Hip mobility is an important part of strength and conditioning training regardless of your fitness or weight loss goals.
In my personal yoga practice, I have been focusing a lot of attention and time on strengthening my hips. Why? Because unfortunately, in our American culture, we do a lot of sitting. Even though I move a lot throughout the course of my day, I also sit in front of a computer like you. Excessive sitting causes tight hip flexors, but stretching them isn’t just the answer! We also have to strengthen them.
How do we do that? In many ways, but I want to highlight one easy movement that doesn’t require special equipment.
Sit with your legs straight out in front of you, and focus on your shoulders being stacked over your hips. Rest your hands on your thighs. Lift one leg off of the ground and continue to try to stack your lifted heel over the other foot’s toes. You may need to build up to it, and that’s okay! This is strengthening your hip flexors and lower abdominal muscles. Make sure to do the other leg as well.
Now like all things, we can’t just do it one time and think that a magic wand appears and all of our problems will be solved. 🙂 Try doing the exercise on each leg five times every day.
Once you can hover over the opposite foot, take the leg out to the side and hold it there. Begin to rotate in the hip joint, turning the toes in towards the other leg, and then return to the starting position. Repeat on the other leg!
Eventually, as I demonstrate in the video, you can build up to carrying the leg behind you to go into the splits. But it isn’t necessary. Doing the above-mentioned exercises are fantastic on its own!
As you can see in this video, my hips are very different regarding their flexibility, and yours are as well. That’s normal!
Don’t give up.
Try your best.
Let’s focus on building a strong foundation in your body.
