Fire Hydrants

What you'll gain

• Targets hip abduction from a stable quadruped base.

• Needs no equipment, so it fits warm-ups and floor-based glute blocks.

• Trains the pelvis to stay quiet while one hip moves, a useful coaching cue.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Start on all fours with the hands under the shoulders and the knees under the hips.

2. 2

   Brace the trunk so the back stays flat and the pelvis stays level.

3. 3

   Keep one knee bent at about 90 degrees and lift that knee out to the side.

4. 4

   Stop before the hips rotate or the supporting knee slides inward.

5. 5

   Pause at the top, then lower the knee back under the hip.

6. 6

   Finish the set on one side before switching legs.

Common Mistakes

• Twisting the pelvis so the lower back, not the hip, creates the height.

• Kicking the thigh backward instead of abducting it out to the side.

• Letting the supporting elbow or knee collapse as the working hip opens.

• Chasing a high range that dumps the trunk toward the floor.

About This Exercise

Fire hydrants start on all fours and lift one bent knee out to the side. They are a bodyweight glute drill that combines hip abduction, extension, and external rotation, with the pelvis staying still. The same quadruped lift cues a long spine and a braced trunk so the hip, not the lower back, does the work. The approved clip starts with both knees down, then abducts the near knee toward camera. For a catalog this is the bodyweight fire hydrant, not a banded or standing version. It fills hip-abduction filters, glute-activation warm-ups, and rehab-adjacent hip pages that need a floor drill with no kit.

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