My Journey Through a 6 Week Mobility Program: Improving Hip Mobility

Hello, I'm Miles, you’re probably wondering how I improved my hip mobility in those pictures above in just 6 weeks. The good news for you is that these results are achievable for anyone. In fact, the human body is incredibly adaptable. It will respond to whatever stimulus you give to it by adapting to the new demands you place onto it. Sit on the couch every day, you will likely notice your hips getting stiff, not to mention the unwanted weight gain and mental health impacts. Instead, if you move into new positions that challenge your hip range of motion often, over time your hips will adapt in a different way.. by allowing more range of motion! The purpose of this blog is not to give you a list of the perfect exercises to achieve better hip mobility (although we can also help with that), rather, it is to give you a deeper glimpse into my own experience improving my hip mobility.
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Over the past 6 weeks, I set out to increase my hip range of motion. My hips have always been one of the most restricted areas on my body (and keep in mind, I coach people on movement every day for my profession). Although I have a deep understanding of the human body and human movement, it still can be challenging to work on myself at times. Especially on the things that are hardest for me. For as long as I can remember it has always been a challenge for me to touch my toes while keeping my knees completely straight, get deep into a squat without feeling like falling over, and sit on the floor comfortably for longer than 1 minute. All signs that my hips don’t have the range of motion that they should to be, well, hips. As I set out on this 6 week journey I had a few goals in mind.

Goal 1: Improving Hip Mobility

My hips have always been the tightest and most restricted part of my body. This has not only impacted my performance in exercises like squats but also may have contributed to a herniated disc injury I suffered two years ago.

Goal 2: Addressing Lower Back Discomfort

For the past six months, I've been experiencing a low level of lower back discomfort and a renewed awareness of the area in my lower back that I had injured two years prior. In addition to my first goal, focusing on the functional outcome of improved mobility in my hips, I was curious to see if improving my hip range of motion would have an impact on my nagging lower back pain.

The Mobility Program
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The purpose of this blog is not to tell you exactly what I did to make these changes since everyone will be slightly different when it comes to the specific needs for their own body. The program I developed for myself included 4 main exercises consisting of both passive components and active components. Simply speaking, this means that I spent some time holding a stretch and some time activating my tissues at the end range of the stretch or controlling my range of motion with my muscles at this end range. If you are interested in knowing exactly what I did, I would be happy to share with you if you reach out to my email at [email protected].

During the 6 week program, my goal was to complete my exercises at least once per day. In actuality, I missed some days, about 5 total days in 6 weeks (hey, even I am not perfect). I wanted to document my thoughts as I progressed through this program to show a deeper level of some of the struggles I experienced along the way. You can see my journal entries below. Lastly, I took some before and after pictures of some challenging positions for my left hip. If you’re not much of a reader and just want to see the progress pictures, scroll to the bottom of this article to see.
 
Highlights from my Journal

Throughout the program, I kept simple journal entries to track my progress, experience and thoughts in those moments. This practice provided so much insight into the trials and tribulations of the day to day that we often miss just by seeing the end result or the before/after pictures. See some of my notable entries below:

