Single Leg Hip Thrust with Band-Resisted Hip Drive

By Mike Reinold
Updated on November 21, 2011
Enhance Performance, Injury Treatment

This week’s guest post is a video demonstration of the single leg hip thrust with band-resisted hip drive by Eirik Førlie. I received a lot of feedback regarding my posts last week on hip flexion strength and hip flexion exercises. Eirik sent me this exercise demonstration and thought it would be great to share.

Single Leg Hip Thrust with Band-Resisted Hip Drive

First of all I would like to say thanks to Mike Reinold for letting me write a guest post here. I’ve been reading and learning a lot through his blog so it’s kinda cool to write a post here. I wanted to share a new exercise I have been performing.
At the time I was doing this exercises I only had sprint mechanics in my head, but some days ago I read the articles on Mike’s site onFunctional Assessment and Exercises to Enhance Hip Flexion and The Importance of Hip Flexion Strength.
I’m always looking for exercises that will give me the most bang for the buck, just like everyone else. I figured that this exercise would be good for both sprint mechanics and also can be a good progression for some of the exercises Mike was recommending by incorporating hip flexion drive into other exercises.
My goal with training, when I started doing the exercise, was to improve my sprint mechanics. I was always finishing trainings with single leg hip thrusts, moved on to add motion, and then to simultaneously flex the other hip (basically a hip flexion drive). It felt very natural, so I tried out with a band to resist the hip flexion. Here is a video demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEH8zot0xjg

What the Single Leg Hip Thrust with Band-Resisted Hip Drive Does
You’re training single leg hip extension with simultaneously contralateral hip flexion which pretty much happens in every sport and daily activity. Reminds me of quote from Bret Contreras:
[quote]“Movements such as walking, running, sprinting, kicking, jumping off one leg, cycling, skating, and freestyle swimming involve simultaneous hip extension and hip flexion. In each of these activities, when one hip is extending the other is flexing” – Bret Contreras[/quote]
Hold a quick second at the top position and feel the contractions in the glutes. It’s great in that it teaches you do disassociate the hips. You really need to focus on separating the hips, one going into extension while the other flexes, and using its full ROM in both actions. If you’re using the momentum from the extending hip to get the other hip in flexion, the bench will probably fly all over the place, so there’s a nice extra way to check if you’re doing it correctly and making sure you don’t hurt anyone else.
On top of that it blends in some anti-rotation work in the mix, as you need to remain stable and straight to avoid falling over.
Although it might be a more advanced progression, you can use it for a lot of things such as improving your sprint mechanics, enhancing hip extension and hip flexion strength, learning to separate and open up the hips, and improving coordination and stability.
About the Author
Originally from Norway, Eirik Førlie is currently a sport and exercise science student in London, England. You can learn more at his website www.eirikforlieenglish.wordpress.com. The single leg hip thrust with band-resisted hip flexion is a nice tool to have in the toolbox, although even he admits that name is not the most convenient!

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