This is prone hip extension with a bent knee, and I use this as well. We both use this as a test, so you know how we're all about testing, intervention, then retesting. So, not only is this an amazing exercise, it's a brilliant test. Okay, so...

People who have back pain, knee pain, more often than not, there's something going on at the hip; a lack of movement through the glute. What do you look for when you're going to test it standing? When you're looking at this person, you...

say, 'prone hip extension.' Yes. The things you might see, they might do wrong, any compensations. Okay, so if someone has a weak glute, for example, on the right side, I'm going to look for movement through the lower back. I'm going to look for extra work performed by the hamstring,

and then the pelvis moving as well. So, tight hip flexors at the front will rotate the pelvis. So any compensatory patterns, we always look for—the body loves trying to cheat out of these movements. Okay, so we have to be a detective and pick that up. So let's get into it.

I'll get you to bend your knee, please, to 90 degrees, just one there. So straighten that, and we lift about one to two centimeters towards the ceiling. So bring your foot up and back down. Very good. Reduce... you'd be good here, but a really nice one.

Okay, very nice. Yeah, it does look good. Very good. So ideally, the order of muscle contraction we want is glute, hamstring, and naturally you will get a little bit of the lower back on the opposite side, but barely anything. Okay, so you're seeing an...

Excellent demonstration of a really good hip extension here. Looks good; pure hip extension where we are using a dominating force of gluteus maximus with contribution from the posterior fibers of the gluteus medius. Very much so; this is how it should look when we are walking or running.

Okay, so that's the perfect hip extension there. Just a small movement, as well. A lot of people overcompensate when training glutes and naturally that rotates the pelvis, bringing in the lower back. So just take note today of how small the ranges actually are.

Testing Prone Hip Extension

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