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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

The best hip exercise I've learned

One of the things I am working on in PT is strengthening the hip stabilizers. Mine were weak to begin with, thanks to having a hip injury for so long, and after trauma to the area, they're even worse. Here is one exercise I've been doing that has really helped strengthen my muscles:

1. Start as if you are going to do a clam.
2. Then, lift your feet up at a 45 degree angle off the ground (picture 1).
3. You can do clams like this and it will be a bit more intense than a regular clam (picture 2).
4. Or, for an even better exercise, you can add a leg extension. While the clam is "open", extend your leg by straightening your knee (picture 4).
Top: Clam with legs lifted
Bottom: Clam with legs lifted plus extension
I actually taught this one to my PT! We started adding it in, and I really like that you can feel the burn after a few sets of 20. With regular clams, I never felt like I was doing anything.

My resource for these exercises comes from Princeton Athletic Medicine, and you can read the descriptions here.
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5 comments:

  1. misszippySeptember 9, 2014 at 3:43 PM

    Awesome move and one I haven't seen. I do clamshells but use a band around my knees to make them more challenging. 3x/week, every week.

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  2. Lisa's YarnsSeptember 9, 2014 at 8:01 PM

    Those do look like good moves. I have weak hips so this would be a good move for me to incorporate into my routine.

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  3. RunToTheFinishSeptember 10, 2014 at 9:40 AM

    ohhh this is new to me! I've done so many I didn't think there were any i hadn't seen! adding this to my list!

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  4. CharSeptember 10, 2014 at 3:33 PM

    I'm going to give that one a go. Looks tough!

    ReplyDelete
  5. GraceSeptember 10, 2014 at 10:35 PM

    So I tried your modified clamshells this morning and they are TOUGH. Will be adding them to the routine!

    ReplyDelete