Cook Hip Lift

HingeBW

Gray Cook's corrective glute-activation drill: a tennis ball wedged at the hip crease and pinned by the pulled-in knee locks the lumbar spine still, forcing hip extension to come purely from the glutes and hamstrings rather than lumbar substitution.

Demo: Movement/FMS instructional

Sets

2

Reps

6-10 per side, 2 sec hold

Rest

20s

Contraindications

Very low risk — used therapeutically for low back pain patients specifically because it isolates hip extension away from the lumbar spine. Appropriate even for many with disc pathology since lumbar motion is deliberately locked out; stop if any lumbar movement or pain occurs.

Setup

Lie supine, knees bent 90 degrees, feet flat. Place a tennis ball just above the hip crease on one side and pin it by pulling that knee to the chest with both hands.

Execution

  1. 1Pull one knee to the chest, pinning a tennis ball at the hip to lock the lumbar spine
  2. 2Drive the heel of the other (planted) foot into the floor
  3. 3Lift that hip straight up toward the ceiling using the glute, keeping the ball pinned
  4. 4Hold for 1-2 seconds at the top
  5. 5Lower slowly and repeat, then switch sides

Key cues

  • Pin the ball — if it falls out, you're using your low back
  • Drive through the heel
  • Lift slowly — a fast lift means you're substituting lumbar extension
  • Only a few inches of lift is expected — quality over height

Common faults

  • Lifting too fast, causing the tennis ball to fall out (indicates lumbar substitution)
  • Trying to lift too high, again substituting the low back
  • Not truly pinning the knee to the chest
  • Hamstring cramping instead of glute engagement — a diagnostic sign of glute inhibition

Tweaks

  • Progress to Cook Squat once hip extension quality improves
  • Increase hold duration at the top
  • Perform for reps as an activation drill before hinge training

Progressions

Glute Bridge (Bodyweight)Cook Squat (Hip Lift Regression)

Muscles

Primary: Gluteus Maximus

Secondary: Hamstrings, Core

Notes

Named for physical therapist Gray Cook (co-creator of the FMS); the gold-standard diagnostic drill for identifying whether a lifter substitutes lumbar extension for hip extension.

Sources

Attribution: Gray Cook