3 Quick tips on mobilising your hips before lifting
Our hips are put under a lot of stress especially when lifting. This is when they need to be mobile to allow us to get in those demanding low positions… WITH WEIGHT! With that weight your hips are forced to be able to withstand it and lift it with power. Decreased hip mobility can lead to decreased power output. Increased mobility= increased tension in the joint = increased power output (MacLean 2015) what better reason would there be to mobilise?
Why we mobilise the hips before lifting?
- To get into a good starting position before beginning the lift
- To enable you to get in a good position for catching the lift etc. get in a good squat position for the snatch
- To succeed in overhead movements
- To produce more power at the hips
(Rothwell 2014)
Most of you will come from work before training. You have probably been sitting at your laptops, or sitting driving and then you go straight into lifting and you feel stiffness and discomfort in your hips. These tips aren’t going to make you feel like a ballerina however, they will get the hips nice and warm and ready for training. Here are some quick tips for you to get your hips nice and mobile before lifting to decrease your risks of injury, by allowing good technique to be used.
- Did someone say spider man?
This exercise can involve molbising of multiple joints by adding the spiderman with hip lift and rotation of the torso. Take a look at the video below by Eric Cressey on how to perform this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIkhMWEnDSQ
This exercise is a time saver as it mobilisies the following areas:
- Hip flexors
- Hamstrings
- Hip adductors
- Thoracic spine
2) Pose like a pigeon
Yes the pigeon stretch, we are bringing a bit of yoga into our training. A favorite by many coaches. This is a great exercise to open up the hip external rotators. Hip external rotation is important for that “dropping under the bar” position when lifting and ensuring you are able to go below parallel in the squat.
With the pigeon we want to ensure we keep our torso in an upright position and allow our front leg to be almost at a 90 degree angle to get the best possible mobilisation of our hips.
3) Mobilise that posterior hip capsule
Joint capsule? This is a ligamentous structure which surrounds and stabilises the hip, so yes very important.
A mobile posterior hip capsule is important for normal hip mechanics. Hip flexion is an important part of lifting, during this movement if there are restrictions of the posterior hip capsule then normal gliding of the hip cannot occur or may be restricted, increasing loading onto other areas of the body (Cubos 2010). We see a lot of restrictions in peoples’ posterior hip capsule due to our daily living routine, such as our jobs. I am currently sitting with my lap top writing this blog which will be decreasing the extensibility of my posterior capsule. So if I was to now get up and train these mobility tips would be great to ensure I am ready to train.
Watch the video below, fast forward to 3:58 by Kelly Starrett to see how we can mobilise posterior capsule of our hips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRmT1mja4uk
Now try this… go into a squat before performing any of these, you will probably feel stiffness or/and restricted range. Perform 1 of these or all and then retest your squat. Give them a go and tell us if you found them beneficial, I’m going to guess you will see improvements in your lifting, but if you don’t think so… try prove me wrong!
Hip Hip Horaaaay!
Thank you for reading
Jessica Woodhouse
BSc Hons Sports Therapy MSST
