4 Reasons Every Athlete Should Incorporate Hip Circles Into Their Training

We’re not talking hula hooping here. No way, Jose. Today, it’s all about incorporating hip circles into your training.

Here at Gunsmith, we’re under the impression the hip circle is one of the most underutilized accessories in the gym. Why? Because you’ll find a variety of training benefits by adding this one apparatus to your training for just 5-15 minutes every leg day.

Seriously, there’s not a better way to increase hip mobility, loosen up the legs, and increase flexibility when training lower body.

But before we hype these hip circles to the moon and back, let’s talk about what it is and a few main reasons why athletes all around the world will find value using it.

 

 

What is a Hip Circle?

Now, a hip circle certainly isn’t an advanced device. The thing is basically a thick band you place a bit above your knees. The band adds a bit of resistance to certain movements.

The added resistance is generally used to train underutilized muscles and tendons - while encouraging ideal recruitment and technique.

High-quality hip circles and resistance training bands should be designed with a stiff material that offers a little elasticity. This allows a wide range of motion while adding resistance. Combined with grip strips placed on the inside of the hip circle to ensure the device stays in place while you move around - and you have the ideal hip circle.

Cheap products often forget to add the grip strip, which ensures the hip circle moves around and often pulls the skin during movement. Not what you want! In addition, the latex bands you see all over the place don't last too long.

Why Should You Incorporate Hip Circles Into Training?

That’s pretty simple. Do you want to improve your form on lower body movements, like the squat? Then add hip circle warm-ups to your lower body gym sessions.

Looking to eliminate lower body minor injuries? Well, a hip circle band could help with that, too. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons we encourage using this device. Greater activation, better form, and fewer injuries.

Of course, there’s a little more to it than that. The science behind hip circle training is sound and sure. So, let’s dig in and see how why we should utilize this training device to stay swole and ensure the weights don’t take a toll.

Here’s four reasons why:

Ideal Lower Body Warm Up

There’s not many better ways to loosen up the lower body before a big workout. Seriously, hit your dynamic stretches, foam roll, and whatever else you need to do. Then throw on the hip circle and do a few exercises, like:

• Hip circle walks
• Athletic slides
• Slow and steady air squats

You’ll immediately feel the activation in your hips, glutes, and more. The legs will feel a slight burn and blood will flow into muscles that rarely get activated.

In doing so, your lower body will be fully activated and ready to train hard and heavy. Personally, I like to foam roll, hit some dynamic stretches for a bit, and then do 4-5 minutes of hip circle work before I get under the squat bar.

Clean and Correct Muscle Imbalances

Unless you’re a world-class athlete, it’s guaranteed you have muscle imbalances. This is especially true if you’ve been training for years on end. Even with near perfect form, you’re bound to create imbalances through every training style of training.

Using the hip circle can help many athletes, especially those with training experience, locate and correct muscles imbalances. In doing so, form during main movements like the squat and deadlift will improve.

Many athletes find their hips, especially hip flexors, are far weaker than they imagined when first starting to train with resistance bands. The hip circle puts direct pressure on the hip flexors, which will ensure proper training and strengthening on this group that often gets left behind.

Injury Prevention

This one isn’t rocket science, ladies and gentlemen. By correcting muscle imbalances, properly warming up, and recruiting the correct muscles groups during training - you will prevent a number of lower body injuries.

Many find their lower body aches and pains go away pretty quickly after a few months of consistent hip circle work. At Gunsmith Fitness, we strongly recommend using the hip circles when moving big weights on the squat.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a male or female, the hip circle will add huge benefits to those moving big weight simply by keeping minor injuries at bay.

Hip Flexor Training

Last, but certainly not least - many individuals find benefits from directly training the hip flexors with these resistance bands. Even the swolest of the swole have found that direct hip flexor training with a hip circle can be darn difficult.

Make no mistake about it - many of us have hip flexors that are untrained. Some even have hip flexors that aren’t firing properly. This is suboptimal. But more than that, it’s potentially dangerous when moving close to your maximal weight on lower body movements.

You should be using some of the best hip circle exercises, like:

• Hip circle bridges
• Side leg lifts
• Athletic slides
• ...And more!

In doing so, you’ll find stronger hip flexors, better activation throughout the lower body, and more. There’s no surefire solution for every athlete. Every single body is different. But we’ve been baffled by how many trained athletes can benefit from just a little direct hip flexor training.

4 Reasons Every Athlete Should Incorporate Hip Circles Into Their Training

That’s all she wrote, folks. Well, that’s all I wrote. Why? Because convincing you to use hip circle training to improve your lower body routines is such a no-brainer that almost every athlete should be incorporating this device into their regimen.

Seriously, there’s not another way to reduce the risk of injury, increase activation and recruitment, and strengthen the hips with such a small change. 

At Gunsmith Fitness, we want y’all to stay healthy while in the gym. So, grab a hip circle and add it to your routine for a month. If you don’t find benefit within three weeks of using the hip circle, send it back for a full refund.

We can offer this for one reason and one reason only...

Hip circles work! And every athlete can benefit from using the device.

Our Triple pack comes in 3 strengths: Heavy, Super Heavy & Double Super Heavy. Our competitors only really go up to the Heavy resistance level but we've raised the bar to allow an even more intense workout.

Get yours here