Do you feel like you are having issues with limited mobility in your hips? Is it more difficult to touch your toes or to squat down due to tightness or stiffness in your hips and legs?

The hips are a common area of the body that we see with limited mobility when working with our athletes and clients inside of Cressey Sports Performance in Hudson, MA.

Whether it be to one’s training routine or not utilizing certain ranges of motion, it is very common for people to have limited mobility throughout various motions at their hips. Issues with limited mobility at the hips can contribute to pain and issues at the ankles, knees, and low back. Typically, a lack of hip mobility will cause those other areas of the lower body and low back to compensate. Over time, they can become irritated and someone can present with knee or low back pain and the hips can be the main culprit.

Besides observing limited hip mobility in our clients that we work with, we commonly hear that people will stretch and stretch and their mobility transiently improves, but then goes back to baseline after a few hours to a few days.

The body is a complex system and there can be a multitude of reasons for this, but one common reason for mobility decreasing after working on foam rolling drills or stretching is because that tissue hasn’t been loaded and the body hasn’t been exposed to controlling those “new” ranges of motion.

Anytime one of our athletes improves their mobility, we instruct them to train in those new ranges to help maintain that mobility better. The specific parameter when it comes to lifting and training in those new ranges of motion are Slow Eccentrics or Tempo Lifting.

What are Slow Eccentrics or Tempo Lifting?

Slow Eccentrics or Tempo Lifting is going through a range of motion with a certain speed or tempo. For example, if performing a squat, we instruct the athlete to perform with a 3 second lowering and then return to the starting position under a normal rate of speed.

Slow Eccentric Goblet Squats

The athlete purposely goes slow on the lowering part of the movement, typically 3-5 seconds, and then returns to the starting position. A pause can also be incorporated at the bottom position of the lift as well.

These movements will be more difficult than performing at a normal rate of speed so make sure you lighten the weight.

Here are a few other examples of utilizing Slow Eccentrics for lower body mobility:

Slow Eccentric Knee and Hip Dominant Reverse Lunges

Key Points:

• Knee Dominant: Knee over toes, Hip Dominant: Knee Over Ankle.

• Make sure back leg is in hip extension and in line with the trunk.

• Perform for 2-5 seconds on the lowering portion.

Slow Eccentric Curtsy and Lateral Lunges

Key Points:

• Curtsy Lunges: step slightly over midline/behind body, doesn’t have to be excessive.

• Lateral Lunges: keep knee inside of foot. Should be felt in inside of thigh and glute.

• Perform for 2-5 seconds on the lowering portion.

These are just a few options for working on improving and MAINTAINING hip mobility. If you find that your hip mobility either isn’t improving or it improves and then returns to baseline within a few hours to a few days, try implementing slow eccentric or tempo lifting in your warm-ups and/or throughout your training session.

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