Over my years of coaching, the hip hinge (think deadlifts, kettlebell swings) has been the movement pattern that people initially struggle with the most. The biggest problem tends to be figuring out how to get the hips to move without the lower back flexing alongside the hips.
The lumbopelvic disassociation is a common limiting factor, but a major one to overcome if you want to utilise the power stored up in your hips and avoid your spine snapping in half.
So what is a hip hinge?
The hip hinge is, in general, any flexion or extension originating at the hips that involves a posterior weight shift.
And in English...
Maintaining a neutral spine, as you bend at the hips, not the lower back.
Now the tricky part comes when you try to teach a hip hinge pattern to someone who sits for the majority of their day.
Office workers tend to spend roughly 8-10 hours a day in the seated position, which initially would sound like a good thing when it comes to teaching the hip hinge, as they’re sitting with their hips at 90 degrees all day, right?
The problem is most people tend to slouch and roll their pelvis to have more of a posterior tilt to it, which means they’re sitting with less than 90 degrees of hip flexion and more than zero degrees of spinal flexion as a result.
This kind of posture tends to have a direct negative effect on the ability to hip hinge, as the person wants to always initiate the movement through spinal flexion instead of through hip flexion.
A drill I like to use to help people to better understand how to correctly perform the hip hinge is the dowel drill, here's how to do it.
Step One: Place the dowel rod on your back to make contact with your head, your mid-back between your shoulder blades, and your lower back. Place your hands wherever they are comfortable. Dowel rods are ideal, but something similar like a broomstick works just fine.
Technique Tip: To fold forward while maintaining contact with the rod, most lifters will need to bend their knees. Although the knees do bend, they do not project forwards. Think of this as a softening of the knees to allow the hips to project backwards. Keep your feet flat and solid on the ground as your weight shifts.
Step Two: Fold forward at the waist, bringing your chest down towards the floor while maintaining contact between the rod and the three points of contact — the tailbone, mid-back, and head.
You want your spine to maintain the same shape and position that it has while you are standing. Stop when your hips are no longer able to travel any further back.
Step Three: Once you’ve reached the bottom position, push your hips forward to stand back up. Fully extend the hips and squeeze your glutes, but do not over-extend the spine, it should remain neutral as you approach the end of and complete the rep.
The dowel rod is a tool to help you learn how your own optimal hinging movement pattern.
Technique Tip: When you add weight, be sure to keep the weight close to you by engaging your lats.
Once you've mastered the hip hinge and unlocked the power in your hips you'll be able to lift more weight, more effectively and more importantly, safely.
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