11: unlock your hips
i’m not a betting man but if i were I would bet that if you’re reading this you have tight hips.
this is because we, humans as a species I’m talking about, sit way more than we should.
sitting puts our hips into a flexed position which shortens our hamstrings and overtime, makes it more difficult to move your hip in its socket the way it should —flexion, extension, circumduction, abduction, adduction, internal and external rotation. that’s just the reality of sitting for hours every day. so, do yourself a favor and take a minute before you exercise, or when you wake up, to do some hip mobility exercises. I added three that you can follow below. your hips and low back will thank you.
90/90 hip flow
everyone does these wrong, so listen closely. both knees should be bent at 90 degrees, you know you’re in the right position when you can draw a straight line from your big toe, heel, opposite knee, and ankle. once were here, push your front knee as hard as you can into the ground. keep this pressure as you lift and rotate your back knee up and away from the ground. keep pressing and lifting, once you can’t move your back knee anymore then your release the pressure from your front leg and fall to the other side. make sure you are lined up correctly and repeat. once you make it back to the original side that is one rep. to make it easier place your hands behind you and lean back, to make it harder don’t use your hands. progress/regress as needed.
1-3 sets, 5-8 reps
hip open and close the gate
grab a foam roller or yoga mat and place it next to you. while keeping your hips square and your grounded leg facing forward lift the leg closest to the object up and over the object then back up and over the object, that’s one rep. try to keep your hips as square as possible.
1-3 sets, 3-6 slow reps
side lying hip internal rotation
lie on your side with a block in front of your hip. place your knee on the block and lift your heel as high as you can while keeping your knee on the block. once you get to your end range, hold for a second and try to pull the heel 1 millimeter further, you may feel some cramping in your hip that’s good, means its working :)
1-2 sets, 8-12 reps each leg
