If you lift, your hips are the single most important joint you need to keep mobile. More important than shoulders. More important than the thoracic spine. Not because they’re the most restricted (they usually are, but that’s a different story) — but because when your hips can’t do their job, your lumbar spine and your knees pay for it.
Most of the chronic pain we see in lifters at RXN Performance traces back to hip mobility restrictions. Not all of it — but most of it. Fix the hips and a lot of other problems quietly disappear.
The three hip motions that matter most for lifting
1. Internal rotation
The single most under-appreciated hip range in the lifting world. Internal rotation is what lets your femur sit correctly in the socket at the bottom of a squat, at hip lockout on a deadlift, and during any rotational movement (throwing, hitting, changing direction).
Loss of internal rotation on one side is one of the most common drivers of contralateral knee pain — and it’s the pattern we found in Andrew’s case, whose right knee pain resolved once we restored his left hip’s internal rotation. The knee was the symptom. The hip was the driver.
2. Flexion (with a neutral spine)
Not just “can you touch your toes.” Real hip flexion in a lifting context means being able to descend into a full squat pattern without your pelvis tucking under (butt wink) or your lumbar spine flexing to compensate.
When hip flexion is limited, the body finds it somewhere else — usually by dumping the pelvis and rounding the lower back. Do that under load for enough reps and you get exactly the kind of chronic lower back pain that most lifters are trying to figure out.
3. Extension
Hip extension is what fires your glutes at the top of a deadlift, drives you out of the bottom of a squat, and lets you actually use your posterior chain. Restricted hip extension is why so many lifters’ quads take over movements that should be glute-driven.
The most common cause: chronically shortened hip flexors from prolonged sitting.
Drills that actually move the needle
There’s an infinite supply of hip mobility content online. Most of it is fine but doesn’t produce lasting change because it lacks intent, load, or context. The drills below are the ones we use consistently because they combine mobility with active neuromuscular input — meaning your body actually keeps the new range you’re working for.
For internal rotation
- 90/90 with weight shift — sit on the floor in a 90/90 position, gently rotate hips forward and back with active pressure. Do it slowly with intent.
- Deep squat with knee drives — from the bottom of a squat, alternate driving one knee outward and inward. Real range of motion under active control.
- Half-kneeling internal rotation with load — small dumbbell or kettlebell in the working-side hand while you drive the opposite hip through internal rotation. Adding load teaches the system to hold the new range.
For flexion
- Deep goblet squat holds — a light kettlebell held at the chest, hang out at the bottom of the squat for 30–60 seconds. Focus on active pressure into the ground, not passive collapse.
- Cossack squats — lateral squats through range. Restores hip flexion under load in a pattern the body will actually keep.
- Elevated pigeon with reach-through — pigeon pose on a bench with active rotation through the working-side hip.
For extension
- Couch stretch — the classic, but done actively with intentional glute contraction on the extending side. Passive holds produce short-term stretch. Active holds produce lasting change.
- Kneeling hip flexor stretch with posterior pelvic tilt — the tilt is what makes the stretch actually work on the hip flexors instead of the low back.
- Glute bridges with pause at end range — full lockout at the top for 3 seconds. Retrains hip extension as a strength pattern, not just a mobility one.
How to program these
Most lifters try to do a full hip mobility routine 3–5 days a week and burn out on it. A more sustainable approach:
- 10 minutes before every squat/deadlift session: pick 2 drills covering internal rotation and flexion
- 10 minutes after every session: pick 1 drill for extension
- 5 minutes on off days: whatever felt tightest during the last session
Total: about 90 minutes a week distributed across your training. That’s enough to make real, lasting changes for most people.
When mobility work isn’t enough
Mobility drills work great for lifters whose hips are just underworked. They don’t work when the restriction is driven by something structural — a joint capsule adhesion, an old injury pattern, chronic guarding from a previous surgery, or asymmetric loading from an SI joint dysfunction.
Signs you probably need more than mobility drills alone:
- You’ve been doing consistent mobility work for 6+ weeks with no meaningful change
- One side is dramatically more restricted than the other
- The restriction is tied to a known past injury or surgery
- Loaded movements are still painful even when unloaded ones aren’t
In those cases, some combination of sports chiropractic, soft-tissue work, and targeted rehab loading usually produces the change that mobility drills alone can’t. A movement assessment is the fastest way to figure out which category you’re actually in.
If you want a real read on your specific case
If you’re a lifter in Dallas whose hips have been limiting your lifting and you want to figure out why — and how to actually fix it — book a free 15-minute discovery call. We’ll go through your history, your training, and what you’ve already tried, and give you an honest read on whether an assessment is worth doing.
Book a Free 15-min Discovery Call →
Written by Dr. Ryan Giniel, D.C., founder of RXN Performance in Uptown Dallas. B.S. Kinesiology, Central Michigan University. D.C., Parker University. More about Dr. Ryan →