Tips To Perfect Your Hip Hinge
→Start with feet shoulder width apart, neutral spine.
THE SET UP: Initiate by pressing your hips to the back wall. Knees are relaxed and bend as a side effect, not as the main movement. Imagine sliding a barbell down your legs. That barbell would be heavy so you want to press it close to your body the entire time which helps to engage your lats (swipe to see how this stabilizes your spine).
BOTTOM POSITION: Stop when you feel a stretch in your hamstrings! Going further may cause you to lose the hip hinge.
LINES: Make a T with your shins and your torso.
Drive through tripod feet (BASE of BIG TOE - BASE of LITTLE TOE - HEEL), press hips to the front wall as you stand tall.
END POSITION: Stop at neutral! A big form mistake here is exaggerating the end motion or pressing the hips past the toes at the top.
Split Stance RDL
Engage your core by lightly bringing belly button to spine to maintain neutral spine.
THE SET UP: Step one foot back resting the toe on the ground for balance with most of your weight on the front leg.
THE MOVEMENT: Begin to hinge at the hips while you maintain a neutral spine. The first movement should be backwards as if someone were pulling your weight back from the hip (PUSH THE BUTT TO THE BACK WALL).
Once you feel stretch in the hamstring + glutes of the stance leg, begin to drive through a tripod foot (BASE of BIG TOE - BASE of LITTLE TOE - HEEL) to bring your hips forward. STOP AT NEUTRAL! Try not to let your hips come too far forward when standing up.
→Your shin on the stance leg should stay vertical.
→The knee on the stance leg should be relaxed and bent slightly.
Single RDL
Engage your core by lightly bringing belly button to spine to maintain neutral.
THE SET UP: Unweight one leg while keeping pelvis level.
THE MOVEMENT: Begin to hinge at the hips while you maintain a neutral spine. The first movement should be backwards as if someone were pulling your weight back from the hip (PUSH THE BUTT TO THE BACK WALL).
NOTE: Your body works as a pendulum - if the head tips down, the foot lifts up.
Imagine a line from your shoulder straight through the foot. They must move together!
→Once you feel stretch in the hamstring + glutes, begin to drive through a tripod foot (BASE of BIG TOE - BASE of LITTLE TOE - HEEL) to stand up tall.
Single RDL Tips
→Different cues click with each person so here are some of our favorites!
→Think of sliding a piece of paper with the foot. As your chest drops forward, your foot slides the paper back.
→Lengthen to the back wall. Press the heel of your unweighted foot backwards reaching for the wall instead of lifting to the ceiling.
→Grab a foam roller and pin it between the top of your unweighted foot and the hand on the same side. Now your body HAS to move as one unit. You have become a pendulum!
→Stand sideways 6 inches from a wall with your stance leg closest. Try to perform the movement without tapping the wall! This helps prevent the hips from shifting to one side.
⬇️Click on the link below for the video demo! ⬇️
Why is the Single RDL one of our staples?
This movement can be found in a ton of our programs! We use it for two big reasons:
1. Stability
2. Mobility
→The single leg balance challenge helps with ankle, knee, hip, & pelvic stability.
→Due to the position of the hips (backward shift), we are challenging the gluteals and hamstrings as they lengthen (eccentric control). This is one of the reasons we include it in mobility programs. You won’t catch us telling someone to grab a strap and hold their leg up for 30 seconds (We call that a “feel good stretch” as it only helps temporarily - If it feels good go for it, but it is not directly contributing to reaching your goals).
Research shows for long lasting muscle length changes, we must load the muscle through an increased range.
⬇️Click on the link below for the video demo! ⬇️