It’s All in the Hips!

Doing squats to get BIG QUADS may be more popular, but training the hip extension muscles is arguably more important.  And this is true whether we’re a 2 million year old hunter-gatherer, or a modern-day suburban soccer dad.

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Sure we bend at the knees to lift, but it’s predominantly a waist bend.  And interestingly, as weights get heavier in knee-bending exercises like the squat, the hips are also more heavily recruited than the muscles of the knee.

For instance, take a look at the increase in the hip-extend to knee-bend ratio as weights get heavier in the squat (cudos to Chris Beardsley & Bret Contreras for the charts):

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An adjustment that’s also seen in the lunge and the traditional bent-knee deadlift:

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And during dynamic speed and power movements, to run faster and jump higher.

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Some have suggested that we look to the hips because they’re stronger. Which one could argue, provides reassurance that making and keeping them strong should be prioritized – using whatever movements, equipment, and progressions we feel comfortable with:

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Or simply put, we may not see our backsides, but clearly they’re worth developing.  Not only to maintain functional ability, but to continue driving maximal performance.

Stay Lean!
Coach Mike


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