Your hips are crucial to the way you move, both in daily life and while exercising. Runners and functional fitness devotees with mobility routines may be familiar with hip stretches, but strengthening this area of your body can also be really beneficial.
The hips support your core and the muscles in your legs, so having healthy hips plays a part in building strength. Plus, stretching and strengthening the hips can help you to avoid injury, allowing you to move through a greater range of motion in exercises like squats and preventing strain on the back.
Online coach Morgan Rose Moroney (opens in new tab) has shared three exercises that are ideal for engaging and strengthening the hips. All you need are a pair of dumbbells and a resistance band.
Watch Moroney take you through the three exercises in the Instagram reel below, taking note of her form as she demonstrates the movements.
If you have never done hip-specific strength exercises, this may feel very challenging, so try the movements without weights and with a light resistance band to begin with.
Rather than completing as many reps of these exercises as you can, focus on the quality of the movements, using mind-muscle connection to engage your hips as much as possible. Moving slowly through each of the exercises will not only improve the strengthening aspects of these movements, but it will also help you develop control and balance.
These exercises require good flexibility, so if you struggle with mobility, don’t forget to stretch before trying this session. This gym warm-up routine has everything you need to develop good full-body mobility, but these five dedicated hip-mobility exercises will ensure your hips are primed for movement.
We have more joint-strengthening exercises to try too. They were recommended by a physiotherapist and the first four are suitable for all fitness levels.