
Read time: 7min.
By Coach Yan Busset
The Power of Hips in Running: Why They Matter and How to Get Them Right
You’ve probably heard people say, “The hips are key in running!” But have you ever stopped to think about why? While many runners know their hips are important, they don’t always understand exactly how to position them, what can go wrong, and how to fix it.
Let’s put it this way: when your hips are out of sync, it’s like trying to steer a bike with loosen handlebars, it makes everything far more challenging than it should be. This article is here to solve that mystery. We’re diving into why your hips matter, how they impact your running technique, and what practical steps you can take to align them properly. By the end, you’ll not only understand the role of your hips but also have actionable tips to improve your running and make it feel smoother, faster, and more enjoyable.
This article is here to solve that mystery. We’re diving into why your hips matter, how they impact your running technique, and what practical steps you can take to align them properly. By the end, you’ll not only understand the role of your hips but also have actionable tips to improve your running and make it feel smoother, faster, and more enjoyable.
Why Your Hips Are the Foundation of Your Run
Think of your hips as the control tower. They coordinate movement between your upper and lower body, ensuring everything works in harmony. Proper hip alignment delivers:
Powerful Strides: Your hips are where your forward motion begins.
Balanced Posture: They keep your spine, legs, and pelvis aligned, reducing unnecessary strain.
Injury Prevention: Neutral hips protect your lower back, knees, and ankles from overuse or poor mechanics.
But here’s the problem: our modern, sitting-focused lifestyles often lead to tightness in the muscles and ligaments around the hips. Tight hip flexors and weak glutes create imbalances that affect running posture and form. A common result? The “folded in half” look, where the torso leans too far forward because of tightness. Leaning forward slightly is okay (it helps to use gravity in your favor), but the lean should come from the ankles-not a collapse at the waist.
How to Spot Common Hip Issues
The most frequent issue runners face is anterior tilt, when the pelvis tilts forward too much, causing the lower back to arch excessively. This posture is usually the result of tight hip flexors paired with weak glutes.
Here’s how to spot it:
Check Your Lower Back: If it’s overly arched while standing or running, chances are your hips are tilted forward.
Look for Overstriding: Landing with your foot far ahead of your body is often a sign of hip tightness and poor alignment.
Feel Your Hips: Place your hands on your hips. If the front of your hips feels like it’s leaning forward, that’s anterior tilt in action.
This matters because when your hips tilt forward, you lose efficiency and create strain on your lower back. Over time, this can lead to injuries or chronic discomfort.
Another common issue is hip collapse, where one hip drops lower than the other while running. This often results from weak hip stabilizers and causes the opposite knee to collapse inward. This not only affects running efficiency but also increases the risk of injuries, particularly to the knees and ankles.
Here’s how to spot hip and knee collapse:
Hip Drop: Watch yourself run in a mirror or on video. If one side of your pelvis dips with each step, your hips are collapsing.
Inward Knees: If your knees cave inward as you land, it’s a sign your glutes and stabilizers aren’t doing their job.
How to Feel What’s Happening With Your Hips
Ever been told to “run tall” and had no idea what that means? You’re not alone. Many runners struggle with understanding how their hips should feel while running. This awareness is called pelvic proprioception,it’s about knowing where your hips are and how to control them.
Try these simple tests:
The Compression Test: Stand tall and have someone gently press down on your shoulders. If your hips and back feel unsteady or collapse slightly, your posture needs adjusting. Imagine reaching for something on a high shelf while keeping your hips steady. Try the test again,you’ll notice the difference.
The Doorway Test: Kneel with one leg in front of you and the other behind. Use a doorway as support. Tilt your pelvis slightly backward so your lower back flattens against the doorframe. This movement helps you feel what neutral hips should feel like.
Practicing these regularly helps you carry better hip alignment into your runs.
How Tight Hips Lead to Overstriding
A common problem for runners is overstriding, landing with your foot too far in front of your body. While it’s easy to blame shoes or bad habits, the real issue often starts with your hips.
