Does A Squat With A Kick-back Work Your Hips?

Squat kickbacks combine aspects of a regular squat and a rear leg lift. Whether or not this exercise option works for your fitness needs depends on your workout goals. If you want to exercise the muscles in your hips, you need to compare the muscles this exercise works with the list of muscles you want to develop.

Hip Anatomy

The muscles of your hips include the glutes, the hip adductors and the hip flexors. Each of these is a complex of smaller muscles. The glutes are located in your rear end, and the sides of the hips. The adductors lie on your inner thighs and groin, while the flexors sit on the sides of your hips. The extent to which a squat kickback works your hips is the extent to which it works out those specific muscles.

Description

A squat kickback consists of four steps, beginning from standing upright with your feet about shoulder-width apart. You squat down, keeping your legs parallel, until your thighs are parallel to the ground with your knees at a 90-degree angle. From that position, you stand upright in a slow, smooth motion. As you near the top of your rise, kick one leg, straight but with the knee unlocked, straight back in an upward arch. Continue the kick until you reach the end of your range of motion, then return your foot to its original position. Do the sequence again, kicking with your opposite leg.

Muscles Engaged

According to information distributed by Georgia State University, the squat portion of this exercises works the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors and calves. The kickback works the glutes and hamstring. Of these muscles, the glutes and hip flexors are among the muscles of your hips. This means that a squat kickback will work some, but not all, of your hip muscles.

Attention to Form

When you do a squat with a kickback, your form will help determine which muscles it works. Paying close attention to proper form — for example keeping your legs parallel in the squat and not bending your leg during the kick — will keep the load on your gluteal and hip flexor muscles. If you "cheat" on your form to make the exercise easier, the load will shift to other body areas — most frequently your lower back, quads and hamstrings. None of those muscles is in your hips.