If your hips hurt more than your abs during basic workouts, something is wrong. And when your hip muscles unintentionally monopolize your effort during an abdominal exercise, you are likely to experience hip pain or discomfort. To add insult to injury, your abs, which are not working as hard, are missing out on the benefits.
Here we solve the reasons why your hips can hurt during an abdominal session. Additionally, we share strategies to silence those overactive hip flexors and activate your core for the best abdominal burn.
Your hips are overcompensating
Exercises focused on the abdomen, such as the abdominals, Pilates exercises, knee push-ups, or leg stretches decrease the distance between the upper and lower body. When the abs are not strong enough to close this distance – that is, bringing your trunk closer to your thighs – it often relies on the hips to do the job.
Strong and powerful muscles, the hip flexors kick in and take over the movement, compensating for weak abdominal muscles. This is why it is so important to fully focus on your abs when doing basic exercises.
To prevent your hips from hijacking your abdominal routine, do prep work beforehand. Activation exercises like bird-dog, forearm plates, and pelvic tilt can help you ignite your core and activate abdominal muscles.
Bird-dog
- In table position, keep your hands directly below your shoulders and your knees no wider than your hips.
- On an exhale, stretch your right arm directly in front of you. At the same time, kick your left leg back.
- Change sides, stretch your left arm forward and kick your right leg back.
Forearm iron
- Get down on all fours on the floor and place your elbows and forearms on a comfortable surface (such as a mat, towel, or rug).
- Extend your legs back and push up on a board, creating a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.
- Keep your neck in neutral alignment looking at your hands.
- Hold this position without moving. Keep your hips level and level with the ground and don't allow your lower back to arch.
Pelvic tilt
- Lie on your back and enter a low bridge with your buttocks and lower your back off the floor (your upper back remains on the floor) with your feet hip-width apart.
- Slowly tilt the pelvis so that the coccyx leans toward the ceiling without allowing the lower back to drop to the floor.
- Return to a neutral pelvis and repeat.
You are not compromising your abs
Some days, you just do the moves or rush through workouts without thinking, just to cross it off the agenda. The problem is that when you don't focus on your core during abdominal exercises, you won't reap the results. That is why you can do 500 crunch and hardly feel anything.
Since the hip muscles are strong, they are happy to withstand most of the work when you don't focus on your abs. This will not only lead to bad basic training, but also to stiff hips.
Instead of letting your mind wander thinking about to-do lists or your child making noise in the next room, stay in the present and connected to your physical body. Putting your mind on your active muscles will activate them more.
In fact, just thinking about moving a muscle can strengthen it even when you're not exercising, according to the American Council on Fitness (ACE). And a small study in the March 2016 issue of the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that bench presses that practiced the mind-muscle connection increased muscle activity in the pecs and triceps.
To further improve the mind-muscle connection , slow down your movements. The longer you spend at maximum contraction, the more time you will have to focus and strengthen your muscles.
Your hip flexors are weak
If the hips hurt more than the abs during core workouts, the culprits are weak hip flexors. Fragile flexors and stiff hips are often a symptom of a sedentary lifestyle.
Since we are not using the hips to lift our legs and move throughout the day, they progressively weaken and shorten. Tense flexors can also be a side effect of exercises like running long distances and riding a bike.
This weakness can cause muscle imbalance, affect your range of motion, and alter your alignment, so you may feel pain or discomfort in your hips during abdominal exercises.
To get started, get out of your chair. The more you move, the better your hips will be. Just get up to walk every 30 to 60 minutes to keep your hips and buttocks activated. Regular stretching can also combat tension and improve range of motion. The most effective hip opening stretches and mobility exercises work the hips in all three planes of motion.
But stretching is only part of the puzzle. You should also incorporate strength training . By strengthening the surrounding muscles, such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, you support the entire hip joint. Start with simple exercises like glute bridges, squats, and clams.
Gluteus bridge
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet planted on the floor a few inches from your butt.
- Driving on your heels, lift your butt off the ground using your glute strength. Raise as high as you can while maintaining a neutral spine (don't arch your lower back).
- Go down in the same way and repeat.
Squats
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Rotate your feet to point slightly to the side.
- Rotate your hips and bend your knees (as if you were going to sit in a chair) while keeping your chest up.
- Raise your arms in front of you at shoulder height for balance or bring your hands closer to your chest.
- Once you have lowered as much as your hip flexibility allows, squeeze your glutes and back off.
Clams
- Lie on your side with your knees bent and one leg directly on top of the other.
- Slowly lift the top of your knee while keeping your feet in contact with each other.
- Slowly lower your upper leg down.
- Turn to the other side to target the opposite leg.
