Strength · Hips

Strength work for the hips

The hip flexes, extends, abducts, adducts and rotates both ways. Squats and deadlifts train the first two. These load the rest.

What this trains

This page is about the glutes, the abductors, the adductors and the deep external rotators.

The lifts

  1. 01Bulgarian split squat3 × 8–10 each side

    Front shin roughly vertical for more glute, angled forward for more quad. Pick one on purpose.

  2. 02Copenhagen plank3 × 15–25 s each side

    Start with the knee on the bench. The full-length version is a big jump in load.

  3. 03Banded lateral walk3 × 12 steps each way

    Band above the knees, feet stay parallel — turning the toes out hands the work to the wrong muscle.

  4. 04Romanian deadlift3 × 8

    Push the hips back until the hamstrings load, then stop. It is a hip movement, not a back one.

What this page can't tell you: Hip range varies by bone shape as much as by training. Some ranges are not available to some hips, and that is anatomy, not weakness.

Other regions

Posturethe upper back, the spinal erectors and the deep abdominal wallDesk workthe hip flexors, the glutes, the upper back and the neck extensorsHamstringsthe back of the thigh — biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosusBack and spinethe spinal erectors, the lats, the deep trunk and the muscles that resist rotationNeck and shouldersthe rotator cuff, the scapular stabilisers and the neckCore and trunkthe abdominal wall, the obliques and the deep trunk
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