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| What it’s good for | Strengthens the outside-hip muscles and helps to keep hip bones strong. Everyday benefits include:
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| How often to do it | Three times a week |
| Equipment you’ll need | A kitchen chair A stretchy elastic exercise band |
Note: Because this exercise uses resistance (a stretchy band) to build strength, you must give your muscles time to rest between sessions, so always leave 48 hours between each practice (read more about muscle strengthening here)
- Sit tall at the front of the chair, feet and knees together
- Drape the middle of the band over your knees. Then take the ends of the band in your hands, cross them over underneath your legs, pull hard to tighten the wrapping, and pull the ends so they rest on top of your knees. Place you hands firmly over the ends so they don’t ping and unravel. You need to keep your legs firmly wrapped throughout the exercise
- Now, with the band tight, open your feet and knees to hip-width. This is the start-point for the exercise
- Sit tall and open your knees wider, keeping your feet firmly in place on the ground
- Hold knees open for a count of 5, keeping tall and breathing throughout, then ease them back to their starting point. Remember, the start-point is hip-width apart, not touching
- Check your sitting posture and get ready to open the knees again
Aim to do 12 open-and-close movements without rest.
TIP
♦ If you are very new to exercise, this is one that can produce an intense “burning” sensation in the muscle. Don’t worry! The feeling will go within seconds and over the days and weeks will probably fade altogether
Varying the exercise for more challenge
Once you can do this, you need to make the exercise a bit harder to continue strengthening your muscles. Firstly, add another set of 12 to your routine. Then move on to these other exercises in order of difficulty below
The progressions
1. Wider legs
Start with legs more than hip-width apart to increase the force you have to use to pull and hold the band apart
2. Use a stronger band
A tougher grade of band increases the resistance and therefore the work you need to do to open your knees. You can also try wrapping the band more tightly, but be careful not to let the band get painfully tight or restrict your blood flow. Click here to read more on working with strength-training equipment
3. The Clam (side lying bent leg openings)
Click here to go to the instructions
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