exercise #3: Extended ROM Side Lateral Raise
The Clam is such a common move to use for glute medius activation but one that is so often done incorrectly ultimately perpetuating the issue instead of correcting it.
It is also not the move I like to start with because it is so easy for people to allow the TFL to take over, partly because of the hip flexion.
That’s why I love to use the Extended Side Lying Lateral Raise.
Not only does this move put your TFL under a slight stretch while working the glute medius through an extended range of motion, but it also allows you to work from a hip extended posture.
This can help you make sure you engage your glutes.
To do the Extended ROM Side Lateral Raise, lie on your side on a bench so that your bottom knee is bent and your bottom leg is close to the end.
Prop yourself up on your elbow and position yourself so that your top leg can hang down over the edge and your foot is just a few inches off the ground.
Keep that foot parallel to the ground or even turn your toe to slightly face the ground. This internal rotation of your lower leg can help if you tend to feel your TFL engage with lateral raises. Do not rotate open as you lift.
Then lift that top leg up and kick slightly back, feeling your glute medius, or the side of your butt, working to lift your leg.
By kicking slightly back and extending your hip, you’ll engage that glute max to further inhibit your TFL.
Lower that leg back down and repeat the move. You want to fully lower the leg to work through that extended range of motion
To advance the move when you’re ready, you can hold a plate weight on the outside of your top thigh, or wear ankle weights. But don’t make the move harder or progress if you feel your TFL taking over!
If you don’t have a bench, you can try a variation of this from a modified side plank position. Make sure if you do the side plank position to give you that extended range of motion, that you engage your glutes to keep your hips fully extended.
SUMMARY:
We have to remember that it’s all connected. And tension in one muscle can alter the way we engage and use other muscles resulting in overload and injury.
If you’ve been suffering with IT Band issues, try including these 3 moves as part of your warm up before your runs, rides or lower body lifting sessions.
Complete even just one round through, working for 45 seconds per move per side. Follow the order of foam rolling, stretching then activating for the best results!
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!
Sit ups get a bad rap because of the spinal flexion involved in the movement.
But guess what?
Our abs are worked by spinal flexion.
Yes they work to stabilize and prevent extension and brace to protect our spine, which is why planks are key too, but they do power spinal flexion.
And yes, we do work our core through all the amazing compound exercises out there like pull ups and squats and deadlifts, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also safely include spinal flexion moves to target our abs with a movement pattern they are MEANT to perform.
The key is learning to do sit ups properly so we aren’t compensating and overworking our lower back or relying simply on our hip flexors to sit up.
Here are 3 tips to help you get the most out of this basic move to work your abs through spinal flexion.
3 Tips To Improve Your Sit Ups
#1: Don’t sit up – roll up!
If you want to really focus on using your abs to sit up, don’t simply hinge and sit up at your hips. Focus on rolling up one vertebra at a time.
Think about truly curling your spine to come up.
You’ll realize this makes your abs work a lot harder and you feel your hip flexors working a lot less.
We have to remember that our abs power spinal flexion. And that curl to roll up is the spinal flexion we need to target our abs.
When we simply sit up and lie down, we often are performing the movement mainly as hip flexion. To get that ab engagement, we need that spinal flexion.
So focus on rolling up one vertebra at a time before sitting up nice and tall at the top. Then roll back down.
Even slow down the movement to focus on your abs over rushing through!
#2: Drive your heels down into the ground.
One of the best ways to relax an overactive muscle is to engage the opposing muscle group.
Often with sit ups, you see people’s legs flopping all over the place. Their legs lift and their hip flexors engage.
Next time you do sit ups, set up at the top and drive your heels down hard into the ground. Even think about slightly curling them back toward your butt. This will engage your hamstrings ever so slightly and help shut off your hip flexors.
Then slowly roll down.
Keep that tension, pushing your heels down into the ground as you roll down and come to rest at the bottom.
Keep that same pressure, pushing your heels down, as you sit back up.
You not only won’t feel your hips as much, but you may feel your abs more.
If you really struggle with your hips becoming over worked, you can even do a little hamstring hack, looping a band behind your heels to help you better engage those hamstrings if you struggle with applying pressure down into the ground.
