FITNESS TIP: GET HIP.

Posted by Alanna Fincke

They can be the bane of our existence or proudly displayed in a pair of tight jeans. But our hips aren’t just for looks. The hip joints house a lot of physical and emotional tension—especially for women. The reason? Chalk it up to a combination of a sedentary lifestyle and nonstop stress. If you ignore the need for balance in this central area, you could wind up with low back pain, poor posture, and debilitating tension. Practice this exercise to stretch and strengthen your hips, increase flexibility, and stave off stiffness and injury down the road.

Crescent Lunge

This exercise opens the front of the hip while strengthening the opposite leg, helping you to stabilize the muscles around the bone and engage the core muscles.

• With your feet hip-width apart, step back with the right leg into a deep lunge—bending your front leg to about 90 degrees.

• Stay on the ball of your right foot and keep your hips squared.

• Extend the arms straight overhead, using the abdominal muscles to keep your upper body erect and stable.

• Take three to five deep breaths, imagining that you're breathing into your right hip and releasing tension there.

• Repeat on the other side.

Question: How do you feel about your hips?

Please leave a comment and we may contact you to appear on the show (your email will be kept confidential)! If you DO NOT want to be contacted, please email us at bodyandsoulchallenge@marthastewart.com.

Comments

[BJ Robinson]

Hello, Alanna Fincke. How uncannily aware and knowledgeable you are, this Body and Soul Challenge is. With all the improvements this Challenge has been helping me make to my eating, exercise, and mental habits/activities, I continue to become aware of areas where I can still use improvement. Just lately, I've been increasingly aware of my 'sway(ish)' back due in part to my needing to wear orthotics. In keeping as straight a posture as possible, I've always focused on my hamstrings. I've essentially ignored my hips (that's my attitude towards my hips, by the way). These "hips" tips are helping to rectify that imbalance ie my focusing on the back of my legs but not on the front of my legs. And the stretch felt/feels wonderful--from the small of my back on down. Thank you! Take care. B. J.

[Sonya]

I am concerned about my hips. Not only do they look bad, they feel bad, too. Between an injury to my S.I. joint and having 5 kids, let's just say that I experience severe pain in my lower back and hips almost daily. I will give these exercises a try for a few weeks to see how it will affect these symptoms. Thank you for your time. Sonya