This article will undoubtedly elucidate every fragment of hip extension exercises. Oh well, you might or might not have a basic introduction to the idea of hip extension, which muscles and involved, and why it is essential (beyond the better butt). I shall discuss exercises that promote hip extension. Complete hip extension exercises work the major muscles of hip extension, the glutes, and hamstrings, by putting the leg back behind the pelvis thus opening the hip more. Pilates swimming is an example. Often, exercises meant to consolidate the glutes and hamstrings activate resistance from exercise equipment, body weight or gravity.
Examples of both complete extension and resistance exercises are below
Pilates, a system of fitness that emphasizes absolute balanced musculature, has a lot of exercises that perform hip extension. The Pilates assessment is especially helpful as it is full-body awareness exercise that guides the back and stabilizes the hips as you move thereby consolidating and joining the whole structure.
This attention to detail is quite pertinent in hip extension as there is a strong penchant to cheat full hip extension exercises by tilting the pelvis to the front (anterior tilt), enlarging our lumbar (lower back) curve and “impersonating” a hip extension which places a lot of pressure on the back. Or, we find ourselves giving way to the leg going back by inclining forward. And truly, that is really working the glutes and hamstrings. So, with no cheating, here are some exercises that will consolidate your hip extension.
Sample Pilates Hip Extension Exercises
1. Butt Solid Exercises (includes pelvic curl, heel beats, swimming, quadruped leg kick back and double leg kick).
2. Side Kick Front/Back.
3. Bicycle.
4. Leg Pull Forward
More progressive Pilates exercises work hip extension in an amazing way when the exercises call for upper body flexion and hip extension.
Utilize These Hip Extension Exercises to Become a Better Athlete.
Hip extension exercises are an essential way to foster athletic performance. The capacity for the hamstrings, glutes and lower back to work in unison is important ito sports performance. This is amazingly essential for exerting force against the ground, levering off one side of the body,preoccupied impacts without ripping an ACL, and lower-back health in general. In other words, it’s essential for injury avoidance, jumping, sprinting, stopping, substituting directions, throwing, kicking and hitting. Not only that, but the hamstrings have to be very strong in the lengthened position. This is essential for preventing those bothersome hamstring strains, which are connected with sprinting and take forever to heal.
Four Exercises to Uplift Your Sports Performance
There are four exercises that must be exemplified by every athlete simply to consolidate these muscles in a way that transports to improved sports performance. This article demystifies these exercises and proposes how you can unify them into your strength and conditioning program.
1. Romanian Deadlifts
The Romanian Deadlift is one of the great exercises to train the glutes, hamstrings and lower back. It also consolidates the hamstrings while they are lengthened. All of this makes it an exercise that packs a lot of advantages in a short period of time.
How-to:
A. Stand up grasping the barbell with your hands shoulder-width separately and your palms facing your body.
B. Pull your chest out and put your shoulders back.
C. Your feet should be hip-width separate with a slight bend in your knees.
D. Push your hips back, and as you do so, lean forward and permit the bar to slide down your thighs.
E. Mentain your shoulders back and your chest out.
F. Reduce the bar as far as you can while keeping this position with your chest and shoulders, then move back directions and straighten out. Engage this exercise for 4 to 12 repetitions per set. My goal is to have my athletes perform this exercise with a weight in comparison to what they use on the Squat.
2. Good Mornings
This exercise definitely has a sample movement pattern that is very related to the Romanian Daedlift, except that the barbell is on the back of the shoulders instead of grabbing in the hands. This exercise actually works the same muscles in the same way as the Romanian Deadlift.
A. Stand upright with the bar on the back of your shoulders.
B. Stick your chest out and put your shoulders back.
C. Your feet should be hip-width separate with a slight bend in your knees.
D. Push your hips back and lean forward as far as convenient.
E. Move back directions.
Like the Romanian Deadlift, perform this exercise for sets of 4 to 12 reps. The weight should be in comparison to what an athlete would use in a Lunge.
3. Partial Deadlifts
This is am amazing total-body exercise. In conjunction to the hamstrings, lower back and glutes, it also develops the quadriceps. To exemplify this exercise you either need a power rack or heavy duty boxes on which to place the barbell.
Since we’re training for improved athletic performance, this exercise has to be done conventionally (i.e., feet hip-width apart and hands outside the legs).
A. Start with the bar at knee height.
B. Squat down until your hands can grab the barbell.
C. Stick your chest out and put your shoulders back.
D. Maintaining your arms straight, uplift the bar off the rack or blocks. Exemplify this by expanding your hips and knees. When founded properly, your shoulders, hips and knees all transport up at the same speed.
This is the type of exercise on which you can exemplify to a lot of weight. With that in mind, there are two vital pointers. First, concentrate on maintaining your chest out and shoulders back to guide your lower back. Second, maintain your arms forward to prevent a biceps tear.
This exercise is usually done for up to 8 repetitions per set.
4. Reverse Hyperextensions
This exercise helps develop the lower back, glutes and hamstrings. Like the other exercises, it does so in a way that consolidates hamstrings in the lengthened position.
How-to:
A. Lie down on a bench with your chest and hips in relation with the bench.
B. Position a dumbbell between your feet.
C. Maintaining your legs together, lower your legs as far as possible toward the ground.
D. Keeping your upper body and hips in contact with the bench and your legs together, raise the dumbbell as far as your legs can conveniently move. All the movement must come from your hips.
This exercise is usually done for 8 to 15 repetitions per set.