#3: Don’t swing your arms overhead.
I know it can feel like we need the momentum to help us get back up, but swinging your arms is not only a way to cheat and not use your abs, but it can also cause you to arch your lower back at the bottom of the move and result in your lower back becoming overworked.
When you lie back down, you can bring your hands under your chin and then extend them toward your legs as you sit up if you do need a very slight assist in rolling up or you can keep them extended toward your legs.
The key is slowing down this move over trying to power through more reps.
If you really can’t get up without using the momentum, try a Seated Hinge variation, doing a top down variation of the sit up. Start at the top seated and only round to hinge back as far as you can control instead of starting lying on the ground.
This can help you learn to roll back to start.
SUMMARY:
Too often we take for granted this very basic ab move. And we demonize it for causing lower back pain when we simply aren’t performing it correctly and using the spinal flexion to work our abs.
Try these 3 tweaks and make your abs work during this basic move and stop relying on your hip flexors while overworking your lower back!
Mobility is not the same as flexibility. Nor is it the same as stability. But for true mobility, you need both a certain amount of stability and flexibility of the muscles around the joint.
Heck, you even need a certain amount of distal stability and mobility in order to have proximal mobility.
HUH?
What that even means is not only do you need to work on your HIP JOINT and the muscles that move it if you want hip mobility but you have to make sure that the other joints that can really influence movement at the hip are also mobile and stable.
For instance, especially with hip mobility, core stability and ankle mobility issues can be incredibly important to address and may be the reason why your hip seems to lack mobility when there is actually no restrictions at the hip.
Our body often limits our mobility because it is PROTECTING itself from doing something that it feels could result in further injury.
Of course, all too often we still continue to push through…
BUT if we listen and take a full-body approach to our pain, realizing that where it hurts isn’t always the problem, we can help restore proper functioning!
These 15 moves are a great way to address not only common tight muscles, mobility issues and stability issues at your hip but also the common restrictions elsewhere in your kinetic chain that can result in what seems to be limited hip mobility.
How To Improve Your Hip Mobility: 15 Hip Mobility Exercises
Restoring proper mobility means using foam rolling, stretching and activation to relax tight muscles, restore them to their proper length-tension relationships and then get the underactive muscles engaged and working.
These 15 moves provide you with moves from each part of the 3-Part RStoration Method – Foam Rolling, Stretching and Activating. Because we have to remember that all three are key to preventing and alleviating injuries!
Foam Rolling:
Hip Foam Rolling (Psoas and TFL):
All too many of us end up with tight hip flexors from sitting long hours hunched over a computer or commuting in a car. Tight hips can mean underactive glutes and can lead to not only a lack of hip mobility but also injury!
And if you’re a runner or cyclists, you may only be perpetuating the problem with the repetitive movement and further hip flexion. That is why it is important you roll out your hip flexors before you run.
Two important muscles to target and roll out, that are often tight, are the Psoas and TFL or Tensor Fasciae Latae.
Psoas:
A tight Psoas contributes to Anterior Pelvic Tilt and hip mobility restrictions as well as underactive glutes. This can lead to not only hip injuries, but also low back pain and injury. It can even create compensations that lead to problems further up and down your kinetic chain, like knee injuries!
To roll out your Psoas, a big foam ball/posture ball works best. Place the ball in your abs above your hip to one side of your belly button.
Relax over the ball and lie face down on the ground. Breathe.
Then move the ball, working your way around the side of your lower abs between your belly button and hip. After you move the ball, relax completely back over it.
If you don’t have a larger ball, you can use a tennis ball; however, the tennis ball will dig in more. To use the tennis ball, you will also need some books or a yoga block. Place the ball up on the books or block and lie over it just like you would with the posture ball. Relax and breathe.
TFL:
Ever have IT Band issues? Tried suffering through rolling your IT Band and feel like the pain goes away a bit but never fully gets better? STOP rolling your IT Band and instead focus on rolling your TFL!
