A Hip Mobility Exercise You NEED to Try!
HERE'S THE PROBLEM...
So many athletes need more hip mobility.
It's probably one of the most common things I get asked about... how do I improve my hip mobility?
Many athletes simply don't have access to enough range in their hips to promote fluent, coordinated activity.
The golf swing requires large amounts of flexion, extension and rotation in both hips... if limited, we could be creating compensations elsewhere in the body.
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HOWEVER, do note, literally everybody in the world has compensations in their movement patterns. Compensations aren't automatically a bad thing unless they contribute to injury or poor function.
I wrote a bit about this HERE and I think it's an important understanding to have whenever we discuss compensations or "limitations."
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Why do so many lack hip mobility?
While there are many reasons, I believe a central one to be a lack of movement.
Quite simply, we aren't moving our hips through large ranges of motion often enough for them to maintain the ranges of motion we have as children and young adults.
We sit a lot of the day.
We drive to work.
We sit while we eat.
We watch tv.
Many just live a fairly sedentary life.
When we don't USE a joints full range of motion, we tend to LOSE that full range of motion.
THE SOLUTION
In order to solve this problem of lacking hip mobility, there are TWO things we should be considering...
First, if you have an adequate amount of hip mobility, you should be proactive and MOVE YOUR HIPS often through large ranges of motion.
Utilize exercises like hip circles, split squats, and goblet squats.
Secondly, if you currently lack adequate hip mobility, you should start moving your hips through large ranges of motion more often. Slowly, overtime, the range you can access will increase.
The exercises you should do, don't change - Hip circles, split squats, and goblet squats
TODAY, I HAVE A NEW EXERCISE I WANT YOU TO TRY
WHY THIS EXERCISE?
For those out there that are curious as to the reasoning behind the exercise, allow me to explain!
First, the exercise moves your hip in all three planes of motion. The hip moves through massive amounts of flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, and rotation!
Secondly, by resting your foot on the slider, we remove tension from the system. This lack of tension allows us to tap into more range of motion as we aren't limited by the ability to contract muscles and produce force.
Thirdly, it brings your SPINE into the mobility equation. In the video above you'll notice that my athlete starts to move his spine at extreme ranges of motion. This is a compensation... GASP! However, I would call it a GOOD COMPENSATION.
Like I said above, every single one of us compensates - and they aren't automatically a bad thing.
The fact that his spine starts to laterally flex means that we are maximizing the range of motion the hip can achieve, and are needing to tap into the spine to achieve more MOVEMENT.
And we shouldn't think of this as a bad thing.
We should think of this as a piece of his motor toolbox that he has access to and CAN access within his sport. The spine and hips work together... just like every other piece of the chain we call our human body.
We should let them function in unison and work together to further accomplish the function they are seeking - in this case that being maximizing movement!
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Now, just as not ALL compensations are bad, not ALL are good. There are times that a compensation creates negative functionality or poses a potential injury risk. However, the central point I want to make here is that we shouldn't automatically think of compensations as negative characteristics of our movement - everybody compensates in some way shape or form.
During this exercise I view the compensating spinal movement as a good thing.
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CONCLUSION
More hip mobility is GOOD for many.
Move your hips more often to achieve this.
Try this new exercise - HIP WINDMILLS - to get your hips moving and grooving.
AND join the SCRATCH Community to level up...
Carter Schmitz
Founder and Head Coach - SCRATCHGolfTraining.com
CSCS, TPI
Carter is a strength and conditioning coach out of the Milwaukee area working with athletes, in-person and virtually. Having helped hundreds of athletes, ranging from the middle school to the professional level and beyond, Carter brings a breadth of experience and knowledge to every athlete he works with. He launched SCRATCHGolfTraining.com in the summer of 2021 to help empower golfers to greater performance and longevity.
Carter believes ALL golfers are athletes, and they should be training accordingly.
Become a SCRATCH Athlete today, and start training like the ATHLETE you are!
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