Hip Airplane: Stop Letting Your Back Do Your Hips’ Job

What It Is

• Category: Dynamic stability + active mobility drill
• Focus: Strengthens glute medius/max, deep hip rotators, and core while actively improving hip internal/external rotation range.
• Why It Works: You’re balancing on one leg, hinging forward at the hips, and then rotating your pelvis open/closed—forcing the stabilizers to work while moving through controlled ranges.

Why It’s Great for Stability + Mobility

• Stability: Trains the glute medius to hold the pelvis level while dynamic movement happens above.
• Mobility: Opens and closes the hip capsule actively, increasing usable rotation range (critical for deep squats, lunges, kicking, and acro).
• Balance: Challenges proprioception
• Core–hip connection: Forces the obliques, core and back muscles to stabilize the spine while the pelvis rotates.

How to Do Hip Airplanes

1️⃣ Setup

• Stand tall on one leg (soft bend in knee).
• Hinge forward from the hips into a single-leg RDL position — back leg extended behind you, torso roughly parallel to the ground.
• Arms can go out like airplane wings for balance, or hands on hips to feel your pelvic rotation.

2️⃣ Movement

• Open: Slowly rotate your chest and pelvis outward, so your hips are “stacked” (standing leg hip moving into external rotation).
• Close: Rotate your chest and pelvis inward, so your hips are “square” or even slightly past square (standing leg hip moving into internal rotation).
• Keep the knee of your standing leg pointing forward—don’t let it drift side to side.
• Move with control, pausing briefly in each position.

3️⃣ Reps & Tempo

• 3–5 reps per side, each rep being open → closed → back to open = 1
• Slow and controlled: ~3–5 seconds each way

Key Cues

• Hinge, don’t twist the spine → all the rotation happens at the hip socket.
• Standing leg stays strong → slight bend, knee over mid-foot.
• Foot tripod → big toe, little toe, and heel stay grounded.
• Think of “rotating your belly button” rather than swinging the leg.

Link to Back and Hip Pain

Back pain

• Limited hip rotation or poor pelvic stability forces the lumbar spine to rotate more than it should, creating micro-twists with every step or bend.
• Hip airplanes build rotational strength and mobility at the hip, reducing the need for your low back to compensate.

Hip pain

• Weak glute medius/max can shift excess load onto the hip flexors, adductors, or deep rotators, leading to overuse and irritation.
• Controlled rotation in hip airplanes improves joint alignment and muscular balance, which can reduce discomfort—especially in mild impingement cases (avoid during acute flare-ups).