This hip muscle can contribute to IT Band issues as well as hip and knee pain! It is often also the reason our glute medius doesn’t fire correctly to stabilize our hips, which can lead to hip and low back pain!
To roll out your TFL, lie on the ground on your side and place a ball just to the side and slightly under your hip bone. Hold on this spot and even move an inch or two down your leg.
If you find a tight spot, hold on that spot and lift and lower your leg up and down as if doing an adductor leg raise. By lifting and lower the leg, you are flexing and relaxing the muscle, which will help loosen everything up as you hold.
As you seek out tight spots in your hip, bring the ball back around your side toward your butt. Hold on any tight spots. You can even work back into your glute medius if you find any trigger points.
Remember to relax and hold on any tight spots and breathe as you hold.
Hamstring Foam Rolling:
Ever feel like your hamstrings are tight no matter how much you stretch them? What if that is because they FEEL tight, but are actually OVERSTRETCHED!?
This is actually often the case, especially if you sit often and have tight hips. So instead of stretching, try rolling to help relax your hamstrings. (This is especially important if you’ve ever had any high hamstring injuries!)
To roll out your hamstrings, a ball is actually best while sitting up on something like a chair, table or box. The pressure you can apply even when isolating one leg on a roller on the ground is limited so using a ball when seated up on something allows you to dig into your hamstring more.
Take the ball and place it at the top of your hamstring right under the bottom of your butt while you are seated up on a chair. Rock side to side on the ball and roll it from your inner thigh out toward the outside of your leg.
Hold on any tight spot and perform small rocks side to side to help you dig into the knot further. You can even flex and relax your hamstring by straightening your leg out and then relaxing your foot back down to the ground to help the muscle release the knot.
Work your way down your hamstring toward your knee. Work all along the hamstring, moving toward your inner thigh and out toward your IT Band. Make sure to hold on any tight spots. Do not spend time on areas of your hamstring that aren’t tight.
Adductor Foam Rolling:
Tight adductors contribute to limited hip mobility and stability because your glute medius doesn’t fire correctly. This can lead to hip and low back pain.
Tight adductors can also contribute to knee valgus, which can cause your patella to not track correctly, leading to knee pain and injury! That is why it is important to roll out and relax tight adductors.
To roll out your adductors, lie face down on the ground. Bend one knee out to the side at about 90 degrees and place the roller under the inside of your knee.
Resting on your forearms, rock your leg forward over the roller toward your quad and then back toward your hamstring. Hold on any tight spots.
Then move the roller up your inner thigh toward your crotch. Rock forward and backward again and remember to spend more time on any tight areas.
Lower Leg Foam Rolling:
Movement distortions at our feet and ankles can lead to problems up our entire body. They are our foundation and any imbalances there means compensations higher up. That is why it is important to roll out and relax tight muscles in our lower legs.
If you wear high heels, run long distances, cycle or simply find you walk on the inside or outsides of your shoes, you’ll want to try these foam rolling moves to loosen up your lower leg.
Calf Foam Rolling:
Tight calves can contribute to plantar fasciitis and even knee pain. Tightness here can also limit your ankle mobility, which will impact your hip mobility as well!
To roll out your calves, a tennis ball works great especially if you have a yoga block or books to place the ball up on.
Using the tennis ball, place it up on some books or a yoga block and then put one calf on top of the ball. Start with the ball at the bottom part of the meat of your calf.
Cross the other leg on top to help apply more pressure if needed.
Rock very slightly from right to left or side-to-side a couple of times and then move the ball to another spot on your calf, working over the entire meaty part of the muscle right up to below the back of your knee. Keep rocking side to side as you work your way around your calf.
Hold on any tight spots. If you find a super tight spot, make 10 circles with your foot and then tense and relax your calf (flexing and dropping your foot) 5 times before you move to the next spot. This will help the muscle relax itself and help the knot to release.
Peroneal:
If you tend to walk on the inside of your shoes or your have eversion of your feet, the outside of your lower leg may be tight. This movement distortion can lead to not only knee pain, but also hip pain. And can cause imbalances and compensations that lead to underactive glutes and tight hips.
