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Writer's pictureMarie Whitt

Unlock Your Hips: 5 Essential Mobility Exercises for Tight, Achey Runner's Hips

TRUE STORY:

I filmed these exercises for you and got a lot of weird looks in the gym.

(But you asked so nicely for hip mobility exercises that I told myself "do it for the running fit fam." So I did.)


And my long run right after demonstrating these hip openers was AMAZING and my hips felt fantastic!


The next day's run, not gonna lie...

My glutes were a little sore lol.

But my HIPS....still freaking phenomenal.


So the question you're going to have to ask yourself with these 5 hip mobility exercises designed specifically for runners:

if you're looking for effective mobility exercises to fix tight, deep, dull nagging aching hips, are you prepared for just a smidge of glute soreness?


I think it's 100% worth it.

So let's jump in.



5 Mobility Exercises to Fix Tight Runner's Hips

Circuit:

2-3 sets each // 10+lb weight & optional light to medium resistance band


90-90 Hip Rotation (shin boxes/windshield wipers etc)

  • 5 reps R and L flowing through ea side

90-90 Flow with 10# Weight Overhead

  • 5 reps each side

90-90 Flow with Forward Reach Over Front Leg

  • 5 reps each side

90-90 Hip Internal Rotation Pulses

  • 5 reps each side

OPTIONAL: Crawl position with banded hip Internal Rotation pulses

  • 5 reps each side, 5 reps both legs together

90-90 Frog Bridge with Over Head Reach

  • 5 reps each side

Solution to Tight Achy Runner's Hips


90-90 Hip Rotation (shin boxes/windshield wipers etc)

  • Yep, you've definitely seen this exercise here before. But this time: let's PROGRESS it.

  • WHY THIS EXERCISE WORKS: it targets the 2 different rotations that naturally occur in your hip joint, internal and external rotation. When you don't have good hip mobility to begin with, you limit how effectively you can run.

  • If you're specifically missing HIP ROTATION: you're not only setting yourself up for injury down the road, but you're also limiting how FAST you can run!

  • KEY POINT: the movement should come through your hips, not your back, so watch out if you're rounding your low back. Don't do that; that's cheating.


90-90 Flow with 10# Overhead

  • I really like this version...

  • 10# is a great place to start; you can go heavier if you like, but no cheating allowed!

  • WHAT IT DOES: by adding weight overhead, keeping your biceps close to your ears, and constantly pushing the weight towards the ceiling, you activate your core in a tall posture that you'll need for running.

  • Hips and core have a special relationship: often the better your core strength and activation, the better your hip mobility becomes.


90-90 Flow with Forward Reach Over Front Leg

  • Can you see how this begins to look like, but on your side?

  • The act of reaching forward towards a target has an incredible impact on core activation and strength.

  • Leaning FORWARD over the front leg ALSO directly targets glute strength in that same leg.

  • THE POINT: By combining all these moving parts: you activate your core and begin to build eccentric control in your glutes while working on important hip rotation...all in a position that looks like running ;)


90-90 Hip Internal Rotation Pulses

  • This is where things get spicy...Watch the video for this one: because the movement for this exercise is pure hip internal rotation.

  • WHY YOU NEED IT: if your internal hip rotation is not the greatest, injury and slower paces WILL find you.

  • WHAT CAN HAPPEN: this exercises helps you directly activate hip internal rotation muscles while working on improving hip mobility.... BUT!!

  • if you're like me: you might cramp on one side. (This could potentially be your TFL cramping but I think it's more likely your glute med trying to take over. )

    • HOW TO FIX THIS: with the OPTIONAL Crawl and Internal Rotation Pulses

    • this hands and knees version is not as aggressive and it personally helps me to correctly target the right hip muscles in an easier position before moving on to trying the harder 90-90 position.

    • IT'S OK if these are hard! Take your time and progress at your own pace.


90-90 Frog Bridge with Over Head Reach

  • This is where I got really interesting looks in case you were wondering...but I love this exercises

  • Hip mobility is nice, but if you don't have strength to back it up, you end up losing all the mobility gains you just made.

  • WHY YOU NEED THIS ONE: This exercise helps teach your body to hold on the different hip rotations, actively move through them while mimicking your runner's stride, and uses your glutes to "cement" this mobility gains into place.

  • Again, the act of deliberately reaching towards a target while in positions that look like running have a tremendous impact on core and glute activation and in turn, help you improve your hip mobility.


WRAPPING UP

This is a MEGA hip mobility circuit.

Don't feel you have to do every single one of them all the time.


However... I did make it through one round of these (all 6 of them) in under 5 minutes with the exact reps as written.


Just to demonstrate to you:
Effective, dynamic hip mobility exercises designed to fix tight, achy, deep dull nagging runner's hips DON'T have to take a ton of time.

I know you're busy.

Your life is crazy.

You probably use running to help keep you sane so you can juggle everything going on.

And the last thing you want is an injury that keeps you from running.


Spending 5-10minutes on hip mobility exercises you can do while watching TV, scrolling instagram, whatever.... is a pretty worth while investment ;)


Especially when they have built into them, movements that look like running and help activate the right muscles to help you keep all your hard work.


If you want to explore MORE warm up and strength exercises I've designed for busy runners like you, you're going to love my STRONGER RUNNER CHALLENGE: a FREE 4 days strength program.


I put it together for you so you wouldn't have to think about what strength circuit to do on which day for 2 whole weeks! Click HERE and give it a try :)


Until next time running fit fam...


Dare to Train Differently,

Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit


P.S. really really! FREE 14 Days of strength exercises made for busy runners like you who want to run better, stronger, and injury-free. Give it try HERE!

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2 Comments


Jaime Livas
Feb 22

Whew! That frog bridge ack!

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Replying to

Hahaha I warned they got spicy!! 💙🧡🙌🏼 but nice job 👊🏻😁

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