Why Do Powerlifters Use Hip Circles Or Hip Bands

Powerlifters often have a suitcase full of gadgets to support themselves during training. You will often find Hip Circles or Hip Bands to be a very popular type of resistance band that is wrapped around the knees and is used during warm ups or lower body exercises. Not only are they used among the powerlifting circles (pun not intended), but they are also used by general gym goers. 

But why do powerlifters use Hip Circles or Hip Bands? Hip Circles or Hip Bands are normally used by powerlifters to improve lower body movement quality and hip and glute strength during training particularly during warm ups. Powerlifters use them so that their squat and deadlift technique can improve as a result.

In this article, we aim to break down exactly what these types of resistance bands are, what they are useful for and how to use them within your training to get the most out of your warm ups and accessory exercises.

What They Are 

A Hip Circle or Hip Band is a wide and thick resistance band that is normally wrapped around the knees. They are normally built with multiple types of materials for higher resistance and resilience against wear and tear. 

They normally come in different sizes although the sizes do not vary massively with respect to each other and sellers will normally show you which sizes are best suitable for categories of bodyweight. 

They can also come in different resistances, which may be beneficial for those who are seeking to train their muscles with more difficulty if they want the bands to be more for building muscle rather than warming them up.

5 Benefits of Hip Circles/Hip Bands

These Hip Circles/Hip Bands are suitable for beginners and advanced athletes. Here are 5 benefits you can get from using a Hip Circles/Hip Bands in your training:

• Improving squat depth
• Improving knee tracking over feet
• Isolating glute training
• Improving hip stability
• Improve ankle stability

Improving squat depth

Using Hip Circles/Hip Bands during a squat warm up can improve your squat depth so if you are someone who struggles to break parallel during a squat then this is perfect for you. 

In order to be able to squat deep, you need to be able to easily externally rotate your hips ie rotate your thighs outwards. 

By performing a drill such as a hip banded squat during your warm up with a band around the knees, the band forces you to be able to externally rotate when you hit the bottom of the squat, which in turns improves your ability to squat deeper.

Improving knee tracking over feet

Having a poor ability to be able to track knees over feet is linked to pain and injury. It also indicates that you likely have poor positioning in your hips and back too.

If you are someone whose knee cave a lot during squats or deadlifts, you can easily use Hip Circles/Hip Bands as an external tactile cue for your knees. Having the bands around your knees encourages you to think about pushing your knees against the bands.

An important thing to remember is that you only need to push your knees outwards to the point that your knees are in line with your feet. You do not want your knees to be outside of your feet.

Isolating glute training

The glute muscles are extremely important muscles for powerlifters as they are used heavily in squats and deadlifts. Quite often powerlifters will train the glutes in isolation for the intent of muscle growth.

After a while, some common glute exercises may get somewhat stale and too easy for the powerlifters. Supplementing current glute exercises with a Hip Circles/Hip Bands adds resistances and so increases the demand on the glutes. This is a useful way to progressively overload the same exercises without changing the movement or the sets and reps.

Improving hip stability

There are different exercises and movement drills that can be used with the hip circle/hip band for the purpose of improving hip stability. Good hip stability is necessary for good postural control. 

Move drills that involve moving in different directions challenge the hip muscles to stabilise from different demands.

Improve ankle stability

Hip circles/hip bands can be used around the ankles to improve ankle stability. Some people have difficulty keeping their foot and ankle stable through squats and deadlifts. What might occur is the collapsing of the ankles during the exercise.

What the hip circles/hip band can be used for is to encourage more external rotation and supination of the feet and ankles so that you can control your centre of gravity better during squats and deadlifts.

How To Use Them

Here are 3 ways that you can use hip circles/hip bands:

Hip Banded Squats

A hip banded squat is a bodyweight squat performed with a hip circle/hip band wrapped around the knees. This exercise is good for those who are warming up to perform squats. It is also good for those who have a tendency to squat with their knees caving in. You can also perform these squats with the band around the ankles if you have collapsing ankles during squats.

Key Points for Execution

• Keep knees in line with feet
• Keep bands around the knees or ankles
• Keep back flat throughout the squat
• Squat to a point where the hips pass below the knees
• Keep feet flat and balanced throughout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGlFOC0IA4

Hip Banded Side Step

A hip banded side step is a side step exercise performed with a hip circle/hip band around the knees or the ankles. This exercise is good for those who are warming up generally for lower body exercises. It is also good for those who tend to have collapsed ankles when they do lower body exercises.

Key Points for Execution

• Keep feet close to the ground as much as possible and avoid lifting the feet far off the ground
• Keep hips and shoulders level at much as possible with a flat back
• Maintain a soft bend in the knee and hips
• Maintain knee alignment with feet throughout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ9JDYrybx4

Hip Banded Glute Bridge

A hip banded glute bridge is a hip exercise with a hip circle/hip band around the knees. This exercise is good for those who want to add more resistance to the glute muscles in order to increase muscle mass in them. 

Key Points for Execution

• Keep knee angle at 90 degrees roughly
• Start with the lower back flat on the floor and tuck the pelvis under
• Keep feet flat on the ground at all times
• Keep the head flat on the floor with chin down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRyOjaheJuM

How To Pick Good Hip Circles/Hip Bands

There are 3 main qualities to look out for with a hip circle, they are:

• Good grippy interior
• Robust and elastic material
• Appropriate size

A good grippy interior allows the band to maintain constant contact with the body regardless whether it is over sweaty skin or clothing. It stops the band from rolling over itself or up the legs during exercise.

Robust and elastic material means that it will create a strong enough resistance and be resilient against constant use and wear and tear. Good hip circles/hip bands will generally use a combination of a cloth/fabric and rubber.

Appropriate sizing will be necessary as it is not a one size fits all type of product. If a band is too small, then the resistance will be too high for the legs whilst keeping the knees in line with the feet. If the band is too large, then it will not allow enough resistance for you to feel the band.

Best Hip Band for Powerlifting

The best hip bands for powerlifting are the Repel Bullies Grippy Hip Bands.

They are created with two interior, non-stick tacky strips to support its contact with the body during exercise. Made to be robust and elastic material so it can maintain its elasticity with frequent use. There are also 3 sizes available to choose from depending on your body size.

For more details, click the link here for the Repel Bullies Grippy Hip Bands.

Conclusion

Hip bands are a cheap and super useful tool to have in your powerlifting inventory. It is suitable for all experience levels and is versatile to different uses. With a small investment like this, it can save you time long term with your warm up routines and even give you more options of exercise choices in training. Choosing a premium quality hip band will save you money long term as they will outlast using cheaper and poorer quality rubber bands.

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