Hips are the primary motor driving your body forward. Therefore, race walking can be incredibly frustrating to beginning walkers who cannot seem to get the feel of proper hip motion. Saying “use your hips more” just falls upon deaf ears. Walkers with minimal hip motion need drills and exercises to help them learn. Other race walkers may have hip motion, but in all the wrong directions.
We will demonstrate how to correct both problems. If you are having difficulty feeling the proper motion of the hips, try two drills that help you feel forward hip rotation.
Review the drill where we engage our hips by acting like a vampire.
Even though you may not feel like you are using your hips when you race walk, you are to a minimal extent. Our goal is to get you to feel what rotating your hips forward feels like.
Try this exercise, preferably at the base of a hill.
Body Position
Stand like you would to start race walking.
Steps
- Place your hands over your chest as a vampire would in a coffin.
- Start race walking up the hill (Figure 4-46 & Figure 4-47).
- Make sure you use proper technique in your lower body and straighten your leg appropriately.
- Race walk up the hill for 50 feet or so.
- Now, accelerate your race walk; You should feel a slight tugging in your hip as it naturally begins to rotate forward.
- Go with the feeling.
- Exaggerate the feeling while continuing to hold your arms against your chest and straighten your leg properly.
- After about 50 feet of accelerating, lower your arms into proper race walking position and race walk using your new exaggerated hip motion. Ideally, if you can time the lowering of your arms to reaching the top of the hill and can walk on level ground you will have the best results.
Review the drill / analogy where we pretend to be a gunslinger in the old west to mimic forward hip rotation
The first analogy is to think of yourself as a gun slinger in the old west with a pistol on each hip (Figure 4-48). Imagine you want to walk thru a set of saloon doors that have a gap in the middle. However, you are not going to push the doors open with your hand. Instead, keeping your torso as still as possible, swing your right hip forward so the gun pops the door forward. Then repeat it with the left hip. Use the same hip motion when you race walk and lead your leg forward from the hip.
The Funky Hip Drill stretches the hip in a manner consistent with race walking technique. This improves the fluidity of the hip motion.
Body Position
Stand with both feet on the ground as in double-support phase of race walking.Steps
- With your right leg forward and your arms behind your back, raise the toes of your right foot, like when you plant your heel in race walking.
- Shift your weight to that leg, making sure that your leg is straightened.
- Push your right hip to the outside, so that your right IT band (Iliotibial band, facia around tissue reaching from your hip down to your knee); This stretches from where it connects to the knee up to where it connects in the hip (Figure 8-1).
- Reverse the steps for your other leg (Figure 8-2).
- Walk forward repeating the drill for 30 meters.
There is nothing better than performing a drill with the same motion as race walking. The single best arm exercise for race walking is to practice the motion of the race walker’s arm swings with elastic bands so that you use your hips properly. The enhanced arm swing forces a greater forward rotation of the hips. Also, if performed in front of a mirror, this exercise can help you develop proper arm motion.
Body Position
Wrap an elastic band around a pole (or anything stable) and place each end in your hands.
Steps
- Swing the hands forward and backward through the full range of motion traveled while race walking.
- Counter your arm swing by pushing your opposite hip forward (Figures 8-3 & 8-4).
- Remember to keep those shoulders relaxed!
- Repeat this exercise for 2 to 10 minutes.
Since Tim doesn’t remember where he learned this hip flexor stretch or what it was called, he now claims it by his own name. Good hip flexor range of motion is a key to good forward hip rotation.
Body Position
Sit on the floor with your weight resting on a bent right leg.
Steps
- Place your left leg behind the body and bend it at the knee to approximately 90 degrees.
- Use your right elbow to support your upper body weight.
- Raise your left elbow above the head and arch your back, while also slightly pushing your left hip forward (Figure 8-5). This gives a nice long line to follow from the left hip to the left elbow, allowing for a great stretch from the left hip flexor all the way up to the left triceps.
- Repeat with your right side of your body.
The Side stretch provides a good stretch from where the IT band connects to the knee all the way up to the elbow. Stretching this area facilitates good forward hip rotation.
Body Position
Stand with both feet together.
Steps
- Grab your right elbow with your left hand.
- Bend your left knee while keeping the right knee straight.
- Hold for 20-30 seconds (Figure 8-6).
- Return to the vertical position.
- Repeat 2-3 times on one side, then switch and repeat on the other side.
The Advanced Side Stretch drill is another version of the Side stretch drill to improve stretching the side and IT band.
Body Position
Stand with your legs crossed over each other, but your feet close together.
Steps
- Grab your left elbow with your right hand.
- Slightly bend your right knee while keeping the left knee straight.
- Hold for 20-30 seconds (Figure 8-7).
- Return to the vertical position.
- Repeat 2-3 times on one side, then switch and repeat on the other side.
The IT Band stretch is yet another activity to loosen up the IT band. It’s important to find a stretch that works for you as a tight IT band not only restricts forward hip rotation, but can lead to knee injuries as well.
Body Position
Stand with one leg crossed in front of the other.
Steps
- Place your hands together and bend to your side.
- Lean in the opposite direction of your hands and push the hip out slightly.
- Hold for 20-30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times on each side (Figures 8-8 & 8-9).
