Why Stronger Hips May Help You Move Better as You Age

When you think about staying strong as you age, you may think about your legs, your core, or perhaps your arms.

But there are two muscles on the outside of your hips that deserve a lot more attention:

The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.

These muscles may not be the first ones that come to mind when you think about fitness. But they play an important role in controlling your pelvis and helping you stay stable when you’re standing, walking, climbing stairs, or moving from one position to another.

And as you age, maintaining the ability to control your body becomes increasingly important.

It’s not just about how much strength you have.

It’s about whether you have enough strength to control your body when you need it.

Your Hips Help Keep You Upright

Imagine you’re walking down a sidewalk.

At one point, your entire body is supported by one leg while the other leg swings forward.

Your hip has to stabilize your pelvis during that transition.

Now imagine you step on an uneven surface.

Or someone walks in front of you and you quickly step sideways.

Or you lose your balance and have to take a quick step to recover.

Your body needs to generate force and control your movement.

Your hip abductors—including the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus—are part of that system.

Your Hip Abductors Have an Important Job

The hip abductors help move your leg away from the center of your body, but their role goes beyond simply moving your leg sideways.

They also help:

• Stabilize your pelvis
• Control your hip during walking
• Support single-leg activities
• Control side-to-side movement
• Assist with balance reactions
• Provide stability when climbing stairs
• Help control your body when changing direction

You don’t consciously think about these muscles when you’re walking.

But they’re working behind the scenes.

Strength Isn’t Just About How Much Weight You Can Lift

Researchers often measure muscle strength by looking at torque—essentially, the amount of rotational force a muscle or muscle group can produce around a joint.

Why does this matter?

Because producing force is an important part of physical function.

If your muscles can produce more force, you generally have greater physical capacity to perform demanding movements.

A systematic review examining hip muscle strength, activation, balance, and mobility found that, overall, adults with greater hip-abduction torque tended to perform better on measures of balance and mobility.

These included tasks such as:

• Walking
• Stair climbing
• Timed Up and Go
• Balance testing

The relationship was observed across young and older adults, although the researchers noted that there were fewer studies involving middle-aged adults, making conclusions in that age group less certain.

That’s an important finding.

Hip strength isn’t just a gym measurement. It can have a relationship with how you move through the real world.

Why Does Hip Strength Matter for Balance?

Think about what happens when you lose your balance.

Your body has to react.

You may take a step.

You may shift your weight.

You may move your hips.

You may quickly activate several muscles to keep yourself upright.

The faster and more effectively your body can produce and control force, the more options you have when your balance is challenged.

Your hips are one part of that system.

This doesn’t mean that strong hips guarantee that you won’t fall.

Falls are complicated and can involve vision, the vestibular system, sensation, reaction time, strength, coordination, medications, the environment, and many other factors.

But maintaining hip strength gives your body an important physical resource to draw upon.

What Happens When You Walk?

Walking looks simple.

But every step is actually a series of carefully coordinated movements.

Your body has to:

Shift weight → stabilize → move the opposite leg → control the pelvis → transfer weight → repeat.

Your gluteus medius and minimus help stabilize the pelvis during this process.

If the muscles aren’t providing enough force or control, your body may find another way to accomplish the movement.

That’s called compensation.

Your body is remarkably good at finding ways to complete a movement.

But just because you can complete a movement doesn’t necessarily mean you’re using the muscles you intended to use.

Stronger Isn’t Always the Same as Better

This is an important concept.

Imagine you strengthen your gluteus medius.

That’s good.

But what if you can produce more force during an isolated exercise but still have difficulty controlling your pelvis while walking?

Or standing on one leg?

Or stepping sideways?

Or climbing stairs?

That’s why we shouldn’t only ask:

“How strong is the muscle?”

We should also ask:

“Can the muscle use that strength when you need it?”

Strength, activation, coordination, endurance, and control all contribute to functional movement.

The Importance of Being Able to Recover Your Balance

Imagine you’re walking through a grocery store.

You turn a corner and someone unexpectedly steps in front of you.

You quickly change direction.

Or you’re walking through a parking lot and your foot lands on an uneven surface.

Or you step off a curb unexpectedly.

Your body doesn’t have time to prepare for these movements.

It has to react.

The hip abductors are particularly important during lateral or side-to-side movements.

Research examining neuromuscular activation has found that lateral stepping can require substantial hip-abductor activation, and that activation patterns can change with age and depending on the task.

This is one reason training your hips isn’t simply about making them stronger in one position.

You want your strength to be available when life requires it.

Why the Gluteus Medius and Minimus Are Part of the 6 Green Zones™

At PhysioFit of NC, the hips are one of our 6 Green Zones™.

Within this Green Zone™, we focus particularly on the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.

Why?

Because these muscles contribute to important aspects of lower-body control.

We want to understand whether they can:

• Activate effectively
• Produce appropriate force
• Maintain control
• Work symmetrically
• Support single-leg movement
• Contribute to pelvic stability
• Maintain their function during repeated activity

The goal isn’t simply to identify whether a muscle is “weak.”

We’re looking for opportunities to optimize how the muscle functions as part of the whole body.

