Hip extension is a fundamental human movement pattern that most people perform on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, if you sit for long periods of time, it can get very weak.
Long durations of sitting on your butt puts your hips in a flexed posture.
The good news is that the best hip extension exercises can help you increase your hip extension strength for hip flexor, hip abduction and hip thrust.
The hip flexors, the muscles in the front of your hips, shorten and tighten as a result of this.
As a result, sitting too much weakens and strains the opposing muscles, the hip extensors.
Some of these exercises can be done at home with no equipment for hip mobility.
Others are best accomplished at a gym.
However, no matter how you train your hip extensors, you'll soon notice and feel the results.
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When it comes to hip flexion vs. hip extension, what's the difference?
The hip's anatomy allows for a wide range of motion, including (but not limited to) anterior, posterior, medial, and lateral movement.
Flexion is the raising of the leg toward the front.
While extension is the pushing of the leg toward the back.
Hip Extension Exercises Work Muscles
Hip extension involves a number of muscles.
Knowing a little more about these muscles can help you identify the most effective hip extension exercises and avoid the ones that aren't.
To be clear, hip extension is a movement in which your femur (thigh bone) slides backward, such as when you get out of a chair or drive your leg back while sprinting up a hill.
This movement is controlled by the following muscles:
Gluteus Maximus
commonly known as the glutes, this is the largest and most powerful hip extensor muscle in your body.
You're undoubtedly sitting on your glutes right now, and its other names include butt, booty, and bottom.
Hamstrings
Your hamstrings, which are located on the back of your thigh, have two functions: knee flexion and hip extension.
The hamstrings are made up of three muscles:
- Biceps femoris
- Semimembranosus
- Semitendinosus
Because the biceps femoris does not cross the hip joint, it is solely engaged in knee flexion and not hip extension.
Erector Spinae
The muscles of your lower back are collectively known as the erector spinae.
The erector spinae assist maintain your lower back and pelvis, even though they are not directly engaged in hip extension and hip strength.
This provides you with a stable base to move your femur backward from.
As a result, most hip extension exercises, albeit indirectly, also involve the lower back.
What you can do to help?
Hip extension is defined as the opening or extending of the front of the hip joint.
Having trouble visualizing this?
Move your right thigh backwards while standing up straight.
Your hip extensors will lengthen as a result of this activity.
These muscles are vital because they aid in everyday activities such as getting out of a chair, walking, and running.
Are you ready to begin?
Here are six hip extension exercises, as well as related routines and more for hip muscles and hip flexion.
List of Hip Extension Exercises
1. On a stability ball, extend your hips in a prone position.
Similar to the Superman exercise, prone hip extension on a stability ball works your lower body.
To get started, follow these steps:
- Lie down on the ball. Your legs will dangle from the ball's back. Place your hands in front of the ball on the ground.
- Pull your legs off the ground as high as they'll go using your lower back and glutes while keeping your core engaged and in touch with the ball.
- Return to the starting position gradually.
- Perform three sets of ten reps.
2. Using a resistance band, extend your hips.
To accomplish this move, you'll need a light to medium-resistance band. If you have a longer band, you can use it to help stabilize a post or pole.
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To get started, follow these steps:
- Wrap one ankle in the band.
- Maintaining a straight line in your body, pull your working leg back as far as you can while keeping your leg straight and your spine.
3. Bridge
The bridge is an excellent glute-targeting move.
Add weights or raise your feet for a more challenging workout.
To get started, follow these steps:
- Lie down on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and palms facing down.
- Raise your buttocks and back off the ground by pushing through your heels, forming a straight line from mid-back to knee.
- Take a one-second break to squeeze your glutes.
- Lower your back to the ground slowly.
- Perform three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.
4. Forward lunges alternated
Lunges are excellent for strengthening your lower body, particularly your hip extensor muscles.
If you want a more difficult workout, hold a dumbbell in each hand.
To get started, follow these steps:
- To begin, stand with your feet together and your arms at your sides.
- With your right foot, take a large stride forward, making sure your right knee does not extend past your toes. Activate your core.
- To go back to where you started, push through your heel.
- Reverse the process with your left leg.
- Perform three sets of ten reps.
5. Kicking a donkey
Take out a mat and start kicking.
To get the most out of this activity, concentrate on your glutes and hamstrings the entire time.
To get started, follow these steps:
- Begin on all fours with your knees hip-width apart, your hands under your shoulders, and your neck in a neutral position.
- Using your right glute, press your right foot directly to the ceiling while bracing your core.
- Maintain a knee-bent, foot-flat position throughout by hingeing at the hip and keeping your pelvis and working hip parallel to the ground.
- Return to your original starting position.
- On each side, do three sets of 15 reps.
6. On a stability ball, do hip extension and leg curls.
To try this advanced combination move, you'll need a stability ball.
Start with the hip extension phase if you've never done this motion before.
The leg curl can be added later.
To get started, follow these steps:
- Lie on your back with a stability ball under your calves and feet. Hands should be at your sides, palms facing down.
- Press your buttocks off the ground with your lower back and hamstrings so that your body creates a straight line from your upper back to your feet.
- Pull the stability ball toward your buttocks while completing a leg curl from this hip extension position.
- Lower your butt to the ground slowly, then repeat steps 2 and 3 as needed.
- Perform three sets of ten reps.
7.Quadruped Hip Extension
This glute and hamstring workout with bodyweight is great for at-home use and is very gentle on the lower back.
If you're looking for a novice hip extension exercise that you can do anywhere and at any time, this is a fantastic place to start.
To get started, follow these steps:
- Kneel on your hands and knees, with your shoulders directly over your hands and your knees directly below your hips. Maintain a little arch in your lower back by bracing your abs. Tuck your chin in to keep your neck in a neutral position.
- Extend one leg back and up while maintaining a 90-degree bend in your knee. Your foot's sole should face the ceiling, and your thigh should end up parallel to the ground.
- Allowing your hips to rotate and hyperextending your lower back are also bad ideas.
- Lower your leg and repeat for the number of reps specified.
- Repeat on the other side.
Consider the following:
To keep your glutes and hamstrings strong, incorporate these hip extension exercises into your routines at least once a week.
Before you begin any of these workouts, make sure you warm up.
Aim for 10 minutes of cardio (walking or jogging is best) and 10 minutes of mild stretching.
To help loosen up your hip extensors, try a couple of these stretches.
Conclusion on Hip Extension Exercises
Do not underestimate the importance of your hip extensors, or how sitting for lengthy periods of time can weaken and weaken these important muscles.
Even if you exercise regularly and spend most of your day sitting, you may still have weak glutes and hamstrings, which will damage your posture, lower back, and sports performance.
Make time and effort to strengthen your hip extensors.
Not only will you look better, but you'll feel and move better as well.
(FAQ) Hip Extension Squats and Exercises
They're all getting longer throughout the squat's down phase (an eccentric muscle action).
The gluteus maximus shortens (concentric) during the up phase to pull the leg back (hip extension).
During a squat, the gluteus medius and minimus on the lateral side of the hip stabilize the hip.
The sissy squat is a great workout for increasing quads, hip flexors, and core strength all at the same time.
It entails locking your feet in place and bending right back, with the tension on your thighs, before pulling yourself back up – best done with a Sissy Squat Bench.
When someone can squat properly, the demand is distributed evenly over all three muscle groups, putting less pressure on any one portion of the body.
You may be quad dominant if your first movement when squatting is to bend at the knees or if your knees move too far past your toes.