• Day 1: “Not going to lie, this shit sucks. I noticed I was really tempted to back out of depth on a lot of the stretches. Getting into some of these deep positions would take my breath away and I would really have to focus on maintaining consistent breathing.”
• Day 2: “After waking up on day 2 my stretches already felt a bit easier.  I did my mobility at night on day 1 and then in the morning on day 2. The back to back nature of this I think helped. The mental piece was easier almost like I knew what to expect and my hips felt a little more smooth and accepting of the positions.”
• Day 2 Cont: “My back felt better than it had been feeling before starting the stretches on day 2. I decided to push the weight on my deadlifts a little more than I had been before in my workout this evening.”
• Day 3: “Back feels a little aggravated today. Hips are VERY sore from 90/90. Could be because I pushed the weights yesterday. I also didn’t get to my stretches in the morning this time.”
• Day 4: “Forgot to do stretches (busy workday then went to my girlfriend’s house)—a good example and lesson for clients that life happens and sometimes you run out of time during the day.”
• Day 5: “Almost missed my stretches again. Had a busy day of work and went to stay at my girlfriends house. We were winding down for bed and I had every intention of skipping but I told myself that I am committing to this and got them done”
• Day 6: “I have been noticing my back is more aggravated when seated during the day than it had been before I started this mobility program. I thought it was mostly due to pushing the weight in deadlifts last week (which it still may be) but knowing my body that seems like it should have calmed down my now. I wonder if getting into these positions is stressing my back and I am experiencing some growing pains from getting used to the program”
• Day 6 Cont.: “I find myself dreading the strap hamstring stretch, it hurts so bad. My hips are still pretty sore getting into the 90/90’s and creating rotational movements.  Also very sore in the groin from doing the Olympic wall stretch. Hard to come out of both of these stretches.”
• Day 7: “During workout, back still felt more “awake” than it had before starting stretches.”
• Day 9: “Skipped, day before 4th of July. Had a busy workday cramming in clients and had to pack for the holiday.”
• Day 10: “Skipped, 4th of July. Left for vacation the night before and had a relaxing day on the fourth.”
• Day 11: “Found a gym on vacation was able to get away from the group and did my stretches. Back was a little tweaky from sitting in cars, lounging, and not exercising as much as usual.”
• Day 12: “Did stretches at the gym on vacation again. After stringing together two days of stretches and exercising again, back felt less aggravated.”
• Day 13: “Had a bit too much to drink the night before on the last day of vacation, hungover and tired from traveling but I had to get my mobility done. I got it done.”
• Day 14: “Almost skipped due to being late for a workout but got them done thanks to an accountability text from my girlfriend. Noticed improvement in hip internal rotation, but still achy. Left hip seems to be making more progress than right.”
• Day 15-19: “Did my routine every day, no major takeaways.”
• Day 20: “Did an abbreviated version of the routine. Hips are very sore, especially in the attachment points. Noticed some improvement in range of motion.”
• Day 21: “Missed—day got away from me.”
• Day 22: “Had the feeling of dreading getting my mobility done. But, WOW was I amazed at the changes in my hamstring stretch. I was not burning behind the knee as intensely and it actually felt quite tolerable. I also noticed I did not feel the tingly feeling in my kneecap at end range that I had been feeling. Hip 90/90’s still feel similar to me in terms of stiffness getting into the position. Olympic wall stretch felt less aggravated in the groin during the stretch and I could add in some PAILs and RAILs”
• Day 25: “Did a quick stretch before bed at my girlfriend’s place. Noticed my right hip is falling behind because I always start my routine on my left side. Since my back pain is on my left side I felt that was more important but I am falling into a trap I often see with my clients. Just because the left side is in pain doesn’t mean the right side isn’t impacting my pain and function. ”
• Day 26-Day 42: “Lot of consistency, did not miss a day”
• Day 42 (Last Day): “This shit sucks way less. My back feels generally better with less awareness of discomfort. I am now able to load my squats and deadlift with more weight than what had caused a flare up early on in this program without consequence. Hip external rotation is improved and less painful. Internal rotation still feels pinchy and uncomfortable at end range. Adductor stretch has been less painful in the last two days but still can feel uncomfortable at end range. After looking at my before and after photos, I am realizing that even though I am having some discomfort at end range, my end ranges now are significantly farther than when I started. Sometimes its easy to feel like I am not making progress simply because the “feel” of the stretch is not making major changes but my range of motion is!”

 
Outcomes

My hip mobility increased in all the planes that I had been focusing on; flexion (both bent knee and straight knee), adduction, internal rotation, and external rotation. My squat has more depth and I have started to load my strength exercises more robustly without consequence of back pain. My low-level nagging back pain is significantly less frequent and intense than it was before I started. Although I have seen a lot of progress I still “feel” discomfort at the end ranges of my stretches. Overall, I feel significantly better both from a pain perspective and in my ability to move after just 6 weeks!

Before/After Pictures
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To illustrate my progress, here are the before and after pictures of a few different hip positions that I was tracking:

Final Thoughts

As I end this 6 week chapter of dedicated mobility, I have compiled a few tips for anyone looking to improve their mobility.

1.Consistency is key: I hate to break it to you, but to make real changes to our mobility we need to put in consistency day after day. Yes you may miss a few along the way, but doing a mobility routine 1-2x weekly is likely not going to give you the progress you are looking for.
2.Don’t miss two days in a row: This is a piece of advice that I learned from James Clear in his book Atomic Habits. I read this book multiple years ago but that piece of advice always stuck with me. I only missed two days in a row once during this 6 week process and boy will I tell you how much harder it was to get back into a routine after that 2 day stretch compared to any one day stretch I had previously. Build good habits, don’t miss two days in a row.
3.The “feel” of the stretch vs. your actual progress: Even after 6 weeks of working on my mobility exercises. Many of them still “feel” uncomfortable. It may be easy to think you aren’t making mobility progress as a result. Often times, you are! It is helpful to have an objective way of measuring progress rather than a subjective “feel” test. I used pictures, but there are other ways as well, get creative!
4.Once Consistency is achieved, then focus on form: Consistency is key, but once you have built the habit, then focus on doing the exercises with intention to make progress. Going through the motions can limit your progress. But if you understand the outcome you are trying to achieve, you can seek that outcome during your intervention. My before pictures became the “outcome” I was hoping to improve, therefore every time I did my exercises, I did them with that outcome in mind.

This journey through the six-week mobility program has been enlightening and transformative. As a movement coach, it is not often that I get to experience first-hand what many of my clients may be feeling. Having those experiences has proven incredibly helpful to my expertise as a coach. Not only did I achieve my goals, but I also gained valuable insights into the effectiveness of our approach at Milestones Movement Therapy. Improving your mobility can have a profound impact on your overall health and quality of life. If you're dealing with similar issues, I encourage you to explore our personalized mobility options. We offer a FREE phone consultation to see if we may be a good fit to help you with your specific goals.

Visit Milestones Movement Therapy to learn more and schedule your free consultation today!

Stay mobile,
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Miles