Rowing with Weak Hips: Technique and Exercises

Your hips link your legs to your trunk, so weak or tight hips show up in your rowing as poor posture, a sagging catch and a lower back that tires early. It is not a diagnosis. Pain in or around the hip needs a GP or physio first, and you should stop if pain increases.

Signs your hips are limiting you

• Your lower back rounds at the catch instead of hinging forward from the hips.
• You cannot sit tall at the finish without leaning back a long way.
• Your knees fall inwards on the drive.
• You feel the stroke in your thighs and lower back, but not your glutes.
• One side feels stronger than the other.
• Your seat dips and your pelvis rolls back when you reach.

Tight hip flexors and hamstrings stop the pelvis from tilting forward at the catch. Weak glutes limit the power of the hip extension in the drive. Both push the work into the lower back. If you have pain at the front of the hip, or a pinching feeling at the catch, see can rowing cause hip pain and talk to a professional.

Technique points

1. Hinge, don’t fold. At the catch, rotate the pelvis forward and keep the spine long. Think about pushing the hips back, as in a deadlift.
2. Stop the reach where your hips stop. If you cannot reach further without rounding, you have reached far enough. Shorten the slide a little until mobility improves.
3. Press the heels and the whole foot at the start of the drive and feel the glutes engage.
4. Keep knees tracking over the feet, with no inward collapse.
5. Sit tall at the finish with the pelvis upright, not tilted back.
6. Control the recovery. Let the hips come forward smoothly without the seat rushing.

See 5 ways to improve your rowing posture and common rowing technique faults.

General exercises

These are common choices, not a prescription. Choose a few, and ask a physio if you have any pain.

Strength

Exercise	Sets and reps	Focus
Glute bridge	3 x 12 to 15	Squeeze at the top, avoid arching the back
Single-leg bridge	3 x 8 to 10 each side	Hips level
Goblet squat	3 x 8 to 10	Knees over toes, chest up
Romanian deadlift	3 x 8 to 10	Hip hinge, flat back
Step-ups	3 x 8 each side	Controlled, no pushing off the back foot
Clamshells or lateral band walks	2 x 12 to 15	Hip stability

Mobility

• Half-kneeling hip flexor stretch: 30 seconds each side.
• 90/90 hip rotations: 8 to 10 each side.
• Hamstring stretch with a strap: 30 seconds each side.
• Cat-cow or thoracic rotations to keep the upper back moving.

Our guides to glute exercises for rowing and how to build strength in your legs for rowing have more.

Build sensibly

Fit two short hip sessions into your week, such as 15 to 20 minutes after an easy row. Add reps before you add weight, and keep one day between strength sessions. Warm up before rowing with a few bridges, a hip hinge drill and some gentle erg strokes at half slide, then full slide.

A simple drill is the hip hinge on the erg: sit at the finish position, rock forward from the hips with the arms straight, then return. Do 10 repetitions before each session to ingrain the movement.

Your set-up

An erg set-up that fits you matters. Make sure the foot straps are placed to support the ball of your foot, and that your seat is comfortable. See importance of adjustable footrests on rowing machines.

When to see someone

Stop and get advice if you have pain deep in the groin, a catching or clicking feeling with pain, pain that spreads down the leg, or pain that lingers the next day. Weak hips are a common and fixable limitation, but pain is a different matter and needs an assessment.

For more, browse the training hub.