Boost Balance and Strength with These Hip Exercises
- Apr 14
- 10 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in January 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/nIpuU_NkNWI
Brad: We are going to be talking about shortening your exercise time as well as maximizing your health benefits. Yes, multitasking can be done while you exercise.
Mike: So we're going to show you one exercise to help maximize your hip/leg strength, and it's going to work your balance a little. So hip and leg strength work together when you're doing activities outside, like walking, hiking, and even running. Plus, it has key components for balance, so in the short term, if you struggle with balance, this can really help.
Brad: It really does. All right, we're going to show these to you. For all three levels, I should say for beginners, intermediate, and advanced people, so just do what works best for you. Be safe with good judgment. All right, we're going to perform these exercises using stretch bands, but don't worry. If you do not have stretch bands and you don't want to get them, you can do it without these, particularly if you don't feel steady, or if you're a real beginner. Do the same thing without the band. If you do have the bands, they will come with an ankle band. It looks like this. You wrap it around your ankle. Mike is showing it off there. I have mine attached already. What you'll want to do is attach it to one ankle and around a solid post, as Mike has there on the handrail. Show them right down there.
Mike: Right on the stairs here, just put it around there, and it can work. This is going to be a little bit harder version with two bands, but anyway, I digress.
Brad: Right, and use it for your own ability. Double it up if you need it, or use two bands. I am going to use the wall anchor over here. They work very well. We do sell them, and they work really well. Good Christmas item, actually. So what we're going to do is actually work on leg strength. We're going to start out by kicking straight forward. So here, we have this. Now, I am going to use a Booyah Stik; you can use a cane, cupboard, wall, or something to help you with your balance. I'm going to put it here. Mike will demonstrate there. Come on out, Mike.
Mike: No, why don't you show it first?
Brad: Well, all right.
Mike: You're getting away.
Brad: So we're going to do this straight-leg. You could bend the knee if you want to. That's okay. It works your quads more. I like to do straight-leg, there you go. Mike is going to do it. He's more advanced. He's using the doubled-up red band, which is more resistant, and without a stick.
Mike: So what we're doing is strengthening the leg that is kicking forward, and you're working your balance on the leg that is holding you up right now.
Brad: All right.
Mike: That's where you get the two-for-one deal.
Brad: Exactly right. It really makes a good challenge to your balance. Now, you do 10 to 20 of these, and then you're going to turn 90 degrees, and I'm going to actually pull my foot across. We call this adduction. It gets the groin muscles, the A-D-ductor muscles, and that's a nice muscle that does not get exercised a lot. Go ahead, Mike. They can still see what's going on, right?
Mike: Well, I just wanted to get out of the way.
Brad: Okay.
Mike: When you double up the band like this, it makes it a little more challenging, and again, the pull force is coming from a different direction, so it's going to work your balance differently.
Brad: Right, so now, 10 to 20 repetitions for all of these. If you want to go for a set amount of time, you can do that too. Start out at 10, 15 seconds, but if you go up to 30 seconds, you're getting to the advanced mode. Now, we're going to go turn 90 degrees, and we're going to go straight behind. Mike, you want to talk about the big mistake that a lot of people make with this?
Mike: They will take their core, and they'll bend forward like they're a teeter totter going down like this. We want to keep our core straight up and down, and just kick back. You should feel it in your buttocks and your hamstrings a bit.
Brad: That's right. This really works the hip as well as the leg muscles. Let's go to the last and probably, I think, the most important one, and that is going out to the side. Now, when we do this, make sure your foot doesn't point out because that's a really common error that people make, which is that they point their foot out. It's just a natural tendency of the body. Point your toes straight in front of you, and maintain that. Mike, can you add anything to that?
Mike: I would say make sure your band path is not bothered by the other leg. If you get too far forward, you're going to be frictioning on your other leg, so you wanna get a good position here, and don't let your hips, if you put your hand on your hips, don't let them sway out to the side like this. Make sure they're staying. You don't have to go very far for this exercise. It's very challenging because this hip abductor is working, and so is this one, to keep me upright, so it gets tiring.
Brad: Right. Both hips are getting good work, as well as, actually, both legs as well. Don't do this again, just another friendly reminder. All right.
Mike: But make sure to do it on both legs.
Brad: There you go. Now, we've got one more thing for the advanced people who can do this without the stick, and they're going along, and it's like, "Yeah, this is pretty easy, and I'm actually not too bad." You simply add some cushion under the weight-bearing foot. Mike, can you throw me a Pete's Choice?
