I think most people involved in health and fitness are up to speed on the move to address mobility and stability at the hip as an integral part of our assessments and exercise prescription.  I know in my practice I see lots of issues with both a lack of hip stability and mobility.

As I learn, practice and evolve as a professional, I find myself looking for more bang for my buck with exercises.  A few themes and trends in my own training include:

  1. Increasing emphasis on body weight exercises
  2. More and more single leg training
  3. Integrated movement patterns versus isolation

So, if you are familiar with Gray Cook and Mike Boyle (I am specifically referring to their writing and discussion on the joint by joint approach) you know that they advocate for increasing mobility at some joints and gaining stability at others.  Ironically, the hip has a need for more of both depending on the movement and individual imbalances.

So, I really enjoy exercises that provide some of each and meet the trends I referenced above.  I just released one such hip exercise in my “Functionally Fit” Column in PFP Magazine.  I call it the RDL Hip Driver.

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Click here to read the entire post with a full description of how to perform the exercise and its functional application.