My Favourite 3D Strength Exercises for the Hip (+Lower Back & Knee)
As discussed in the previous blog (What is 3D Strength?), 3D muscles have two primary actions: motion in 3D (rotation and sideways movements) & stabilisation (of the ball within the socket of the joint).
Below are my favourite home based exercises for working on your 3D hip muscles by performing 3D motion and 3D joint stabilisation movements. All the exercises below can be done at home without the use of gym equipment.
Although these exercises target the hip, 3D Strength Theory proposes that improving 3D hip muscle capacity will help many people with lower back and knee pain. You can read more about the research supporting 3D Strength Theory here -> 33 Studies Supporting 3D Strength Theory.
How many, how often?
Working on muscles is all about making things gradually harder over time. The exercise difficulty can be progressed in 3 dimensions: 1) Resistance 2) Stage 3) Time Unless otherwise specified, I'd suggest 3 sets of 6-12 reps for these exercises, 3x weekly. Start with your weaker side, and have 2-3 minutes rest between sets. Recording the date, exercise, sets, reps, resistance / time is strongly recommended, most people end up going in circles without progressing any of the dimensions if they don't record each session. I have included a free template tracker which you download and use at the bottom to save you time. Try combining at least one rotation and one stabilisation exercise. This is enough to make good progress and its manageable even when time is at a premium. For those of you very keen on your strengthening, use two motion and two stabilisation exercises.
3D Motion - Standing
Stage 1 - Standing Abduction
A simple place to start with respectable 3D muscle activation (Sinsurin et al., 2015). As outlined in the video, try to keep your hips from twisting and keep your body upright.
Stage 2 - 45 Degree Kick Back
The point of progressing to hip abduction performed diagonally backwards is it has been shown to more strongly activate the gluteus medius (Sinsurin et al., 2015). Again, try to keep your hips from twisting. Holding a surface for balance is entirely reasonable during this exercise, and will allow you to keep your body more upright.
Stage 3 - 45 Degree Kick Back
An exceptional 3D hip strengthening exercise.
Resisted hip abduction combined with extension (the 45 degree kick back movement shown above) produces particularly high posterior gluteus medius activity (Moore et al., 2019a) & moderate gluteus minimus activity (Moore et al., 2019b).
As above, holding a surface for balance is entirely reasonable during this exercise, and will allow you to keep your body more upright.
3D Motion - Side Lying
Stage 1 - Side Lying Isometric Abduction
Isometric side-lying hip abduction has been shown to strongly recruit the gluteus medius, particularly when the leg is held in slight internal rotation (twisting the leg inwards) (Lee et al., 2013). I would suggest 3 sets of 10 - 30s on each side, building the time gradually as it becomes easier.
Stage 2 - Side Lying Abduction
Moving through side-lying hip abduction produces moderate-to-high activation across both the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, making it a well-supported exercise for the lateral hip muscles (Moore et al., 2019a; Moore et al., 2020). Again, internally rotating the leg (twisting the leg inwards) appears to maximise 3D muscle recruitment (Uebayashi et al., 2026).
Stage 3 - Side Lying Abduction Circles
Once the basic movement is comfortable, progress to small circles forwards and backwards (writing letters to spell out words with your toes in the air is also an option). This exact sequence has not been specifically studied, but fine-wire EMG research shows that changing hip position and direction during side-lying abduction alters recruitment across the different gluteus medius and minimus segments (Moore et al., 2020). As above, internally rotating the leg (twisting the leg inwards) appears to maximise 3D muscle recruitment (Uebayashi et al., 2026). I would suggest 3 sets of 10 - 30s on each side, building the time gradually as it becomes easier.
3D Stabilisation - Lying
Stage 1 - Double Leg Bridge
The double-leg bridge provides a relatively gentle starting point, producing lower gluteus medius activity than single-leg bridging but providing some useful all round 3D hip muscle activation (Moore et al., 2020).
Stage 2 - Single Leg Bridge - Hands Down
Going from two legs to one roughly doubles average gluteus medius activation, despite the visible movement remaining predominantly up and down (Moore et al., 2020). If you are struggling with hamstring cramp with this one, which is common, try increasing the knee bend from a right angle to near max knee bend. This will slightly increase 3D muscle activation whilst significantly reducing the hamstring involvement (Lehecka et al., 2017).
