In most resistance training routines, you find that the glutes, posterior chain, lower back, and the hamstrings are often neglected. Hip lifts are valuable exercises intended to work on these muscles. If you add hip lifts into your routine, you stress the muscles. Start your hip lift progression exercises in a Coquitlam group personal training and see the results you will get. For people who have lower back pain, one way to get improvement of their pain condition is the ability to extend their hip without extending the lumbar spine.
Often, gym goers will do exercises, which mainly focus on the back and rarely on the hips, and this is a problem. The repetitive movements working on the end range part of lumbar flexion and extension could be destructive to the lumbar spine. When done improperly while at the same time greatly extending the lower back, it may cause compression of interspinous ligament. And with prolonged compression of the ligament, it could result to instability. To perform hip lift exercise, you should do the following;
- Lie on your back and have the arms placed at side with knees bend and the feet on floor. Lift the hips towards ceiling and hold for one count before you lower them back to surface.
- Repeat the hip lifting for 60 second while squeezing the glutes and the hamstring at top of range of the motion. Ensure you do not overarch the spine as it may bring some problem.
- To make the exercise a bit difficult, extend one of your legs at top of lift. Now keep the thighs parallel and try to hold the lifting position for close to 5 seconds.
- While keeping the hips up, return the foot back to floor and now lower your hips. You can repeat this for 30 seconds and switch side for another 30 seconds using the other leg.
With this exercise, it will provide you with relieve of tension in the lower back and at the same time work on your butt. You may want to use a cushy mat so that you keep the tailbone from friction.