The Hip Hinge: Part 1-How to deadlift like a boss.

There are a few reasons to why I love the deadlift. In my professional opinion there is no other exercise that works as many muscle groups…

There are a few reasons to why I love the deadlift. In my professional opinion there is no other exercise that works as many muscle groups at one time, which makes it one of the most effective exercise when it comes to total body development (i.e. Making your body look like a suit of armor). Nothing in my eyes looks better than pulling a mass amount of weight off the floor, sure you can squat 400 pounds (or half squat it like your average gym goer does), But can you lift the same weight off the floor?

The Hierarchy Of Strength

There is a general hierarchy when it comes to the total weight you can lift in each exercise. Your deadlift should be heavier than your squat, your squat should be heavier than your bench, your bench should be heavier than your power clean, and your power clean should be heavier than your overhead press. If one of these things is not like the other than you should really start to rethink your life choices.

Lets Get That Hinge

Now that my little rant is over we can get to the meat and potatoes of this article, The Hip Hinge. The ability to properly hinge at the hips will allow you to set up for the deadlift properly. Everyone humor me for a second and stand up. Now try to touch your toes without bending your knees, can you? If the answer is Yes, then great you are one step closer to being a badass. If you answered No then we have some work to do. For the people that answered yes, I want you to try the test again, but this time I want you to “hinge” at the hips first before you bend over. Meaning I want you to push your butt out behind you as far as you can without bending your knees. Ok got it? Now bend over and touch your toes again. Not as easy right, but were you still able to do it?

Check out this video for exactly what I am looking for as far as touching your toes.

As you can see I am pushing my butt back away from me as I bend over to touch my toes, this is your hips ability to hinge.

Now I will show you what I am not looking for: In this case it’s an immediate bend of the spine with no effort at all to move at the hips. (believe it or not I have actually seen this from clients on more than one occasion)

The Important piece to take away from these videos is that if you can not properly hinge then you can not safely and properly deadlift. Outside of the deadlift the ability or inability to hip hinge can affect you in everyday situations.

I’ve been stretching my hamstrings for years and I can’t seem to loosen them up!

“So Chris, what should I do to get to touch my toes?”
 “That’s a great question Chris I am glad you asked.”

I am going to right out say that stretching your hamstrings does not work. If you believe that you have tight hamstrings and there is nothing you can do to fix it, then I have the solution for you. The myth of tight hamstrings is exactly that. Your hamstrings are not tight, your hips just simply suck at moving properly. Now before you give me that look like I just murdered a dozen puppies in front of you let me explain.

The hips inability to move properly will cause tension on the muscles giving you the illusion that they are tight. By that logic getting the hips to move better will in fact loosen up your hips, which will get you to touch your toes, which will get you one step closer to being a total badass and have all of the girls in the gym drooling over you.

Ok Chris, so how do I get my hips to move better?

A few things, first of which is Core Activation. Getting your core stronger will in fact allow your hips to move better, and no I’m not talking about doing a million and a half crunches here. I’m talking about activating the core during the toe touch. Because the core inserts at the hips it is one of the muscle groups that controls its movement.

The other aspect of getting the hips to move better is to take your hips through full ranges of motion during the toe touch (i.e. A anterior and posterior tilt). An anterior tilt is when the hips are rotated forward, and a posterior tilt is when the hips are rotated backward.

The third and final thing to consider is your breathing pattern, contrary to popular belief breathing is in fact important. I will explain the breathing pattern after you watch the two videos of how to get your toe touch better.

As you can see I have my toes elevated in the video by a 1/2 foam roller but you can use anything that will elevate your feet 1–2 inches. The towel that is between my legs (just above the knees) is used to activate the core. During the movement I am squeezing that towel as hard as I can for the entire duration of the movement. My breathing pattern is as follows. Exhale out as you reach down as far as you can, hold the position and take a deep inhale, followed by a deep exhale as you try to extend your reach a little further. Inhale as you return to a full upright position and start the process over. Repeat this 6–8 times.

Immediately following this exercise take a small step forward on the roller so that your heels are elevated and your toes are on the floor. Perform the exercise exactly the same way as the previous one: squeezing the towel, and keeping the same breathing/movement pattern. Because your hips are tilted in the opposing direction during this movement the stretch you will feel will be completely different, and you will notice that because your heels are elevated you won’t be able to reach as far, don’t worry so much about that. Keep the reps again at 6–8.

So now try to touch your toes again. Were you able to? If yes: You’re welcome, you can now deadlift. If no, don’t sweat it, I’m sure your reach the second time was a lot closer to your toes than the first time you tried it correct? I will pretty much guarantee that if you perform these 2 exercises every day you will be able to touch your toes within 1–2 weeks.

AUTHOR: Chris Tangredi is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the NSCA. He is also Functional Movement Screen Certified. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from SUNY Cortland. He loves to lift heavy things and takes a real functional approach to his coaching techniques. He website is currently in progress but he maintains a blog at www.TangrediStrength.com

Originally published at fitletes.com.