Include the Exercises into Your Program
To include these exercises into a strength training program, exemplify one of them into any maximal strength day. As an illustration, if Monday is your maximal strength training day, your workout might seem like this:
A. Back Squats: 3×6-10@80-85%
B. Romanian Deadlifts: 3×6-10
C. Bench Press: 3×6-10@80-85%
D. Bent-Over Rows: 3×6-10
If you are exemplifying a hypertrophy-themed workout, these exercises must be balanced out quadriceps-dominant exercises, actually close to 1:1. Here is an example:
1. Front Squats: 3×8-12@80%
2. Lunges: 3×8-12 each leg
3. Partial Deadlifts: 3×8-12
4. Move back Hyperextensions: 3×12-15
How to Perform Hip Extension Exercises Correctly
Hip Extension Exercises are the most ignored body movements.
Many injuries and inflammation are factored due to a sedentary lifestyle, and lack of hip extension is an essential part of it.
Getting the workout wrong can further cause injury and unimportant strain. Therefore, knowing how to exemplify workouts correctly is important.
In this article, I will demystify all you need to know about this excercise, its benefits and what one workout will do the job for you.
1 – What is Hip Extension?
Hip extension is the transportation of your thigh moving away from your front pelvis.
The most notable movement to unravel can be kicking back.
You enlarge your hip when you jump, run, and swim. As an illustration, when you run, the forward quad movement is hip flexion, and backward is the hip extension.
2 – Muscles Worked
The important muscles used for this excercise are gluteus maximus and hamstrings. However, the prime mover of hip extension is definitely the gluteus maximus.
A – Gluteus Maximus
Being the largest and the strongest muscle in the lower body, Gluteus Maximus assists you stand upright.
It makes up the rounded shape on your buttocks and is definitely responsible for the transportation of the hip and thigh.
It joins your tailbone to the thigh bone. Therefore, all your daily transportations such as walking, sitting, standing, and squatting – requires a stronger Gluteus Maximus.
B – Hamstrings
Hamstrings are back muscles of your thighs – entails semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris.
It joins from pelvis to the back of your knees, steady your hip joints.
It has two essential functions for – hip and knee. For knee, hamstrings assist in bending them.
Whereas for hip, Hamstrings help your gluteus maximus in order to make a backward quad movement.
3 – Benefits of Hip Extension Exercises
These exercises are most ignored workouts. Despite using hip extensors daily, we somehow use to underestimate its function.
There are several advantages to working the hip extensors with proper workouts and movements.
A – Sports Conditioning
Working out gluteus maximus and hamstrings can assist athletes uplift their performance. These two muscles are important for all the sports.
Hip extension exercise can assist athletes in sports conditioning. Stronger muscles will actually minimize injury and add more flexibility.
Hip extensors and flexors greatly impact running and swimming. Both require incessant and fast movements of quads assisted by the flexors and extensors.
B – Balance
Both hip extension and hip flexion are important for giving balance for to your body.
Hip flexion exercises are notable and many exemplify them unknowingly. Most ab exercises make you work on the hip flexors.
However, we ignore the hip extension exercises, which demand backward movement of thighs. Working on hip extensors can assist in maintaining balance and prevent injury.
C – Injury Prevention
People with sedentary lifestyle frequently have weaker gluteus maximus and hamstrings. Inactivity transits to tightness and weakness
As a result, the lower back then compensates and causes spinal injury. Focused hip extension exercises can assist prevent such injuries.
D – Toned Muscles
Focused exercises for gluteus maximus and hamstrings will tone your muscles.
Apart from stronger muscles, you can actually get great shape on your glutes and quads. Regular workouts can assist you lose fat and make your legs look toned and strong.
4 – How to Perform Quadruped Hip Extension Correctly
There are several more movements which can validate your hip flexors. However, I will focus on the most effective one called the Quadruped Hip Extension.
American Council of Exercise did a study and concluded Quadruped Hip Extension as the most notable one to activate maximus gluteus and hamstring simultaneously.
This kind of hip extension exercise is also called donkey kicks and leg raises.
Therefore, we will display step-by-step instructions on how to perform Quadruped Hip Extension correctly.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Place your hands and knees on the ground, with back neutral and abs tightened.
2. Put one leg back and upwards keeping a 90-degree angle through the movement.
3. Ensure your foot is concerned on the ceiling, and hip, tight and knee aligned and parallel to the floor.
4. Put the leg back to the original position, and that completes one rep.
Reps and Sets
If you are a starter to the workout, then try performing 8 reps with 3 sets on your leg day.
Once you begin feeling comfortable after 3-4 leg days, boost your reps or add weights (in the tips below)
Tips
1. Evade arching your back
2. Maintain neck in line with the spine (look down)
3. Boost your challenge: add ankle weights or light dumbbell behind the knees
5 – Hip Extension Exercise Variations
There are several hip extension workouts, but we have listed the single leg extension exercises only.
Single Leg Hip Extension exercises are focused workouts which are more impactful.
A- Pilates Swimming
Impactful workout if you are into Yoga and Pilates. You already are used to such body movements.
To exemplify Pilates Swimming, lie on the floor facing down and perform flutter kicks backward.
B – Hip extension machine
If you have a gym membership, working hip extensions on a machine is an excellent option.
You can adjust your weight and position gently on the machine.
C – Standing Hip Extension
Stand upright and deliver the hip extension exercise. The most simple of all is performing it while standing.
Grasp on the something like a chair or a wall, and perform backward movements with the leg.
