It All Hinges on This

Maximize power and avoid injury with the hip hinge.

Most of us exercise with the primary goal of improving our day-to-day life. We all know it is important to get cardiovascular activity for our heart health, but what about exercising to improve the way we move?

Many of us spend our days in a typical office environment where most of the lifting we do involves a coffee pot or a stack of papers. So when the warm weather arrives and we look forward to getting a little sunshine while we do some yard work, there is the chance that more than a few of us are going to end up with at least a sore back, if not worse!

The reason many of us end up with a sore or injured back is because we are not moving the way our bodies are meant to. We put a lot of stress on the lower back and spine, instead of using the power we have in our legs and hips. With a proper hip hinge, however, you can start to maximize the power of your lower body muscles and help yourself avoid injury.

Our hips and knees are meant to bend with a wide range of motion, whereas our spines were meant to stay relatively straight. Unless we bend our hips and knees properly, however, we are bending through our lumbar and/or thoracic spine. This puts us at great risk for injury! Let us look at the proper way to sit down, i.e. the Hip Hinge with Posterior Weight Shift:

You should feel the weight at your hips shift back some with a bit of a knee bend as you lower yourself to the ground.
You should feel your body weight more over your heels than your toes.
Your back should stay relatively flat with your shoulders back. Think about good posture!
Your knees should bend slightly, and your shins should stay vertical.
Squeeze your glutes, and bring your hips back forward in one swift motion to return to the starting position.

The reason many of us end up with a sore or injured back is because we are not moving the way our bodies are meant to.

Stick Test

Want to see if you are doing it right? Take a stick long enough to reach your tailbone while staying in contact with the back of your head, and hold it in place while you attempt the hip hinge. With proper form, the stick should stay in contact with the back of your head, the middle of your back, and your tailbone throughout the movement. Watch yourself in a mirror to track your progress and see where you are going wrong.

Once you feel you have mastered the form of the hip hinge, try adding some weight to increase the difficulty with the Kettlebell Deadlift:

Start by standing facing a mirror with a kettlebell (that you feel comfortable lifting) in between your feet. Using your proper hip hinge form, lower your body to the point where you can grasp the kettlebell handle with both hands. Explode up into a standing position with the kettlebell, keeping your arms straight and relaxed and using your glutes and inner thighs to generate the power.

There are many other exercises and variations you can do to build strength. You can progress by using heavier kettlebells, using a barbell for a standard deadlift, incorporating a kettlebell swing, etc.

The hip hinge and these functional strength exercises will help your body both learn to move in the proper way and build strength to move objects in the proper way. It is important to make sure you are moving properly, so if you have any questions or concerns, consult with a certified personal trainer to make sure you are doing it right!