I feel a sensible goal for you is to be pain free and possess the mobility, strength and fitness to be able to handle anything life throws at you. That means you will be able to thrive whether you are 20 or 80 years old.
A simple way to gauge how you are doing on this front is by checking how well you can squat, lunge, and deadlift. These three movements cover most of what you need to do in life as they require flexibility, strength and balance. The main influence behind these movements is how well your hip joints are functioning.
The hips are meant to be able to move in multiple directions, they should allow your leg to move up, down, in, out and to rotate clockwise and counter clockwise. It is this latter movement pattern that most people lose which causes movement issues. If you can’t rotate your thigh bone in or out then you will have trouble squatting, lunging and bending. We lose our hip rotational ability from too much sitting in life, doing repetitive movements like running or as a result of restrictions in other joints, e.g. your ankles.
Luckily, most people can loosen their hips up and restore rotational ability. You can do this without any equipment too, however, I like to use a slant board. This is a simple wedge or raised surface that changes the angle of your foot, allowing you to load the hips in a slightly different way. If you don’t have one, you can get the same effect by placing one part of your foot (e.g. heel or toe) on a low step or thick book while the other part stays on the floor.
I have used this a lot to loosen up my lunges for Hyrox training and I now do a version of this most days. My hips and lunges feel amazing despite my knee still being hurt from that fall I had a month ago. I have also used it with many clients who are trying to deepen their squats or hinge movements.
There are six exercises that you can do to loosen the hips easily at home. You can find these below or see a video of them here>>. I’ve also created a 10 minute follow-along workout doing these exercises which is in the member area for all my current and past clients. For the exercises, you should never feel pain in any joints, especially the knees. It is best to err on the side of caution and just let the body naturally become more flexible without trying to force it.
2 Legged Slant Boards – The first version has your legs narrow, toes up the slant board, focus on keeping the inner heel down while you perform a bending motion from the waist. The other motion has legs wide apart, toes down the board, focus on keeping the outer heel down while you perform a squat type motion.
Staggered Leg Slant boards – The same two versions are repeated but now the feet are in a staggered position with only one foot in front of the other. This will show if you have any side that is stiffer than the other.
Slant board split squats – In these exercises the front foot is on the slant board and you perform a split squat. In the first version the toes are up the board, to make it harder you should look to make a shorter stance and focus on moving your knee further over your toes (while always keeping your heel down). The second version has the foot going down the board with focus on keeping the knee above or behind the foot. To make this version harder you will move your back foot so you are in a longer stance.
What Does This Mean For You
Most people do not notice their hips stiffening up because it happens so subtly. Adding in these exercises will unlock mobility and build some strength. This will translate into better movement patterns.
If you’re training regularly but still feel tight, awkward or unbalanced in movements like squats, lunges or even walking upstairs, then doing a phase of hip-focused work might be the missing piece.
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