Mike: I suppose I can throw you one. Here you go.
Brad: There you go. Now, you can use a pillow. You can use a cushion from a chair. To be honest with you, these Pete's Choice Balance Pads work really well if you want to have someone be very happy and work well. Go ahead, they're about 20, $22 like that. Otherwise, do what Mike is doing. Take a cushion off your ottoman or Autobahn, or whatever the thing you put your feet on.
Mike: Autobahn's a highway in Germany, Brad.
Brad: Well, I wouldn't take that, though.
Mike: There might be cushions there.
Brad: Now, can we get a close-up of this?
Brad: Watch my ankle. Because I'm squishing into the cushion, my balance, I would not be able to do this without a stick or a cane, and I'm going to work this, and let's go this way, and you're really going to see, this really works my ankle muscles. They are really going to town here, and actually, they're starting to fatigue already, and I'm wobbling.
Brad: Again, this is advanced, maybe for some younger people. Older people may never even need this. One thing that you can do is if you are at the beginner level and you're not using the band, you know, you can do all these on Pete's Choice. You're still going to get nice work, nice strengthening, and really good, balanced challenges with this without the band at all. Now, I have to tell you, Mike. I gave my sister and brother-in-law one of these, and what they do is, while using the microwave, they use the pad. While heating something up, they hold on to the cupboard, and then challenge their balance. It's multifunctional too: heat up some water, heat up your food, and work your balance at the same time. The timer's going for 30 seconds. It makes cooking fun.
Mike: I've had some people do it when they're brushing their teeth.
Brad: Oh, now, that's a really good idea.
Mike: Yeah, you got your arms and your legs going.
Brad: There you go, all kinds of ways to help out your balance and to make it a little bit more challenging, and some people think it's fun. All right, now, you might be thinking, "Well, I'm not gonna get bands and maybe wall anchors just to do one exercise," even though it does multitask. Well, the really good news is that if you want to add exercise for your upper body, aerobic, and legs, you have your bands here. This is what I have at my home. I don't use any weights. All that I use is my banding with these wall anchors. You simply and easily put it on, as you noticed. We can start out from the lower anchor. I like to do curls, so you can do curls that way. You can do flies upward. I like to do this as well sometimes, and I'm going to do squats with resistance, and it actually helps your balance because if anything, it pulls you backwards into the wall, which is safe, and you probably won't go forward.
Brad: So it depends, you know, use good judgment on that. The next thing that works well is if you put an anchor at the midsection. I really like this in the wintertime, if you like to walk, but you don't want to be walking out in the cold weather. Take the loop, put it around your waist, and you can go out, and you can do marching with resistance. If you want to go backwards and forwards, it's amazing what the resistance does in regards to increasing your intensity, getting your heart rate up, and the really cool thing is you can walk sideways back and forth, and that works those abductor muscles, which stabilize your pelvis, your low back, as well as your feet, keeps you from walking like this. Make sure you do both directions. You're going to do this 20 to 30 seconds each way.
Mike: You forgot about backwards.
Brad: Oh, yes, backwards walking, which is really nice, particularly helpful with your knee mechanics and reduces knee pain. There we go.
Brad: All right. Overhead, if you put one of the anchors up. You'll get four anchors if you go through BobAndBrad.com. You get an extra one for a much better price. Now, this is one that you can go down and work your lats, really hard to do at home without a machine or using cables, which is really expensive. All you do is here, you can do this. I work my triceps here as well. What else can I do from here, Mike? You got some ideas?
Mike: You can do tricep overhead, but that might be a little awkward for you.
Brad: Yeah, actually, this is the way I do it. I do flies, get the lower fibers of my chest, and then I work my triceps from here, and this also works core muscles. Right now, my core is working big-time, so you get arms, shoulders, core, and balance all at the same time. They're really nice, and you'll get a lot of exercise balance-wise, core, the whole thing all in one shot, quite cheap, actually, compared to buying steel barbells, etc, and do it all at home.
Mike: Well, steel's expensive?
Brad: Well, yeah. Yeah, I know you need to buy 500 pounds' worth of steel, which is kind of heavy to move around. If you drop these on your toe, it doesn't hurt. Drop a dumbbell on your foot once. Go ahead.
Mike: I've done it before.
Brad: I believe you have.
Mike: My toe was a little black and blue.
Brad: All right, very good. What's another video that could help these people?
Mike: If you want to check out a video with more instructions on how to use these bands for your workout, watch "Resistance Band Workout for Beginners."
Brad: For beginners, that's right. Have a good day, and exercise well.
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