Shakira said it best, “my hips don’t lie.” Women seem to either love or hate their hips. Biologically, our hormones deposit fat around our hips, buttocks, and thighs because of fertility and pregnancy. As you probably know by now, losing weight around the hips is not an easy task.

Thankfully, skinny is out and strong and curvy hips are in. So, embrace your curves and make them strong at the gym.

Perfect Female Hips: Exercise Motivation and Inspiration

If your hips are your trouble spot, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most women want to lose weight around the hips and stomach region. For some it’s easy, but for most, it’s a real challenge. Don’t focus so much on your body fat and weight. Instead, focus on getting strong and toned hips.

Best Workouts for Women: Good Routines, Great Results

Your hips are your power zone. Speed, strength, and explosiveness in the gym and on the sports field, all come from your hips. While you might have hung up your soccer cleats after high school, having strong and powerful hips are important even as an adult.

You want to train your hips for mobility, stability, and strength. Not only will this make you strong, but you will increase your flexibility, potentially reduce lower back pain, and get beautifully toned hips.

How to Get the Perfect Hips

If you have a little extra “junk in the trunk,” you want to focus on changing your diet. Avoid junk food and focus on eating a healthy diet full of fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. If you stick to a healthy diet, you’ll start to see the scale go down.

Don’t freak out if you’re not seeing the inches fall off your hips. Due to our hormones, losing weight around the hips can be difficult. Unfortunately, you can’t just wave a magic wand and ask the weight loss gods to take your belly and hip fat away. This is where exercise is essential.

Exercises to Get Beautiful, Toned Hips

With a healthy diet and regular exercises, you’ll start to see the inches fall away soon enough. Cardio exercise will help you lose some belly fat, but strength training is what gives you your biggest bang for your buck.

Too many women fear that strength training will lead to “bulking up,” but that’s just an old wives’ tale. Strength training increases your metabolism and will tone and shape your hips.

Squats

Squats are your new best friend. Squats come in all shapes and sizes so make sure you try a variety. Start with the bodyweight squat until you have mastered the technique. Afterwards, unleash your inner squat demon. Add weights, use a Bosu, try different stances. Different squat varieties will target your hips from all angles.

Curtsy Lunge

Image Source: Giphy

There are not many exercises that target the sides of your hips by your hip bones. Squats and lunges mainly target the big muscles like your gluteus maximus, quads, and hamstrings. Enter the curtsy lunge. This lunge alternative targets those small muscles on the side of your hips that are important for hip stability.

Hip Bridges

Strong hips require a strong core. Hip bridges are a great exercise to work your glutes, hamstrings, and your core muscles. A strong core will help reduce lower back pain and create stability in your hips.

Start by lying on your back with your knees bent, feet firmly on the floor and your arms resting by your side with palms down. Brace your core to activate your abs and slowly lift your hips and butt off the ground. Lift your hips until your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders. Hold the pose for 10 seconds, squeezing your glutes the whole time, before returning to the floor.

Trainer Tip: How to Do a Curtsy Lunge

Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips. Cross your right leg behind your left while lowering your right knee behind your left ankle. While you are lowering into the curtsy lunge, reach your right hand towards the floor. Return to start and alternate sides.