Tight hip flexors and weak glutes limit your ability to push your legs back, forcing your stride to reach forward instead. This wastes energy, makes your runs harder, and increases the impact on your knees and ankles.
To fix overstriding, focus on:
Loosen Your Hips: Use dynamic stretches or mobility exercises to release tight hip flexors (check out the PDF routine linked in this article).
Strengthen Your Glutes: Exercises like bridges, single-leg deadlifts, squats, and lunges help build the strength you need to drive your legs back.
Take Shorter Steps: Aim for a cadence of 170-180 steps per minute to keep your foot strike closer to your body. This also will decrease your stride peak impact and your knees will thanks you.
The “Bowl of Water” Trick for Hip Alignment
Here is another trick to nail the hip position: Think of your pelvis as a bowl of water. If it tilts forward, water spills out the front; if it tilts backward, water spills out the back. The goal is to keep the bowl level for neutral hip alignment.
Here’s how to find that balance:
Stand Tall: Place your hands on your hips and tilt the bottom of your pelvis backward until your lower back flattens slightly. This levels your “bowl.”
Check Yourself: Use a mirror to make sure your hips are level, not sticking out front or back.
Mid-Run Adjustments: While running, imagine carrying a bowl of water on your hips. If you feel it “spilling,” adjust your posture.
Neutral hips reduce lower back strain, improve efficiency, and help your runs feel smoother.
Why Your Glutes Are So Important
Your glutes are what power every step forward, keeping your running efficient and strong. When they’re strong and active, they give you the push you need to run efficiently. But when they’re weak, your body compensates by overloading other muscles, like your quads and hamstrings, leading to injuries.
While activation exercises like bridges and donkey kicks are great for warming up, building real strength comes from incorporating free weights and compound movements into your training. Exercises like squats, deadlifts, lunges, and hip thrusts target the glutes and surrounding muscles effectively, creating a strong foundation for running. (prefer free weight rather than machine at the gym to get the full balance / core side benefit of it).
It’s common for athletes to ask if they need separate core sessions. As a triathlete, the priority should be adding extra swimming sessions first, as swimming is an excellent core builder, and you kill two birds with one stone. Then, ensure you’re doing two weekly force strength training sessions using only free weights. If you still have free time after these priorities, a specific core session is fine, but it’s not essential beofroe that two strength per week and extra swim are not ticked from your must do check list.
Here’s how to make sure your glutes are doing their job:
Warm Them Up: Use exercises like bridges or donkey kicks before you run to activate your glutes. ( check the pdf below)
Build Strength: Add exercises like single-leg deadlifts, squats, lunges, and hip thrusts to your routine to make your glutes stronger.
Feel the Push: During your run, focus on feeling your glutes push you forward instead of pulling with your hamstrings.
When your glutes are firing, every stride feels more powerful, and your risk of injury drops.
Running Drills: The Icing on the Cake
Running drills play two key roles: they’re great for muscle activation and also help improve your hip position by training your body to engage the right muscles which can naturally lead to better running mechanics.
That said, we won’t dive deep into running drills in this article, this could be a whole topic on its own. For now, think of drills as the icing on the cake. Before focusing too much on them, prioritize areas that deliver the biggest benefits, like running intervals, increasing running volume, muscle activation, and strength conditioning. Once these foundations are in place, adding drills can help refine your form and efficiency.
Side note: Why Mobility Beats Stretching
When it comes to getting your hips ready for a run, mobility exercises are the way to go. I’m not a big fan of stretching before exercise, but a good muscle activation or mobility routine works great.
Here is a PDF muscle activation routine to help you get started.
This quick sequence of moves is perfect for pre-run warm-ups, and the same exercises can be used as a daily mobility routine. (For more on why stretching isn’t ideal before a session, check out my linked blog post on the topic.)
Putting It All Together
Your hips are more than just part of your body, they’re the keystone behind every stride you take. Neutral alignment, mobility, and strength are the goals to unlock your running economy.
Think of this journey as building a recipe for running success. Your hips are the main ingredient, get them right, and the rest of the recipe falls into place. Neglect them, and the whole dish (your running) might feel half-baked.
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