Hip Mobility Warm Up: High-steps, Splits & Straddles

Posted by on August 22, 2014 in Blog | 0 comments

Without a doubt, increased hip mobility and lower extremity flexibility can improve your climbing. Tight hamstrings and adductors paired with weak hip flexors can inhibit your climbing movement and worse yet can lead to a variety of injuries.

How often do we envy the effortless beauty of a climber with a higher high step or wider, more stable stance than ours? The truth of the matter is that nearly anyone at any age can dramatically increase their hip mobility and leg flexibility safely to improve his or her movement on and off the climbing wall.

While a total body warm up is always suggested for strenuous activities such as climbing, the following exercises are a great addition if your focus is on improving your hip mobility. ***A full flexibility program is a rigorous combination of many types of stretching and concurrent strength training in a specific order; the movements addressed in this article can be used as an added warm up for your general training. I suggest doing 5-10 minutes of cardio warm up or similar movement prior to these activities, such as regular lunges (forward, side and back), body weight squats (toes as close to a wall as possible) or similar.***

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Ping Pong (total hip mobility, multiple muscle group warm up)

  1. Begin in a wide squat  (knees over heels) with your feet as externally rotated as possible
  2. Rotate through to a lunge while pouring your weight into your hips
  3. Rock back to straighten out your front leg, point your tailbone to the ceiling (be sure to keep your back FLAT!)*
  4. Continuing to pour your weight into your hips and move back through your lunge to your starting position
  5. Do the other side
  6. Repeat 3-10 times on each side

Click here for the video

*Keep your back flat to maximize effectiveness and protect your SI joints

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Lunge – Forearm Touches (hamstring/adductor opener)

  1. Begin in a lunge with your back leg active and straight
  2. Move both hands to the inside of your front foot
  3. Keeping your back flat, [try to] tap your elbows on the floor 10-15 times
  4. Switch sides and repeat

Click here for the video

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Frogger (hip extender, adductor opener)

  1. Begin in a frog position with your hips inline with your knees*
  2. Pour your weight into your hips and rock forward straightening one leg until your hip touches the floor (keep the opposite leg in it’s starting position)
  3. Press your hip back to it’s starting position and do the other side
  4. Repeat 10-12 times for each side

Click here for the video

*To protect sensitive knees, use a padded surface

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– Jenn Johnson, CPT