Stage 3 - Single Leg bridge - Arms Across Chest
Folding the arms across the chest removes the opportunity to assist the bridge by pushing through the arms.
This exact single-leg bridge variation has produced high gluteus medius (~58% MVIC) and gluteus maximus (~51% MVIC) activity in EMG testing (Lehecka et al., 2017).
3D Stabilisation - Standing
Stage 1 - Sit to Stand
A simple, classic. Doable pretty much anywhere and hard to get wrong.
The normal sit-to-stand movement recruits the gluteal muscles, including the gluteus medius, while allowing both legs to share the work (Jang & Yoo, 2015).
Sit as softly as you can on the way down.
Stage 2 - Staggered Sit to Stand
Staggering the feet shifts more of the work onto the leg positioned behind, providing a useful halfway point between a two-legged and single-legged sit-to-stand (Jeon et al., 2019).
Start with your weaker leg back.
Stage 3 - Single Leg Sit to Stand - High Chair
Single-leg sit-to-stand effectively recruits both the gluteus medius and maximus (Tsang et al., 2018).
I suggest a high chair because the challenge of strength and balance doing the exercise from a 90 degree knee bend tends to mean control goes out of the window.
Exercise Tracker
References
Jang, E. M., & Yoo, W. G. (2015). Comparison of the gluteus medius and rectus femoris muscle activities during natural sit-to-stand and sit-to-stand with hip abduction in young and older adults. Journal of physical therapy science, 27(2), 375–376. https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.375
Jeon, W., Jensen, J. L., & Griffin, L. (2019). Muscle activity and balance control during sit-to-stand across symmetric and asymmetric initial foot positions in healthy adults. Gait & posture, 71, 138–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.04.030
Lee, J. H., Cynn, H. S., Choi, S. A., Yoon, T. L., & Jeong, H. J. (2013). Effects of different hip rotations on gluteus medius and tensor fasciae latae muscle activity during isometric side-lying hip abduction. Journal of sport rehabilitation, 22(4), 301–307. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsr.22.4.301
Lehecka, B. J., Edwards, M., Haverkamp, R., Martin, L., Porter, K., Thach, K., Sack, R. J., & Hakansson, N. A. (2017). BUILDING A BETTER GLUTEAL BRIDGE: ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF HIP MUSCLE ACTIVITY DURING MODIFIED SINGLE-LEG BRIDGES. International journal of sports physical therapy, 12(4), 543–549.
Moore, D., Pizzari, T., McClelland, J., & Semciw, A. I. (2019). Rehabilitation Exercises for the Gluteus Medius Muscle Segments: An Electromyography Study. Journal of sport rehabilitation, 28(8), 10.1123/jsr.2018-0340. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsr.2018-0340
Moore, D., Semciw, A. I., McClelland, J., Wajswelner, H., & Pizzari, T. (2019). Rehabilitation Exercises for the Gluteus Minimus Muscle Segments: An Electromyography Study. Journal of sport rehabilitation, 28(6), 544–551. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsr.2017-0262
Moore, D., Semciw, A. I., & Pizzari, T. (2020). A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF COMMON THERAPEUTIC EXERCISES THAT GENERATE HIGHEST MUSCLE ACTIVITY IN THE GLUTEUS MEDIUS AND GLUTEUS MINIMUS SEGMENTS. International journal of sports physical therapy, 15(6), 856–881. https://doi.org/10.26603/ijspt20200856
Sinsurin, K., Pluemjai, S., Srisangboriboon, S., Suanshan, S., & Vachalathiti, R. (2015). Gluteus Medius Muscle Activities during Standing Hip Abduction Exercises in the Transverse Plane at Different Angles. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand = Chotmaihet thangphaet, 98 Suppl 5, S42–S47.
Tsang, S. M. H., Lam, A. H. M., Ng, M. H. L., Ng, K. W. K., Tsui, C. O. H., & Yiu, B. (2018). Abdominal muscle recruitment and its effect on the activity level of the hip and posterior thigh muscles during therapeutic exercises of the hip joint. Journal of electromyography and kinesiology : official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology, 42, 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelekin.2018.06.005 Uebayashi, K., Okubo, Y., Akasaka, K., Adachi, G., Oshikawa, T., Matsunaga, N., & Kaneoka, K. (2026). Muscle activity of deep hip muscles across joint positions and elevation phases during side-lying hip abduction. PeerJ, 14, e21536. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.21536
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