These activation exercises are all about keeping muscles firing and working properly as you recover from injury, particularly the hip muscles. If you have to rest for a period of time then they can ‘go to sleep’ and lose strength, leading to a slower recovery, or poor performance later on.
Clam in flexion
Teaching point:
The clam works the muscles on the outside of the hip.
- Lie on your side with your knees bent and slightly forwards so your hips are in flexion
- Raise your knee up in a slow, controlled movement and return to the start position
Clam in extension activation exercise
Teaching point:
It is important to do these exercises on both sides.
- Lie on your side with your knees bent and your hips moved further back into the extension
- This targets the muscles on the outside of the hip in a slightly different way
- It is important to do these exercises on both sides
- If you begin to find this exercise easy then you can increase difficulty with a stronger band
Quarter squats against the wall
Teaching point:
For this activation exercise stand next to a wall with a gym ball between you and the wall.
- Perform a quarter squat on one leg using the ball for support
- This targets the posterior chain and gets the muscles firing as they work to stabilize your hip
Single leg turnouts
Teaching point:
- Balance on one leg with the other knee bent, foot resting on the inside of the supporting leg
- Whilst maintaining your balance turn the knee out and in to work your hip muscles whilst maintaining control and balance
VMO with hamstring push
Teaching point:
- Contract your quadriceps muscles and hold, then use your hamstring muscles to push down, and hold
- Relax, then repeat
Crab walks
Teaching point:
- Place a resistance band around your knees and walk sideways
- This activation exercise gets the hip muscles firing and fatiguing under bodyweight load
- This is progressed by making the movements more dynamic, performing this faster and on your toes
Ice skaters
Teaching point:
This exercise works the hip muscles under load in a slightly different way but moving forward.
- Place a resistance band around your knees to increase the load on your lateral hip muscles
Bridge activation exercise
Teaching point:
This exercise works the gluteal muscles in particular, as well as brings your core into play.
- Place a band around your knees to increase the tension on the outside hip muscles as you perform the exercise
- Bridge exercises can be done on the floor, or with feet raised
- This is also made more difficult by doing single-leg bridges
