Unlock Your Stride MEGA CIRCUIT: 5 Hip Mobility Drills Every Marathon Runner Should Do Before a Run

Can't seem to shake the long-run tightness that creeps in around mile 8?

Or maybe race day is looming a week away and the taper-crazies combined with with incessant hip stiffness is starting to drive you mad?

Perhaps your hips feel down-right achy no matter how much you stretch?

While passive stretching can feel good in the moment, it's not always the long term solution our bodies actually need.

Most runners chalk hip tightness up to just “part of the sport.” But there’s usually a reason behind that tightness, a signal your body is trying to send.

Whenever I work with a runner, whether in the clinic or during one of my Running Rescue Calls, I don’t just treat the tightness itself.

I treat it as a clue.

Persistent tight hips are often a sign that something deeper is off. And if all you do is stretch the area without figuring out why it keeps tightening up, the relief won’t last.

Passive stretches aren’t bad; they can provide relief in the moment, but if your tightness always comes roaring back, it means the root cause is still unaddressed.

Before your next long run, or even right now if your hips are driving you crazy, I want to share 5 of my favorite hip mobility warm-up exercises specifically designed for runners.

These aren’t random stretches.

Each one targets common mobility restrictions I see all the time in the clinic, especially limitations in two key hip motions: hip extension and hip internal rotation.

Hip extension is what allows your leg to drive backward, like winding up to kick a soccer ball. Hip internal rotation? Think of that as slight pigeon-toed position.

Your hips need both motions, in relative balance, to move efficiently, mile after mile.

And while hip swings might be the trendy, go-to warm-up exercise for runners, they’re incredibly easy to cheat. I often see runners moving through their lumbar spine, arching through their low back instead of gaining motion via their hips, moving into extension, which defeats the whole purpose.

So instead, here’s a physical therapist-approved hip mobility warm-up that’s designed to restore range of motion where you need it most.

That means more powerful, efficient strides, fewer compensations, and stronger, longer running, whether you're grinding through mile 8 or chasing down a new finish line PR.

Let's go.

5 Hip Mobility Warm-Ups to Try Before Your Next Long Run

Circuit:

3 sets each // medium-ish resistance band of your choice

Single Leg Bridge: Hip Rotation Matrix

• assisted vs challenged (you choose)

• 2 sets of 5 ea leg

High Plank with Hip Swivels

• 3 reps ea side to fatigue

1/2 Kneeling Femoral Nerve Flossing

• 10 Reps with the knee of the tight hip down on the floor. 10 reps can be moving your chin to your chest 10x, moving forward and back through your half kneeling position, or combo of both.

1/2 Kneeling Stretch: SUPER CHARGED (TA contraction)

• 2 rounds holding 15-25 secs as tolerated by you!

Hip 90-90 with Paloff

• 5 hip 90-90 reps, followed by a frog sit up, and 5 paloff presses. (don't forget to switch sides!)

Activate, Mobilize, and Run: Your 5-Move Hip Prep

Single Leg Bridge: Hip Rotation Matrix

• While this one does require a band, it can be incredibly helpful for the runner whose "tried every stretch and nothing works".

• THE REASON: this exercises focuses on one thing: internal HIP ROTATION. I show you in the video how to set this up so you're actively working on the stickiest hip movement known to runners!

• While in your single leg bridge, you're going to have the band looped around your ankle (move it a little higher up your ankle in case its SUPER challenging) and you're going to swing your ankle away from you. To make this more effective, I have two different variations to try:

  • OPTION 1: take 2-3 seconds swinging out and swinging back in

  • OPTION 2: hold that end position for 2 seconds before slowing controlling coming back to the starting position

• But what I want you learn from this exercise is notice whether BOTH sides are equal, do they feel the same? Or does one rotation feel easier on the right side versus the left? Then ask yourself, "huh, yea my left side was way harder. AND that's where all my injuries happen...". Get curious about your body and start to notice patterns.

High Plank with Hip Swivels

• yes, if you've been here for a moment, you've seen this one before.

• THE SECRET: I have no regrets including this exercise for the one thousandth time. Because IT WORKS. Especially for my guy-runners out there. Male hips and pelvis's are anatomically more narrow and easily end up tighter compared to female hips.

