November Challenge: The Hip Hinge

This November, our Strength & Balance classes are focusing on the hip hinge, a simple but important movement pattern that we use throughout everyday life.

A hip hinge involves bending forward from the hips while keeping the spine relatively neutral and the knees slightly bent. It's the movement we use when reaching down to pick something up, bending over a sink, or lifting an object from the floor.

Learning to hinge properly helps us use the strong muscles of our glutes and hamstrings while reducing unnecessary strain on the lower back. It's also an important foundation for strength exercises like deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts.

What to Expect This Month

Throughout November, we'll practice the hip hinge in different ways, gradually building coordination, control, and strength. We'll start with simple bodyweight movements before introducing resistance and more challenging variations.

We aren’t trying to see how much weight we can lift or how far we can bend. Instead, we want to develop a movement pattern that feels natural, controlled, and useful outside the studio.

By the end of the month, we hope you'll have a better understanding of how to move from your hips and put that skill to use in everyday activities and exercises we practice in class!