THE HIP HINGE

Bending forward is a movement that happens with every stroke in paddling. If the stroke pace is 55 strokes per minute, then you are potentially bending hundreds to thousands of times during your practices and over 100 times during the course of a typical race. This movement is done simultaneously with torso rotation and leaning. For now though, we’ll just focus on the bending forward part.

To preserve and strengthen your back while bending, you will want to hinge at the hips instead of rounding your back. When we round our backs, we compress the front part of the lumbar spine (lower back) which could result in pain as well as reducing your range of motion (how far you can bend). While hinging at the hips, we keep our upper torso straight and in alignment. This is a great movement to practice throughout your day while standing or sitting. Whenever you need to bend over to pick something up, work in the garden, or do things of that nature, use the hip hinge. Even when you only need to partially bend forward, as in working at the kitchen counter or brushing your teeth, you can use the hip hinge. Add a weight to lift and make it part of your exercise routine by doing 1-3 sets of 10 reps. Stop if you experience pain!

Hip Hinge Standing With Neutral Spine

This is a great exercise to gain the strength and flexibility to bend in good alignment while paddling repeatedly and consistently. Hip hinging will strengthen your lower back, your glutes (i.e. your butt), hamstrings (i.e. the back of the thighs), adductors, quadriceps, and your abdominal muscles. It will also be much easier on your lower back and knees.

Stand with your feet hip distance or more apart. Point your feet outward slightly, 10-15 degrees. Keep your knees pressed out, in line with your feet. To bend deeply, use a wider stance.

Place your paddle or a long stick of some kind against your back so that it touches three contact points -- the back of your head, your thoracic spine (or shoulder blade area) and your lower back.
Start to bend your torso forward from the hips. Your buttocks should go straight back (not down into a squat). Your back should stay flat with the stick continuing to touch all three contact points on your back.
Do not let your back round -- your head, neck, and shoulders should stay in line with the rest of your torso as when you were standing up.
Bend forward as far as you can while STILL MAINTAINING the stick’s three contact points on your back.
If your hamstrings are tight, you will need to bend your knees as you hinge forward, but only as much as necessary.
Focus on your glutes as you straighten up, maintaining the stick’s three contact points on your back.
Inhale as you hinge forward, exhale as you straighten back up.

You may find that you can’t place the stick so that it touches all three contact points. This probably means that your shoulders are chronically rounded forward as well as your head being in a forward position. This may require work to stretch and/or strengthen various muscles of the neck and shoulders. This will be covered elsewhere. If you find this to be the case, keep the pole touching the lower back and your thoracic spine (or shoulder blade area) and try to lengthen your neck and press your head straight back to get the head as close to the pole as possible while doing this exercise.

Hip Hinge Standing While Lifting Weight

Use the same technique as above, but this time hold a weight, kettle ball, or weighted pole in your hands.

Let your arms drop straight down as you hinge at your hips. Imagine that you still have the stick touching the three contact points on the back of your head, thoracic spine, and lower back. Keep all three areas in alignment throughout the movement.
Rise to a standing position while keeping your back flat and moving your torso as one unit.

Hip Hinge Seated With Neutral Spine

Sit near the front edge of your chair. Separate your legs enough to make room for your torso as you lean forward.
Place the stick against your back and establish the three contact points, as before.
Hinge forward while keeping your back flat and moving your torso as one unit.
Rise to the sitting position while keeping your back flat and moving your torso as one unit.

Hip Hinge Seated With Arms Forward