Hip Dips – What is it?
Phew, another body hashtag? After Thigh Gap, Ab Crack, Bikini Bridge or Collarbone Challenge, we were actually fed up with unrealistic, unnatural and above all unhealthy body ideals that fill social media. Aren’t anorexia, fitness stress and body shaming last season anyway? Right! The Hip Dips movement is not about shaming and stress at all, but about a healthy self-image, self-acceptance and a positive body image.
So what exactly are hip dips?
Dips are the dip, hollows, bulges, indentations, or indentations that lie between the hip bone and thigh. Where the hips end and the thighs begin, some women have a dip. So these women don’t have an “hourglass figure” but rather a “kink” in the silhouette. Regardless of dress size, age or weight, these dents can affect slim, athletic, curvy and overweight women. Basically, every woman’s body has a hip dip, but not every woman has it to the same extent. This distinguishes this body trend significantly from the social media trends mentioned above.
But how do hip dips come about then? Are you getting deeper? Or can hip dip be trained off?
Hip Dips – Causes
No, neither your diet nor your exercise program gave you your hip dips. But, your genetics and your natural physique. We’ve already mentioned that every female body is predisposed to hip dip. But why are they more visible in some than in others?
The extent of your hip dips is initially determined by your physique. The width of your pelvis and your hip bones largely determine how much the hip hip can be seen. The greater the distance between the hip and thigh bones, the deeper the hip dip. If you have a rather wide hip bone, it is usually closer to the thigh bone. Women with narrow pelvises usually have a greater distance between the thigh bone and the hips bone and are more likely to do hip dips.
This explains why super athletic fitness influencers show off their hip dip on Instagram. No matter how fit you are, the depressions remain.
Of course men can have hip dips too. However, since they usually have a much narrower hip bone, the indentations are only as visible in a few as in women.
Hip dips – the body positivity movement
So what differentiates the hip dip hashtag and the images of the dips from other body snapshots is the predominantly positive body acceptance that they radiate and convey.
Of course, we also have to say that there are posts and women who address hip dips negatively. On Instagram, women complain that they can’t get rid of their dents and equate hip dip with cellulite . But both are totally natural!
In other pictures, now the majority of the postings, one’s own body is celebrated and proudly explained: My bone structure is just like this and I accept my body with all dips and dents, with all curves and shapes.
The goal: People of all stature signal that their hip shape does not allow for evaluation. No dent determines how beautiful, fit or slim a body is. But women are now proudly showing off their hip dips.
Hip Dips – The Best Exercises
Super slim stars and starlets have hip dip. Fit fitness influencers do hip dip. A healthy body is allowed to have hip dips – yours too.
If you still have the desire to do something about your hip dip, you can try the following exercises. But always remember: you can never completely train them away.
Fitness exercises, with or without weight, that train and grow your glutes, i.e. your buttocks, can hide the hip dip somewhat. So you can train yourself to have a bigger butt. However, the dents don’t go away completely.
Kickbacks or donkey kicks, dirty dog or even fire hydrants, glute bridge or hip thrust, forward, backward or side lunges, sumo squats and the good old classic squats are great exercises for your butt muscles, which you can do everywhere you can do at home and in the gym.
By reducing body fat, you can also tone down your hip dips. However, you will encounter two difficulties: First, you cannot specifically train body fat. You always have to lose weight all over your body and burn fat. You can’t actively choose to empty the fat cells in your hips. A mix of cardio and strength training coupled with a healthy diet will lower your body fat percentage. On the other hand, the hip dip can become even more visible if you overshoot the target. If your hip bones are prominent, then the space between your pelvis and thigh with the dent in between becomes even more visible.
At-home hip dip workouts circulating on Instagram and YouTube aim to do just that: burn fat and strengthen your butt muscles.