The hip hinge is bending forward by folding at your hip joints while your lower back stays neutral: your hips travel back, your knees stay soft, and your torso tips forward. It is the pattern behind the kettlebell deadlift, swing, clean and snatch, so it is the first thing to learn before you load it. A hinge is not a squat: in a squat your hips mainly go down, in a hinge they mainly go back and stay above your knees.
Send the hips back
Stand tall with your feet between hip- and shoulder-width apart, toes forward or turned slightly out, knees unlocked.
your whole foot planted, knees soft but not bent much.
Push your hips straight back, as if closing a car door behind you with your backside. Your hips move back, not down, and your knees don't drift forward much.
your hips moving rearward and a stretch building in the backs of your thighs.
Keep your whole foot on the floor as you go back. Don't rock onto your heels or lift your toes.
Keep a neutral back
Let your torso tip forward only because your hips are folding, keeping your back long and neutral from head to tailbone. The bend happens at your hips, not by rounding your spine.
your head, upper back and tailbone staying in one line.
Stop when your hips can't go further back without your back rounding. For a first bodyweight hinge, about halfway between upright and parallel to the floor is a good target. Your hip crease stays above your knees and your torso leans more than your shins do.
Drive the hips forward
Stand up by driving your hips forward and squeezing your glutes until you are tall. Keep the same neutral back on the way up.
your glutes and hamstrings bringing you upright.
Finish standing straight. Don't lean back or arch your lower back at the top.
Feel it
A growing stretch in your hamstrings as your hips go back, your whole foot pressing the floor, and your glutes doing the work to stand. If you feel it mostly in your knees, your hips are going down instead of back. If you feel your lower back working hard, check that you are folding at the hips and not rounding.
Fix-its
- You squat instead of hinge Your hips are dropping and your knees are travelling forward. Use the back-to-wall drill: if you sink straight down you won't reach the wall. Think hips back, not down.
- Your back rounds Use the 3-point dowel drill. If the stick leaves your tailbone, your spine is bending instead of your hips. Stop the rep at the point where you can still keep contact.
- Your legs are locked straight A stiff-legged fold tips you forward instead of sending the hips back. Unlock your knees a little before you start and keep them soft.
- You rock back onto your heels Keep the whole foot heavy. Your hips go back, but your balance stays over the middle of your foot.
- You lean back at the top Stand tall and squeeze your glutes. The rep ends when you are straight, not arched.
Drill
- Back-to-wall hinge: stand about 12 in (30 cm) in front of a wall, knees unlocked, and push your hips back to gently touch it, then stand. When it gets easy, step a little further from the wall.
- 3-point dowel hinge: hold a stick vertically along your back so it touches the back of your head, your mid-back and your tailbone. Hinge and return while keeping all three points in contact.
- Kettlebell deadlift: once the first two feel solid, put a light bell between your feet, hinge to grip it, and stand by driving your hips forward. Add load gradually.
- Film yourself from the side to check that your hips go back, your hips stay above your knees, and you finish standing straight.
- Safety: learn the hinge with no weight first, and only add a kettlebell once every rep keeps your back neutral. Stop if you feel sharp pain, especially in your lower back.
Sources
- NSCA — Lincoln, Ill & Ibrahim: Progressive Strategies for Teaching Fundamental Resistance Training Movement Patterns, PTQ 10.2 (2023)
- ACE — Exercise Library: Hip Hinge
- StrongFirst — Brett Jones: Is That a Squat or a Hinge? (c. 2021)
- StrongFirst — Mark Reifkind: An Explanation of the Athletic Hip Hinge (c. 2017)
Last checked 2026-10-25.