According to the NHS 8.5 million people in the UK suffer from achy joints, and tight, stiff hips are key dominator. Desk dwellers will be familiar with this unpleasantness, as prolonged periods of sitting places your hips in a flexed and shortened position, causing them to become incredibly tight. The best thing you can do is to take breaks and make sure you incorporate movement into your daily routine, and this four-move workout from can help.
Tight hips aren’t just irritating, they effect our everyday movement and athletic performance. They’re ball and socket joint and one of the most mobile joints in the body that can move in just about every direction. Our hips connect our upper and lower body and are key for helping us move, bend and stabilising the body. Therefore when our hips become tight and unable to move through their full range of motion our body’s mobility is instantly limited. You may experience pain walking, climbing up the stairs, let alone being able to get into a deep squat.
The workout
This four-move workout from Fitness Coach, Adam Collard, will help move your hips through different planes of motion to improve their mobility and reverse any stiffness you're experiencing. You'll need a mini resistance band for the third exercise, although you can do it without, and an exercise mat. Also, if your upper back is particularly tight from hunching over a desk all day, check out this 10 minute upper body mobility routine for afterward.
1. 90/90 degree shin box openers
Benefits: This puts your hips in an internal and external position, so it's a good exercise for moving your hip through their full range of motion. Take your time and move through this movement slowly, with intention, to really help mobilise the joint.
Reps/sets: 8-10 per side or 30-60 seconds
2. Hip CARs
Benefit: This exercise works your hip through its full range of motion, internally and externally, with controlled articular rotations (CARs), which helps enhance the overall health of your hip.
Reps/sets: 5 Slow Reps back/forward and repeat each side
3. Banded clamshells
Benefits: These can actually be performed either lying on your side (as shown in the above vid) or standing holding onto the side of something. Banded clamshells are particularly good for targeting the glute medius that helps stabilise the pelvis and ensure proper hip alignment. The better aligned your hips are, the more efficiently you can move.
Sets/reps: 8-10 clams per side with a 1 second pause
4. Active frog stretch
Benefits: Popular amongst the yogi community, the frog stretch is a great movement to open the hips and adductor muscles. However, it can be a little more tricky as it requires both hips to be internally rotated at the same time. Instead of holding this statically though, try and do small movements, backward and forward, so you get a deeper stretch.
Sets/reps: 60 seconds
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