To roll out your Peroneals, place a ball on the ground in front of you and then bend your knee and place the side of your lower leg on top of the ball, starting with the ball below and outside your knee. Press down on your lower leg with your hand to apply more pressure so that the ball digs in.
Then move your leg so that you make small circles on top of the ball. Work your way down the length of the side of your lower leg, pressing your lower leg firmly down into the ball. (You may even put a book under the ball to help you apply more pressure and get a better angle.)
Hold on any tight spots and, as you hold, flex and relax your foot to help dig into any knots or trigger points. To dig in more, you can also circle the ankle while holding on any tight spots instead of flexing and relaxing the foot.
Stretching:
After your roll out and relax overexcited or overactive muscles, you want to work on the flexibility of your muscles and improving range of motion with a combination of Dynamic and Static Stretches.
You want to make sure too that you address all of the muscles around your hip joint as well as the other muscles of your lumbo pelvic hip complex.
It is important that you use stretching to help you mobilize not only your hips but also other muscles and joints that may create imbalances or compensations that could lead to your hip movement becoming restricted aka addressing a lack of ankle or spinal mobility is also key!
World’s Greatest Stretch:
A great way to improve your hip mobility AND even your spinal mobility is the World’s Greatest Stretch. This move stretches out your hips, glutes and even hamstrings. It will also work on opening up your chest as you activate your core.
To do the World’s Greatest Stretch, start in a high plank position with your hands under your shoulders and feet together. Your body should start in a nice straight line from your head to your heels. Do not let your hips sag or your butt go up in the air.
Step your right foot outside your right hand so that you are in a nice low runner’s lunge. Make sure your foot is flat on the ground. (If you are less flexible, your foot may not be right outside your hand or you may need to drop your back knee down to the ground. But do not let your front heel come up. You still want your foot to be flat on the ground.)
In the low runner’s lunge, drop your right elbow down to the ground near the instep of your right foot. Do not worry if you can’t touch the ground. Just drop your elbow down as low as you can. Feel a nice stretch in your hip and glute.
Then bring your elbow up off the ground and rotate your right arm up toward the ceiling, opening your chest up toward the ceiling to face your right leg. Stretch your right arm up toward the ceiling and rotate your chest open to feel a nice stretch in your hips, glute, back and chest.
Bring the right hand back down to the ground and then drop your back knee (left knee) down to the ground. Sit back on your left heel and let your right leg straighten out in front of you. Feel a stretch down your right hamstring. Lean forward over that front leg to increase the stretch. You may even feel this stretch your low back a bit. Make sure though that you are pushing your butt back as you hinge and lean from the hips and don’t simply round over.
Then shift back forward into the low runner’s lunge, bending your right leg and lifting your left knee up off the ground. You can then repeat the stretch on the same side or step your right foot back into the plank position and step your left foot up outside your left hand to stretch the other side.
Seated Foot Stretch:
All too often we only pay attention to our feet when we have an injury, like plantar fasciitis. But tightness even in our BIG TOE, can lead to imbalances that cause injury. Our body seeks out the path of least resistance. Immobility in one area causes us to try to find mobility from other joints or flexibility out of other muscles or even strength from muscles not meant to handle the loads.
That is why it is important we address restrictions at our feet and ankles because this is often even why we feel like we lack hip mobility during moves like squats!
To do the Kneeling Foot Stretch, kneel on the ground and flex your feet, tucking your toes under. Then sit back on your heels and feel a stretch down your feet and toes. Rock a little side to side as you hold in the stretch.
You can then release and move into the Bear Squat Stretch (described below) or you can simply relax out of the stretch and repeat, sitting back on your heels and gently rocking side to side.
If your quad flexibility is really restricting you from sitting back on your heels and feeling this stretch, you can instead stand up and place the ball of your foot on the wall and lean forward against the wall to stretch your foot and even your calf.
To do the Bear Squat Stretch, place your hands down on the ground and press your butt up into the air, driving your heels down to the ground. Relax your calves and try to get your heels down to the ground. Feel a nice stretch down your calves and even up into your hamstrings. Hold for 1-2 seconds and then drop back down to your knees and sit back on your heels again to stretch your feet.
