If, like me, you spend a lot of time sitting at your desk, you might suffer from tight hips, which can affect your posture, balance and even how well you squat or lunge.
I love a fitness challenge, so I decided to see if I could counteract this damage by doing hip openers for 30 days, performing 10 repetitions per leg, between one and three times a day.
The results showed that it's always worth investing some time in your mobility—here's what happened after I did the move for a month.
I slept better and felt less stressed
When we’re stressed, we can feel more tension and stiffness in certain muscles, like the psoas muscle in the lower back.
This discomfort in our muscles can make it harder to sleep, which has the knock-on effect of making us feel more stressed because we've not had a good night’s rest.
But I was pleasantly surprised when this simple mobility exercise helped reduce the tightness I’d been feeling in my muscles, and as a result I slept better and felt calmer.
My balance improved
One of my goals this year is to improve my balance, and standing on one leg doing hip openers every day has really helped.
Exercises like single-leg deadlifts, lunges, and even basic movements like putting my shoes on while standing up all feel easier.
My posture has also improved and I’m more upright when sitting at my desk.
Getting up from the floor feels easier
When your hip flexors are stiff, it limits your range of motion, so standing up from the floor can feel challenging.
This is because our tight hips pull the body forward, putting a strain on the back and making the move from sit to stand feel harder.
After a month of daily hip openers, getting up from the floor was so much easier—that’s the main reason that I want to carry on doing this move regularly.