• The beauty of this exercise is that the fast "swivel" motion of sweeping your high knee between your knees helps helps to restore hip internal motion. But it also helps promote and increase hip extension at the same time. And I'm all about working smarter, not harder.

• I recommend doing this one at least 3x to fatigue. (That's based on clinical experience and lots of stubborn dude-hips.)

1/2 Kneeling Femoral Nerve Flossing

• Don't be scared off by a fancy name. If YOUR HIP FLEXORS ARE ALWAYS TIGHT, you want this one.

• PRO TIP: if you struggle with constantly tight hip flexors or just an incessant nagging in the front of your hip, we need to consider that it may not just muscle causing your tightness. Our nervous system and muscles are inseparably intertwined and occasionally, a nerve can get "stuck" and is unable to glide through the multiple layers of connective tissues, muscles, arteries, lymphatics vessels etc.

• So by performing this glide (and the test in the video), you're adding another tool to your toolkit and addressing tightness from a different angle, especially if you've done "every stretch on the internet" and none of them have worked.

• PLEASE READ: I would do this exercise specifically before and after a hard workout or a long run as way to first ensure if something like neural tension is an issue, you address it before your run and establish a good environment within your body. Performing it afterwards is essentially telling your body, "hey, live here, not in that 'tightened state'".

1/2 Kneeling Stretch: SUPER CHARGED (TA contraction)

• I typically DESPISE this 1/2 kneeling hip flexor stretch because it's usually hot garbage.

• THE TRUTH: it's only hot garbage if you're gaining extension via your lumbar spine (low back) rather than your hip. I found out, through a round of PT for myself!, that there's a way to "protect" or "block" your low back from cheating and compensating. And it's pretty dang effective.

• First step is finding your transverse abdominus, or your TA. Be gently and patient with yourself if this is brand new. It's ok it takes a hot minute. Place your fingers on the inside of your hip bones and make a hissing sound like a snake if you don't know how to "draw your hip bones together" to contract your TA. You'll feel the muscle pop up under your finger tips. Holding that contraction, gently lean into your 1/2 kneeling hip flexor stretch but be aware, you may find resistance A LOT faster in this version. Stay there, breathe, come out, repeat.

Hip 90-90 with Paloff Press

• This is definitely a DrWhittFit-special lol.

• WHY I MASHED THESE TWO TOGETHER: I love a good hip 90-90 variation, especially since they'll brutally show you which hip rotation you're most limited in. But what I've found with working with hundreds of runners in the clinic, is finding your weak links isn't enough. I need you to be able to improve that weak link, gain new motion, and then keep it.

• Another fact that most runners miss is that our hips rely greatly on our core: for strength but also coordination. You'll find in this 90-90 hip position, followed by frog sit up, that once you're upright on your knees and performing the paloff press, that you can directly feel your lower core, and even into your hips and groin, just how much these muscle groups rely on each other for stability and strength, especially in the single leg, reciprocal movement pattern that is running.

• All I'm saying is, don't knock this till you try it.

WRAPPING UP

I know you're looking at that giant list of exercises and wondering how you can possibly find another 20 minutes in your hectic morning to fit all of those in...

But here's the good news:

I write mega-circuits like this so you can try a lot out in a short period of time.

And then take what serves you and leave the rest.

No, really.

If there are specific exercises that just speak to you and your body responds well to them, KEEP THEM. Do them as part of your personal warm up.

And the ones that don't seem to do anything for you,

That leave you saying "meh, I guess they worked..."

Try them again. Just one more time.

And if they still don't do anything for you, ditch them.

My goal always is to help you learn your body.

To stay curious about it. Because trying to make each and every runner's body formulaic is what blind's us to the true solutions that we talked about at the beginning of the blog.

And if you're looking for tried-and-true solutions when it comes to unstretchable calf tightness and repeat achilles strains and tendinopathy, I've got you covered.

Check out my Calf & Achilles Cure Toolkit , that I made for marathoners sidelined by stiff, painful achilles and tight, injury-prone calves who want to protect their training cycle and show up to the starting line strong, pain-free, and ready to race.

Access the FREE toolkit now!

Until next time, running fit fam...

Dare to Train Differently,

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