Make sure that as you drive your butt up, you are pressing yourself back so that your driving your heels down. Don’t simply pike up and lower back down. Actually drive back and feel the stretch down your calves.
You can walk your hands in just a little bit closer to your knees to help you feel the stretch a little bit more, but do not walk them in too close.
Alternating Quadruped Pigeon Pose:
The pigeon pose is one of the BEST glute stretches and a must-do move to mobilize your hips and prevent low back and hip pain. Ever had sciatic pain or piriformis issues? This is a MUST-DO MOVE!
However, if you’re using it as a warm up, you don’t want to do the static pigeon pose stretch. That is where this version of the pigeon pose works well. The Alternating Quadruped Pigeon Pose makes the stretch dynamic to mobilize your hips AND this version can make it easier to get in and out of the stretch if you struggle to set up correctly.
To do the Alternating Pigeon Poses, start on your hands and knees on the ground. Then straighten your left leg out and slide it behind and over your right. As you rotate to slide your left leg over and behind your right, begin to walk your hands over to the left and rotate your body.
You will basically keep your right leg still as you rotate your upper body to the left and slide your left leg over and behind your right to shift into a pigeon pose. Sit back into the right butt cheek as you walk your hands out and pause in pigeon.
Then bend your left knee and walk your hands back around front as you shift back into the quadruped position. Switch sides, walking your hands to the right as you slide your right leg over and behind your left leg. You will rotate your body to sit into pigeon pose on the left side.
Pause in pigeon and really push that left glute back as you square up your hips. Then come back into the quadruped position and repeat on that first side.
Seated Hamstring, Glute and Spinal Twist Complex:
This static stretch is the perfect way to work on your hip and spinal mobility and unwind after a long day. Low back sore, tired and achy? This should be your go-to stretch! Remember with hip mobility, you don’t only want to focus on the hip joint, but also your entire lumbo-pelvic-hip complex!
To do the Seated Hamstring, Glute and Spinal Twist Complex, sit on the ground with one leg out straight in front of you. Pull the foot of the other leg in to your inner thigh so that your knee is pointing out to about 3 or 9, depending on which leg is out straight. Relax that bent leg and let the outside of the leg relax to the ground as you fold over at the hips and reach toward the foot of the straight leg.
Keep that leg straight to stretch your calf and hamstring as you reach and grab your foot. If you can’t reach your foot while keeping your leg straight, grab a towel or jump rope and wrap it around your foot so that you can use that to pull yourself over and stretch your hamstring.
Hold here and breathe for 15-20 seconds and try to relax further into the stretch.
Then release and cross the ankle of the bent leg over your straight leg right above your knee. Place your hands on the ground behind your butt and bend the straight leg to bring your quad and the leg crossed over in toward your chest.
Sit up nice and tall and press your leg and chest closer together to feel a stretch in the outside of your glute. Breathe and hold, trying to get your legs and chest closer together. You can walk your hands forward toward your glutes to help push you up taller. You can also move your foot on the ground in closer to your glutes to bring your leg in closer. Flex the foot of the leg crossed over to protect your knee.
Hold for 15-20 seconds.
Then allow the foot of the leg crossed over to lower down to the side while keeping your bottom leg bent. Place the foot flat on the ground as you lay your bottom leg down on its side.
Then lift the hand on the side you lowered your foot down to and place that arm on the outside of your knee pointing up toward the ceiling. Press off that knee to rotate your chest toward the leg. Sit nice and tall and feel a stretch down your spine. Breathe and hold for 15-20 seconds.
If you are less flexible, you may need to straighten the bottom leg out instead of keeping it bent like it was from the glute stretch.
After holding in the Spinal Twist, release and straighten the other leg out and start on the other side with the Seated Hamstring Stretch.
Camel:
Stretching and activation all in one is what you get with the Camel Bridge. It is the perfect way to stretch out and unlock tight hip flexors while really focusing on your glutes to drive hip extension and even hyperextension.
The bonus of this move is it also opens up your chest and can even stretch your feet a little. Opening up your chest can help improve your spinal extension, which can, in turn, aid in improving your hip mobility.
