Hip Hinge Single Leg With Dowel

This exercise helps you learn the single-leg hip hinge with a dowel along your spine that tells you if your back rounds.

Start: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dowel vertically along your spine — one hand behind your head, the other behind your lower back. It touches head, upper back, and tailbone.

Action:

  1. Hinge forward at one hip with a slight bend in that knee, the other leg reaching straight back.

  2. The dowel stays touching all three points.

  3. Return to standing. Do your reps, then switch legs and swap hand positions.

Feel: You should feel a stretch behind the standing thigh. If the dowel comes off your head or tailbone, you rounded — shorten the hinge.

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