15 Min. Hip Mobility Routine For All Levels (FOLLOW ALONG)

Amelie, welcome back to another 15-minute routine. Today we're going to be working on hip flexibility. We're going to be opening our inner hips, our outer hips. We're also going to be improving internal and external rotation of the hips. And this routine is also going to serve you to improve your middle split and your front split if you're working towards that. It's completely adaptable to all fitness level. The only thing that you're going to be needing if you're on the tighter side is a couple of yoga blocks or a couple of books also works. Also, do it on a soft surface because we're going to be doing a lot of things on our knees. With that being said, it's practice time. We're going to begin right away in a kneeling position just like I am. You can do it with your feet flexed or pointed. Whichever feels more comfortable doesn't really matter that much. We're going to begin sending our hips forward into hip extension, engaging the glutes, and then just simply coming back. Just warming up a bit again into the hips, into the glutes, into the quads. You may feel some burning into the quads as you do a few more reps. Be very mindful. Simply extend and then we get into this light flexion of the hips. Let's go for two more. One down and then two. I want you to open the knees slightly a bit wider. As wide as you can go that feels comfortable. And repeat the same thing. We go forward and then we go back. Forward, we go back. Throughout the entire practice, move with your breath. Mindful breathing. Ideally in and out through the nose or in through the nose and out through the mouth. One more of those. And hold it here at the top position. If you're on pointed foot, you're going to flex both feet and you're going to bring the left leg to the outside so the toes are pointing straight towards the left and the heel is fully aligned with my knees. Here we're going to be simply shifting forward to that side. If you want a little bit more intense, you're going to bring the feet forward. If you want less, you're going to bring it closer to you. Now go for six of those. So that's one. Go back. Two. An upright posture. Three. Let's go for three more. One more. Hold it there for five. Four. Three. Two. One. Go back to the kneeling position. Let's go to the other side. Right foot. Toes facing to the right. And we go for one. Let's go for five more of those. Last one. Five. Hold it for five. You should feel the stretch right here on this inner hip. Three. Two. One. Now stay there. You're going to heel toe the foot backwards and rotate your entire body so we end up in this lunge and ideally hip distance. So adjust your feet as much as needed. I might need a little bit more to find really good stability and here we're simply going to lean forward opening to the hip flexors without arching too much but keeping a small pelvic tilt and then going back. Let's go for five more of those. One. Two. Three. Four. Last one. Five. Hold it for five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now simply switch to the other side whichever way you want to do that and we repeat the protocol. Let's go for five forward. So one. Four more of those. Let's go. Four. Three. Two. One. Hold it for five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now return back to the kneeling position. You want to go back into a squat. However you want to get into your squat. If your heels lift that's totally fine. You can grab something in front of you to assist you into the position but if you're working right here just work with the range of motion that you've got. From here we're going to send the right knee to the outside create external rotation as much as we can. Doesn't have to go that far and then go back and then do the same with the other foot. If your heels touches the floor that's even better but again work with the mobility that you got. Today simply move organically here find different movements. You can play around with dropping one knee forward as well depending on how open your hips are today and also depending on your level. Keep focusing on your breath. Now find some stillness in the squat. Maybe allow your eyes to close for only 10 seconds. Get in touch with your hips and all the muscles surrounding them and slowly open your eyes. Now drop both knees forward. We're going to get into frog pose. First start very very forward so we don't have basically any stretch on the hips. Palms are on the ground and ideally the knee is aligned with the heels or even the heel slightly wider than the knee. From here I want you to until the pelvis so we create more space into the hip bone and begin to send the hips back for one. Let's go for five of those two three four and five. Hold it there. You can stay right here if that's enough for you or you can drop to your forearms for a deeper stretch. Now from here we're going to be lifting the right leg into internal rotation. It's a very micro movement. We tend to be very tight in internal rotation for most people. Then drop it down and we go towards the left. We're going to be alternating. That is for one on each side. Let's do five more each. Two two three three. Keep it going. If it's too much simply shift the weight slightly forward. Five last one and five. Now try to sink a little bit deeper back. Again if it's too much just simply go forward but if you want a little more just go back. We're going to be doing some PNF by squeezing our knees together like you want to squeeze the mat in this direction for five seconds and then we're going to relax for 10. So in three two one squeeze the mat five four three two one and then relax. Maybe allow your knees to go wider and maybe allow the hips to go backwards even more. Slowly come back to the position. To come safely simply go forward and then bring your toes together and sit back. We're going to go back to our initial squat. Let's see how different it feels after frog pose and again you can be simply moving around or you can find stillness in the position. From here we're going to go into Cossack squats. We're going to press. The left leg and foot is going to be the one that is bent and the right leg is going to be straight with our feet pointing or toes pointing up. You can be with your heel elevated and again you can hold something here. This position can be pretty intense and over time work to get the heel down. You can also grab a couple of blocks and have it right here for support if that works for you. You can do it with hands or without hands. We're going to be moving from this side to the other side and we rotate that leg. Let's go for five in total. Six to make it even. Let's go. Try to keep the hips really really low. That is four. One more towards that side and that is six. Go back to your squat and simply drop back into your butt and bring both heels in front of you together. We're going to be doing