To do the Camel, kneel on the ground with your knees about hip-width apart and your feet flexed. If you point your toes instead, this will make the move harder and require more flexibility (bottom two photos). Also, flexing your feet will stretch the bottom of your feet more while pointing your toes will get your shins more. With either your feet flexed or pointed, sit back on your heels and place your hands on your heels.
Then arch your hips up and away, as you press your chest out and lift your glutes up off your heels. Keep your hands on your heels as you arch away and squeeze your glutes to fully extend your hips. Do not hyperextend your low back. Engage your glutes to stretch out your hips.
Relax your head back and arch as much as you can, getting a nice stretch down your chest, core, hips and quads. Do not let your shoulders shrug and really focus on opening your chest up. Hold for 1-2 seconds and relax back down.
Repeat, arching back up. Or you can also make this a static stretch by simply holding the pose for 15-20 seconds.
If you are less flexible and can’t place your hands on your heels, you can do this stretch with a couch, chair or table behind you.
Activation:
A HUGE part of mobility is stability of our joints. Our body will not allow us to perform a range of motion it doesn’t feel safe or STABLE enough to do. That means that if you want to improve your hip mobility, you also have to improve not only your hip stability, but also the stability of your entire core!
Frog Bridge:
If you want to improve your hip mobility, building stability is also key. That means making sure your glutes are activated and strong! Too often our modern lifestyle leads to underactive glutes. That is why more isolated activation moves to target our glutes before compound lifts are so essential to include!
This Frog Bridge may not be something you want to do in the middle of your gym, but it is one of the BEST glute bridge variations out there, especially if you struggle to feel your glutes activating and your lower back and hamstrings have a tendency to take over.
To do the Frog Bridge, lie back on the ground and place the bottom of your feet together, letting your knees fall open sort of as if doing the butterfly stretch. The closer you bring your feet in toward your crotch, the more mobility you need to do the move. Find a comfortable placement and allow your knees to relax open.
Lying on your back with your knees wide and the bottoms of your feet together, bend your elbows to 90 degrees so that only your upper arms are against the ground. You want to really drive your elbows down into the ground as you bridge up.
Driving through your upper arms and the outsides of your feet as you engage your core, bridge up while keeping your knees open. Squeeze your glutes as you lift and really contract them at the top.
Then lower back down and repeat.
Keep your core engaged and really drive down through your upper arms so that you don’t push yourself backward as you bridge back up. Do not let your knees come back together. Keep them relaxed and open.
Concentrate on your glutes working to lift. Make sure to pause and engage your glutes at the top.
If you feel your hips too much, don’t bring your heels in as close to your body.
Pelvic Tilt with Slides:
An often ignored piece of the puzzle to build hip mobility is CORE STABILITY! If our abs, and core intrinsic stabilizers, aren’t engaging correctly and strong, we can not only overwork our hip flexors, but also restrict our hip mobility. When our body doesn’t feel safe and stabile, it will restrict mobility.
That is why the Pelvic Tilt with Slides is such a great move to include. Not only will this move strengthen your posterior chain, specifically your hamstrings, but it will also do it while you work on engaging your intrinsic core stabilizers. This can help you prevent low back, hip and knee pain! It is also an essential move to include if you have Anterior Pelvic Tilt!
To do the Pelvic Tilt with Slides, lie on your back with a slider 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. Keeping your abs engaged and lower back pressed down, 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.
Make sure to keep your abs engaged and hips still as you extend out and curl back in. Move slowly so you can focus on the right muscles working. You can complete all reps on one side or alternate sides as you go. Do not let your lower back come off the ground. If you start to feel your abs disengaging or your lower back taking over, pause and reset don’t just push through!
Side Plank Clams:
When you work on building core stability, you have to work your core from every angle. That means making sure you include moves to work on your lateral stability as well.
Often these frontal plane moves are also the perfect way to strengthen your obliques and glute medius. Your glute medius especially is important to activate as it is key to hip stability and preventing not only hip pain, but also low back, knee and Achilles aches and pains!
