The Magic of the Hip Hinge
Don’t neglect this key component of powerful lifts.
“It’s all in the hips.”
My first CrossFit coach, a college sophomore from Ohio who led a definitely-not-CrossFit class at my alma mater, drilled down on this statement just about every time he taught a new movement.
Snatch: “It’s all in the hips.”
Clean: “It’s all in the hips.”
Thruster: “It’s all in the hips.”
I understood most of what he meant: Your hips have a lot of power, and driving through them at the right point in the snatch or the clean or the thruster will send the weight up more easily than just trying to stand and pull or push the weight up with your arms. Driving through the hips transfers the energy into the barbell and, woosh, up it goes.
But I only grasped the forward element of hip drive. The idea of pushing the hips back — to, for example, get in position to deadlift the barbell or make the first pull on the snatch or clean — didn’t quite land. I might have slightly hinged back out of instinct, but if I did, I wasn’t aware of it — or why that backwards hip hinge was so important.
I didn’t learn how to properly hinge until a knee injury (unrelated to gym activities) sent me to a physical therapist, who focused on improving my basically nonexistent hip stability.
Before then, I’d also sustained a lower back injury that made me wary of barbell movements. Anytime I tried to do my favorite lifts, my back would light up and leave me miserably uncomfortable for days, so I stopped doing barbell squats and cleans and stuck to bodyweight movements.
Turns out, what I needed was to learn how to properly hinge.
Learning how to hinge — and doing hip hinging movements regularly, on one leg or two — taught me to stiffen my lower back when lifting and engage the powerful muscles of the posterior chain. It showed me that my lower back tightness was often due to tight hamstrings, not a weak back. And it enabled me to return to barbell movements pain-free because my lower back no longer compensated for my poor hinging technique. I’m now able to deadlift, squat, and even do dynamic movements like burpees and barbell cleans without my back screaming at me.
Regardless of whether you’re doing Olympic lifts, standard powerlifting, dumbbell workouts, or bodyweight movements, you need to learn the hip hinge. It’s foundational to most lower-body movements, with weights or without — especially those that target your posterior chain. (The posterior chain is made up of the muscles running along the back side of your body, including your back muscles, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.)
A well-executed hip hinge helps you:
Center the weight over your midfoot.
Keep your back in a strong, safe, neutral position.
Effectively engage your glutes and hamstrings when you drive your hips forward.
If you deal with lower back pain, the hip hinge can help retrain your body in good posture and movement patterns, while also strengthening your glutes and hamstrings which are likely way weaker than they should be thanks to how much we sit these days.
How to Hip Hinge
Start by standing with your feet hip-width apart, toes forward, and your knees soft, not locking your legs. Make sure not to arch or collapse your lower back. Your spine should be in a neutral position throughout the movement.
Put your hands on your hip bones and imagine a rod traveling directly across your pelvis at that point, from one side to the other. This is the axis where you will bend.
Slowly push your hips back as if you’re closing a door with your butt. Go as far you can while maintaining your neutral spine. At some point, you should feel a stretch in the back of your legs.
Stand back up by squeezing your glutes and pressing your feet into the floor.
If you’re not sure whether you’re keeping a neutral spine, you can hold a broomstick or dowel down your back. Your head, midback, and tailbone should keep contact with the broomstick throughout the movement, but your lower back should have some space.
A couple hip hinge tutorials to learn more:
How to Hip Hinge Properly, AE Wellness
How to Hip Hinge (for Beginners), Solving Pain With Strength
How to HIP HINGE Properly.. 5 Great Drills, Performance Sport & Spine
Two of My Favorite Hip Hinge Drills
1. Good Mornings
You can do these with your hands behind your head, holding a broomstick or dowel across your upper back, or with an empty barbell. A good morning is really just a hip hinge. You find that neutral posture, push your hips back, and stand back up. Rinse and repeat. This can be a great way to prep for other hinging movements like the deadlift.
2. Kettlebell Swings
This movement is a great way to work on the backward bend and forward drive of the hip hinge. With a wider stance (shoulder-width or a little wider), hold a kettlebell with two hands so it hangs in front of you. Lock your shoulders so they’re not rounding forward or squeezing backward. Brace in your neutral posture and send your hips back (the kettlebell will drift between your legs). Then drive forward by squeezing your glutes and pushing into your feet explosively. This should send your arms and the kettlebell swinging forward.
Other Movements Where the Hip Hinge Plays a Significant Role
Romanian deadlift (single- or double-leg)
Standard deadlift
Clean
Snatch
Hip thrust
You will also bend at the hip in a squat, but the squat is generally a more knee-dominant movement where you want to maintain a more upright posture. I don’t think cueing the hip hinge in the squat is a good approach 🙅🏼♀️. Too many people struggle to maintain good posture in the squat and if they’re focused on pushing their hips back, they’re likely to also bend forward in a way that isn’t safe. The focus for the squat should instead be on pushing the knees forward and out while lowering the hips.
Recommended Reading
The Case Against Training Based On Your Menstrual Cycle (Outside)
The Case for the Hip Thrust (Slate)
What’s coming up:
Here’s why the 🍑 obsession is the same tired story of aesthetics dominating women’s fitness culture
Like what you’ve read? Share Women’s Barbell Club with a friend!
Forward this email or share a link to our Substack page.