Torch Your Hips With This Physical Therapist-Approved Workout Finisher

As an athlete, strong and healthy hips are essential for peak performance. Whether you're a sprinter relying on explosive hip power for acceleration or a weightlifter using hip hinge mechanics for deadlifts and good mornings, your hips are the foundation of strength, stability, and injury prevention. 

Proper hip function enhances force production, mobility, and overall athletic performance, making it a key focus for anyone serious about optimizing their training.

"Our hips are intended to be the powerhouse of the lower body," says Jamie Mraz, a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist and owner of Reconnect Performance. "They should provide an enormous amount of rotational mobility and power during athletic movements. Your hip muscles are also responsible for stabilizing the pelvis during activities like running, hiking, and ruck marching."

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Go-to Exercises for Strengthening the Hips

When hip strength or mobility is lacking, other parts of the body are forced to compensate—often leading to overuse and injury. Below, Mraz breaks down the top three exercises she suggests for strengthening the hips.  

Weighted Lateral Lunge

How to Do It

1. Step to the side and hinge deep into the back of the hip. 
2. Shift body weight over mid-foot. 
3. Use this glute to drive yourself back upright.

Coppenhagen Planks

How to Do It

1. Start in a side plank position with one leg on top of the bench and the other leg underneath the bench. 
2. Keep hips lifted and shoulders squared up. 
3. To modify you can bend either knee, scooting close to the bench. 
4. Hold. 

Side Plank With Hip Abduction

How to Do It

1. Start in a side plank position. 
2. Keeping toes angled slightly towards the ground, lift top leg, pause, and slowly lower. 
3. To modify you can bend either knee to perform the movement.

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Hip Mobility vs. Hip Strength

"Hip mobility refers to the amount of active range of motion in your hip joint, ie, how far can you move in a certain direction," Mraz says. "Hip strength then refers to the hips ability to exert or resist force and generate power. To be able to do their job properly, prevent injury, and increase athletic performance, the hips need to be both mobile and strong. Hip mobility work can easily be implemented into your leg day warm-up."

Incorporating Hip Strengthening Exercises

When programming hip strengthening exercises, Mraz suggests adding them to your workout routine at least twice a week. She suggests adding hip mobility exercises as a leg day warm-up and then making sure your strength program incorporates lateral movements and rotational movements, hitting some of the neglected hip muscles such as the adductors, abductors, and rotators.

"For strength work, I like to program supplemental hip movements toward the end of each leg day," she says. "After your heavier movements have been completed, such as deadlifts or squats, you can pick 2-3 exercises that directly target the hip. Some commonly neglected muscles in the hip include the abductors (outside hip muscles), the adductors (inner thigh muscles), and the hip rotators that lie deep in the joint."