CalisthenicsIn review

Hip Hinge Drill

A slow standing drill that teaches the hip hinge: the hips move back while the back stays flat.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Hinge
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand with the feet hip width apart and the knees a little bent.
Place the hands on the creases at the front of the hips.

Do the rep

Push the hips back and let the chest lower with a flat back.
Stop when you feel a stretch in the hamstrings.
Drive the hips forward and stand tall.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the hips move back with a flat back until the hamstrings stretch and you return to standing tall.

One rep starts standing tall with the hands on the hip creases, pushes the hips back until the hamstrings feel a stretch, and ends standing tall.

Breathing

Inhale as you hinge; exhale as you stand up.

Cues

Fold at the hands on the hips.
Keep the shins near vertical.
Move more slowly when the reps get easy.

Common mistakes

Rounding the back
What you seeThe back curves as the chest lowers.
FixStop higher and keep the chest long.
The drill teaches a flat back.
Bending the knees forward
What you seeThe knees move forward over the toes.
FixKeep the shins near vertical and push the hips back.
The hinge moves at the hips, not the knees.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you feel pain in the lower back.
End the set when you cannot keep a flat back.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Glutes · moderate confidence

Assisting

Spinal erectors · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 3, written from the blueprint CSV row and the Wave 2 rules page of 2026-10-12. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the rules page; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_glute_bridge, the closest Wave 1 record.
Rule 2 gives the drill the hinge roles. It is a technique drill, so the switch-on PR should decide if it stays swap-only or library-only.
Skill tier and failure cost follow rule 3: beginner, low.
The CSV allows duration. The record is reps only.
This is a standing drill, so the record drops the mat and the bench from the CSV. A dowel is common for this drill but is not a picker item; the record uses the hands on the hips.
The CSV muscle list is the family hint; the record drops the quadriceps.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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