simply a 90-90 stretch just to relax a bit more into the hips. You can do it with your hands behind you which is the easiest variation or you if you want something more intense you can do it without hands. Simply move them around into internal and external rotation. As you go to one side try to turn the torso towards that side. Again be gentle here. It's like a mini mini break to lubricate the hip joint and prepare ourselves for pigeon pose. We're going to start on the right side so the right leg is the one that is in external rotation and the left leg is the one that is internal rotation. So a couple of options here. This one in this position would be the easiest one with a block underneath your front hip. The one that is on external rotation in this case is going to be our right. You can be comfortably here and simply we're going to lean forward and just hold it there. If this is easy for you you can remove the block and if without the block it's still easy for you I'm actually going to demonstrate that. It's going to be full pigeon. Again don't go into full pigeon if you are completely rotating to the outside or if you cannot keep your hips square or if you feel a tremendous amount of stretch that is not comfortable for you. You can also put the block on the full pigeon if you're working towards that. So a few variations there. Choose the one that is according to you. Before we fall forward what I want you to do is imagine that this foot is pressing down into the mat or into the ground. This knee is going to lift but I don't want you to lift it intentionally. I just simply want you to press down with the foot downward for five seconds. We do it in three, two, one. Press strongly three, two, one and then simply lean forward and relax. Again we don't want to round too much. We want to find length in our spine and hold it here for like 10 seconds. Slowly come back up. We're going to repeat that same protocol and trying to get a little bit deeper. We contract for five seconds in three, two, one. Contract for five, four, three, two, one and then release. Maybe allow yourself to get deeper this time. Again we're trying to create length with the chest and the spine and only then if you create that length you are allowed to round mindfully. Slowly come back up. Remove the block or any props that you might be using. We're simply going to switch side. So do whatever you have to do to switch side. Take this out of the way. We go towards the left side. Again you can be in a 90-90 position with the block, on a 90-90 position without the block or in a full pigeon pose with a block or without the block. We're going to be doing the same protocol in three, two, one. We press the feet down. So three, two, one. Press it down for five, four, three, two, one and then slowly go forward and hold for ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Slowly come up. Press it again in three, two, one. For five, four, three, two, one and release down. Allow yourself to go a little bit deeper than the previous set. Return to your breath. Slowly come up. Stay in a seated position on your butt and bring both feet together into a butterfly position. Try to get the heels as close to your body as possible. We're going to be doing again some PNF work here. We're going to be pressing with our knees upward and we're going to be pressing with our hands downward. That's going to activate our adductors which is the muscle that we're trying to relax. So in three, two, one. Press up, push down for five, four, three, two, one and then lean forward. Again, without rounding at least on the first round. Simply lean forward as much as you can that feels comfortable and that you feel a stretch on your adductors, inner hips. Now for the second round, we're going to be activating the opposite muscles, our adductors, to relax into the adductors. So we're going to put the hands below the knees and we're going to press the knees down as our hands are pressing up. We'll be doing that in three, two, one. Let's go. Five, four, three, two, one and then relax forward. And on this one maybe allow yourself to round but again don't round back but round forward. You can place a block in your forehead to simply relax into the stretch. If you want to go deeper now, this is going to be our last passive stretch. So lean, take a deep inhale, lift your chest up and exhale. Round mindfully forward and relax. Slowly come up. Remove any props that you may have. Keep the butterfly shape. I'm just simply going to turn around so I can lay down. I'm going to be laying down in this butterfly position. You can simply lay down as you are but if you have a couple blocks I'm just going to give you an option that I really really enjoy. One is on the highest setting, the other one is on the mid setting. This one goes to the upper back right in between the shoulder blades and this one goes into your head. Again you don't have to do this. You can simply lay down into butterfly and allow your hips to open a little bit more into a very very passive stretch and simply get in touch with your breath. Calm the nervous system down. Begin observing the effects of the practice without judging them. We tend to carry a lot of emotions in our hips. So if you feel a little bit anxious or maybe a little bit more relaxed than usual you can also feel melancholic. I mean you don't have to feel it but if you do just know that it's okay. Just welcome it and as usual however you did on this practice don't judge that. Simply observe it, watch it, try to stay consistent. Hip mobility is something that takes time so don't rush. Slowly begin to get yourself out of the position as gracefully as you possibly can. There you have it guys. A 15 minute mobility routine that because of the low intensity you can absolutely do it every single day but if you're doing it every single day don't push the PNF stretches way too much or don't go too deep into the position. If you are doing that I would actually recommend that you do it two to three times per week. You can do this routine at the end of your lower body workout, upper body workout just to finish your workout. You can also do it before any hand balancing session to have your hips very very open for your handstand shapes and transitions and that's it. If you have any questions leave those down below and if you enjoyed this video make sure to like, share, subscribe and comment down below what else would you like to see on this channel and also if you would like to see more routines like this incorporated into a step-by-step program check the online SM Academy. We got to cover with our beginner, intermediate and advanced programs for calisthenics, yoga, hand balancing and our home workout experience so you can work out at home with zero equipment and everything that is the universe of the SM Academy. With that being said guys I will see you all on the next one. Much love. Nature vibes!