What Does “Optimize” Mean?

Optimize doesn’t necessarily mean making a muscle as strong as possible.

It means helping the muscle perform its intended job as effectively as possible for your body and your goals.

For one person, that might mean improving basic activation.

For another, it might mean building strength.

For someone else, it might mean improving endurance or the ability to control the hip during dynamic movement.

And for another person, it may mean improving symmetry between the two sides.

That’s why assessment matters.

You need to know what you’re trying to improve before you can create the right strategy.

Your Body Works as a Team

Your gluteus medius doesn’t work by itself.

When you walk, your hips interact with your knees, ankles, spine, trunk, and nervous system.

Your calves help control your lower leg.

Your hips control the pelvis.

Your lumbar spine provides trunk stability.

Your thoracic spine helps connect your upper and lower body.

Your neck helps control your head.

Your shoulder allows you to use your arms.

This is why looking at one muscle in isolation only tells part of the story.

The body works as a system.

This Is the Idea Behind the 6 Green Zones™

The 6 Green Zones™ provide a framework for looking at six key regions involved in physical performance:

Shoulder
Rotator cuff strength and control

Neck
Cervical stability and control

Thoracic Spine
Mid-back stability and control

Lumbar Spine
Low-back stability and control

Hips
Gluteus medius/minimus strength, stability, and control

Calves
Soleus and calf strength, endurance, and stability

These aren’t the only muscles that matter.

Rather, they provide a focused way to look at specific components of physical performance that can become important as we age.

Find the Missing Pieces

One of the most important ideas behind the 6 Green Zones™ is that you don’t necessarily need to do more exercise.

You may need to do more of the right thing.

Maybe your cardiovascular fitness is excellent.

Maybe you walk 10,000 steps a day.

Maybe you exercise regularly.

But perhaps one hip isn’t contributing as well as the other.

Or your calves lack endurance.

Or your shoulder doesn’t have the stability you need.

Or your trunk isn’t providing the control you need during movement.

These are the “missing pieces” we’re interested in finding.

Once you identify them, you can develop a strategy.

From Assessment to Action

The process shouldn’t stop at testing.

The goal is:

Assess → Understand → Improve → Re-Test

First, find out where you are.

Then understand what may be limiting your performance.

Then create a targeted strategy.

Then re-test to see whether you’ve improved.

That’s a much more useful approach than simply being told:

“Your hips are weak. Do more hip exercises.”

Instead, you can ask:

Why are they weak?

Can they activate properly?

Is one side different from the other?

Can they maintain their function when you’re tired?

Can you use that strength during movement?

Those questions lead to better strategies.

Why This Matters for Healthspan

Ultimately, the goal isn’t stronger hips for the sake of stronger hips.

It’s what stronger, better-functioning hips may allow you to do.

Walk farther.

Climb stairs.

Get out of a chair.

Move around your house.

Work in your yard.

Travel.

Exercise.

Play with your grandchildren.

Maintain your independence.

Continue participating in the activities that make life meaningful.

That’s where healthspan comes into the conversation.

Longevity is about how long you live.

Healthspan is about how well you can live during those years.

Physical capacity is an important part of that equation.

Your PhysioFit Age™ Gives You Another Way to Look at Physical Performance

Your chronological age tells you how many years you’ve lived.

Your PhysioFit Age™ provides a snapshot of physical performance relative to chronological age.

It’s not designed to predict how long you’ll live.

Instead, it’s a way to look at how your body is performing today.

The 6 Green Zones™ help identify specific areas that may have opportunities for improvement.

Your hips may be one of those areas.

And if they are, that’s not necessarily bad news.

It’s information.

And information gives you an opportunity to create a strategy.

Stronger Hips. Better Prepared for Life.

Your gluteus medius and minimus may not be the muscles you think about every day.

But they are working every time you walk, step, shift your weight, climb stairs, or respond to a change in your balance.

Research suggests that greater hip-abductor force-producing capacity is associated with better performance on a variety of balance and mobility tasks.

That makes the hips an important area to consider when thinking about physical function and healthy aging.

But the goal isn’t simply to make your hips stronger.

The goal is to optimize how they work as part of your whole body.

That’s the purpose of the 6 Green Zones™ assessment.

Find what’s missing.

Understand it.

Create a strategy.

Improve it.

Then re-test.

Because healthy aging isn’t simply about adding years to your life.

It’s about maintaining the physical capacity to live those years the way you want.

Discover Your 6 Green Zones™

The 6 Green Zones™ assessment provides a targeted look at key areas of strength, activation, stability, symmetry, endurance, and control.

Your hips are one of those areas.

Discover your 6 Green Zones™, learn your PhysioFit Age™, and identify opportunities to optimize your physical performance for the years ahead.

Reference:

Lanza MB, Arbuco B, Ryan AS, Shipper AG, Gray VL, Addison O. Systematic Review of the Importance of Hip Muscle Strength, Activation, and Structure in Balance and Mobility Tasks. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2022 Aug;103(8):1651-1662. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2021.12.008. Epub 2022 Jan 5. PMID: 34998714; PMCID: PMC10089299.