Top 5 Exercises For Hip Mobility

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Let’s open things up…

Hip mobility exercises will, by default, be hip-opening exercises. The criteria used by mobility coach Liv Townsend to qualify these top 5 exercises are:

• improves both strength and range of motion
  • these are the qualifying characteristics for a mobility exercise; if an exercise improves only one or the other, then it’s just a strength exercise or just a flexibility exercise
• is accessible from almost any starting point
  • realistically, rather than “if you can’t do the vertical splits while balancing on one leg, start by doing the vertical splits against the wall” (yes, that’s a real piece of advice this writer saw in the wild one time)
• can be progressively loaded or deepened
  • because otherwise we would get very limited benefits from it, so this characteristic is necessary too
• delivers high value by working multiple muscles
  • because frankly, we have a lot of muscles, and working them all individually would take a lot longer than most of us have time to commit

With these criteria in mind, here are 5 exercises that do all those things, and do them well:

• Bulgarian split squat: ranks highest for accessibility, progression, strength, and mobility, improving hip extension in your back leg, hip flexion and internal-rotation stability in your front leg, and stretching your glutes, quads, and hip flexors through deep ranges, with balance easily assisted if needed.
• Lateral squat: delivers high value by improving mobility and strength in your glutes, quads, adductors, hamstrings, and ankles, emphasizes inner-thigh mobility and external hip rotation, and progresses with depth or load, but can be less accessible due to common form challenges.
• Single-leg Romanian deadlift: combines hamstring lengthening with strength through your full hinge range, is accessible at any flexibility level, and progresses easily with load, but ranks lower because it mainly targets a single mobility area.
• Squat: develops quad strength and stretches your quads and hip flexors on descent, is broadly accessible and scalable with depth, blocks, or bands, but offers lower overall value because it lacks hip rotation and minimal posterior-chain involvement.
• Shin box: builds strength and flexibility through internal and external hip rotation, strengthens your glutes on the lift, stretches your hip flexors and adductors at the top, and is easily progressed with load, but loses points for accessibility due to required internal rotation and starting-position demands.

For more on all of this, plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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The Most Underrated Hip Mobility Exercise (Not Stretching)

Take care!