To do the Side Plank Clam, set up on your side propped up on your forearm with your elbow underneath your shoulder. Bend your knees so that your feet and lower legs are behind you. You can place your top hand on your hip or reach it up toward the ceiling, but don’t touch it down to the ground or use it to help you balance or press up.
Propped up on your elbow with your knees stacked, lift your bottom hip up off the ground, driving through your knee and forearm. As you bridge your hips up, lift your top leg up and toward the ceiling, keeping the knee bent. Open up your legs, lifting your top knee toward the ceiling using your glute. Make sure to squeeze your glutes forward as you lift.
As you lower the leg back down, lower your hip back down to the ground.
Repeat, bridging up as you raise your top knee up toward the ceiling. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Also keep your elbow under your shoulder and do not get too spread out. Really focus on bridging and lifting with your glute and obliques.
You can also challenge your glute medius more by adding a mini band right below or above your knees!
Band Hip Thrusters:
Improve your hip extension and activate your glutes with this move. By adding in and using the mini band with the Hip Thruster move, you also help activate your glute medius. And often when we get the glute medius firing correctly, our glute max will also fire better!
To do Mini Band Hip Thrusters, place the mini band right below your knees with your back on a bench and feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Press out on the band and don’t let your knees cave in. You want your ankles, knees and hips in line throughout the entire move. Don’t even let your knees cave in when you come down.
Then, perform a posterior pelvic tilt (especially if you feel your low back often taking over during bridges) and bridge up, driving through your heels and upper back on the bench. Make sure to press out on the band as you bridge up. Squeeze your butt to drive up and keep your abs engaged with a pelvic tilt so you don’t hyperextend your back at the top. Pause and feel those glutes then lower back down and repeat.
You can even look down slightly toward your knees as you lift up. That slight spinal flexion can help activate your glutes even more!
Calf Raise Circles:
As I mentioned, your feet and ankles are your foundation. Imbalances, immobility or instability there can create compensations and issues up your body and lead to hip pain and injury! That is why it is important we also create strength and stability in our feet and ankles!
The Calf Raise Circles are the perfect way to strengthen your feet and lower legs and help correct any pronation or supination you may have!
To do Circle Calf Raises, start standing with your feet about hip-width apart. You can face a wall or table if you need a little help balancing so that you can really focus on circling.
Then start to circle by rocking to the outside of your feet. Slowly come forward toward your pinky toe. Then come up onto your toes slowly circling from your pinky toe toward your big toe. Come up as high onto your toes/balls of your feet as you can. Then reach your big toe and circle in toward the inside of your feet as you come down.
Then come back up, this time starting with the big toe and circling out toward your pinky toe before coming down on the outsides of your feet. Repeat circling back up and in. Really feel yourself getting as big a circle as you can while feeling your calves work to help you come up onto your toes. In order to really circle, you may need to lightly keep your hand on the wall.
Plank:
This basic isometric core move is a MUST-DO if you want to prevent injury and maintain a stable strong core. You can literally strengthen everything between your shoulders and your knees with this one basic move.
The key though is focusing on engaging HARDER and creating shakeage over holding LONGER.
To do the Basic Forearm Front Plank, set up with your elbows underneath your shoulders and your feet and legs together. It is important that your elbows are underneath your shoulders so that you can properly engage your back and the muscles around your ribs to support your shoulders. By placing your feet and legs together, you can engage your inner thighs. Putting your feet wider apart provides you with more stability if you are just starting out.
With your body in a nice straight line, drive back through your heels with your elbows under your shoulders. Then begin to focus on engaging the muscles of your core to create tension and “shakeage.” Think flex your quads, engage your glutes and squeeze your legs together. Think about performing a slight posterior pelvic tilt as you brace your abs and draw them in toward your spine.
Make sure that you aren’t shrugging and that you are using your back and the muscles around your ribs to keep your back flat and shoulders down. With everything engaged and your body in a nice straight line, HOLD. Make sure you don’t feel your lower back taking over or your neck tensing. If you start to have your hips sag or butt go up in the air, regress the move or rest.
Need workouts and a program to get you on track and consistently working to improve your hip mobility? Then check out these two programs I offer below.
