Hello and welcome to my nerdy blog where Iāve been writing about all things strength and conditioning for pole sinceā¦ *checks watch* ā¦2016! Wow, time flies!
In all that time, I donāt think Iāve ever written a blog about hip rotation specifically, so here we are!
If youāve no idea what the heck hip rotation mobility is and why it might be important for pole dancers, read on! Iāll give you some hip rotation visuals and some examples of how we use it in pole!
And if you just came for the exercise inspo, keep on scrollinā to the end where Iāll share 8, YES 8 (it was hard to choose) of my favourite hip rotation mobility exercises for pole dancers.
If youād rather watch the pole skelly visuals than read about them, check out my (ridiculous) reel video below! The algorithm made me do it.
What exactly do I mean by āhip rotationā?
When I refer to āhip rotationā, what Iām talking about is rotation of the legāmore specifically the femur (āthigh boneā)āwithin the hip socket. Hereās a quick visual of what it looks like to externally or internally rotate the leg:
Why is hip rotation mobility important for pole dancers?
Having a good range of hip rotation flexibility and control through that range in both the internal and external direction is super useful for pole dancers for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, because the shapes we make on the pole quite often involve hip rotation. Like the external rotation of the leg in the inside leg hang, which you can see in the image above.
And it’s particularly noticable in those really interesting leg shapes we make in moves like Gargoyleā¦
Okay, that image is terrifying! But itās actually kinda fitting since Iām writing this in October when the pole dancers of the world are dusting off their creepiest shapes, preparing to get their creative Halloween spook-on.
In my best Haunted House ghoul voice: āWoooo-hooo-hooo-haaaaā.
Anyhoo, the better your hip rotation range, the easier youāre gonna be able to get your legs into these kinds of positions ā and the less youāll have to compensate with other movements!
Secondly, being able to control our hip rotation can also help us stabilise our hip joint in the end-range positions we love to do on and around the pole like front splits, middles splits and pancakes. Win, win!
How to test your hip rotation mobility for pole
If youāre like me, you might need to work your hip rotation mobility *off* the pole, to make those hip-rotation-heavy shapes and end-range positions *on* the pole more accessible.
The good news is, if you think hip rotation mobility might be a limiting factor for you, you can do a pretty simple test to check-in on that.
The above test video is taken from my splits training workbooks which you can find here for front splits and here for middle splits!
Itās a quick way to get a rough idea of where your hip rotation mobilityās at and how those positions feel.
Generally, the more flexible pole dancers I work with tend to be hitting around 40-45 degrees of external rotation and around 35-40 degrees of internal rotation on this test. But rather than comparing yourself to that standard, the best way to use the test is as a benchmark to help you monitor your hip rotation mobility over time. That way, you can see if your training is having an impact on it (either positively or negatively).
Keep an eye out for any substantial side-to-side differences (in how the range looks but also how it feels!).
8 hip rotation exercises for pole
If you feel your hip rotation mobility could use a little extra love, you came to the right place!
With my pole dance clients, I tend to use a combination of end-range isometric holds, active movements through the full range of rotation (both loaded and unloaded) and sometimes (depending on the client) passive and PNF stretches, too.
Below, Iāve shared 8 of the more active hip rotation exercises that Iām currently using with my clients. Honestly there are MANY ways to train hip rotation, but hopefully these exercises and my explanations will give you some ideas!
A few quick tips before we get into the exercises:
- Train generally AND specifically! Youāll notice that some of the exercises below look *exactly* like what we do ON the pole (I mean, particularly the āon the poleā exercise!), and some are a little more general. As a very broad guide, starting with more general movement patterns and building towards the more specific ones is a good approach, but in my experience, using a mixture of both general and more specific movements is the most productive way!
- Little and often works well! You donāt need to go too wild with volume. Sprinkling your mobility exercises across the week in your warm ups, itās possible to hit that ālittle but oftenā sweet spot that seems to work well for improving mobility.
- Variety is good! Consistency in what youāre doing is important, but Iād recommend choosing a mixture of exercises that work your hip rotation in different positions and using different timing/movements. For example, in some exercises you might move more fluidly in and out of hip rotation, and in others you might hold in your end range, or just work an eccentric movement pattern. Iāve included a mix of different positions and training approaches below, so youāll see what I mean as you go through them!
- Train both directions! Generally, training both internal and external rotation is a solid starting point to help create balance between the two. But if you know you have a particular limitation in either direction, or if youāre working more in one direction in your other training, you can bias the exercises you choose towards either internal or external rotation. That way you can make your training more personalised and more productive!
Exercise 1 – Hip rotations
Hereās a great warm up drill where weāre moving the leg through a pattern of rotation. Youāve probably seen and/or done some variation of this movement already! You can do these kneeling or standing, but I tend to prefer the kneeling version, just because itās easier to keep everything else still and really focus on that movement through the hip, especially if you use the yoga block as a feedback tool!
Exercise 2 ā Internal hip rotation in flexion
In this exercise, weāre focusing on moving into an internally rotated position with the leg in flexion (i.e. the knee is out in front of us). Using the block and the wall to help keep everything else still while we isolate that rotation. You can do this one as repetitions moving in and out of the position, or you can hold in your end range (I like to use 5 second holds in end ranges like this).
Exercise 3 ā Resisted external hip rotation
Hereās how you can add a little resistance to your hip rotation movements using a band. In this example, weāre training external rotation in a similar position to exercise 2 (i.e. in hip flexion), but this time weāre lying on our back! Again, end-range holds seems to work well for these, or slow 5 second movements!
As a little bonus, hereās how youād position the band to add resistance to the internal rotation movement – and here I’m in a seated position:
Exercise 4 ā 90-90 Active Stretch
The 90-90 position is another one that you’re probably already familiar with. There are *many* variations of movements you can do in this position to target external rotation on the front leg and internal rotation on the back leg.
In the example below, the focus is on external rotation in that front leg, staying active in the stretch by pushing the leg into the floor.
Exercise 5 ā Internal rotation in bridge
Remember how I said itās useful to train rotation in different positions? Well, hereās an example of that. In this one, weāre training internal rotation again, but this time in a bridge position.
Exercise 6 ā Supported Airplanes
This exercise looks a little different to the others. In the other exercises, weāre keeping our pelvis still and focusing on rotating the leg, but now weāre keeping our leg still and creating movement through rotation by moving our pelvis.
We do this in pole sometimes, too… for example, where our leg is fixed in a grip point around the pole, and we adjust the position of the rest of our body while keeping the leg still.
There are some great variations of this exercise! The one Iāve included below is supported (i.e. youāre holding the pole or a wall) which takes out a little of the balance challenge so you can focus on the rotation and movement through the hip.
Exercise 7 ā Hip rotation with knee flexion
Here, weāre maintaining engagement of our hamstrings by keeping the knee bent around the block (a little like when weāre gripping the pole behind our knee) and moving through hip rotation. If the yoga block feels uncomfortable, you can use a tennis ball or even just a rolled up towel!
Exercise 8 ā Hip rotation on the pole
I wanted to include at least one āon the poleā exercise ā I mean, thatās where all this stuff is heading, right?!
Here, Iām focusing on the very specific rotation involved in the inside leg hang. This is a good example of a progression from working on your hip rotation *off* the pole and starting to apply that *on* the pole to a specific trick! Magic!
Hope this has given you some ideas for your own training!
P.S. If you love nerding about training for pole and pole anatomy, I think youāll like my pole books! Check ’em out here!
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