How To Get Rid Of Hip Dips

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Hip dips are the most recent body trend to hit the internet. But we’ve kinda seen this go down before with the whole "thigh gap" craze. 

So just what are hip dips and how can you get rid of them?

What Is A 'Hip Dip' + Why Do You Have One?

Hip dips, violin hips, shelf hips, high hips, hip dents or in it's anatomically correct terminology, 'tronchanteric anxiety', are the small depressions on both sides of your body between your hip and  thigh. 

And, guess what? They're absolutely normal! 

Countless females have them & they are absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

Having hip dips does not mean you are fat, hideous or deformed. Whether you have them or not comes down to your bone structure.

The shape of your bone structure is what determines whether you have hip dips or not.

It’s all about the dimensions of your hip bone in relation to your femur.

If you have a wider and higher pelvis, you will likely have more of an angle on your femur. 

This produces more surface area in between the top of your hips (ilium) and the head of the femur, causing a much more pronounced hip dip - see image.

If you have a slim and shorter pelvis, after that you will likely have much less of an angle on your thigh, suggesting much less of a 'space' and as a result, less of a hip dip - see image. 

This is why ladies with an athletic, "straight up and down" build, often tend to have very little to no dips.

Body Fat Levels

Where you are genetically pre-disposed to holding body fat will make a huge impact on how noticeable your hip dips are. As much as it's a bummer, you can never full beat your genetics.

Some females might have the bone framework of wider & higher hips and have a higher amount of body fat around their glutes and thighs. These type of body will certainly look like they don't have any hip dips at all because their body fat really covers and fills in their dip.

But, some females can can stay relatively lean, while having body fat that isn't equally dispersed as well, like the 'muffin top' - a band simply over the hips and below the tummy or, the 'saddle bags' - a band of fat that sits on top of the upper legs and also just under the glutes.

It's totally normal as well as healthy and balanced to have body fat in these locations, yet if you have larger & higher hips, it will make your hip dips look more obvious - see photo.

How To Get Rid Of Hip Dips

Firstly, let’s make one thing crystal clear: you can never totally eliminate your hip dips... and that's ok!

No amount of lifting can change your bones.

That being said, there are some things we can do to minimize the look of the hip dips, as well as emphasize rounder and fuller hips. 

But before we get into that, there's a ton of misinformation out there from the fitness guru’s who’ll have you doing some funky movements that might make your muscle burn. But if you’re lucky it really won’t do much else. If you’re unlucky, it could cause some hip and lower back pain/issues.

What To Avoid

You’ll often hear people saying that you should target one of the main muscles of the hips, the Tensor Fasciae Latae or 'TFL' for short.

The pelvis and muscles of the hip location are intricate. So before you go off in your pursuit of hip dip damage, listen up!

Don't Target The TFL!

This little muscle of the hip rests right in the space of the hip dip, leading you to believe that if you target this muscle with workouts that will make it grow, you'll be able 'fill in' the hip dip and make your hips look smoother and rounder.

Seems rational.

Yet there's one little issue with this... the TFL is not a muscular tissue that you can target as well as 'grow'. Because it's main function is just to stabilise the hips to make sure that you can do points like stroll, squat and also jump.

I indicate, you never hear bodybuilders discuss a huge, jacked TFL, do you?

Nope.

But, you do hear physiotherapists talk about it to clients in rehab as a result of injuries or disorder.

Believe me, if you just smash your TFL with all kind of insane isolation workouts throughout every gym session you will 1) be drastically let down when you get ZERO results and 2) most likely simply aggravate the muscle mass so much that you end up with hip pain or some sort of overuse injury.

So what's the answer?

Go For General Glute Development 

What we want to do is target the glutes from ALL angles and also develop the entire glute and hip area. This will not only build a rounder, more lifted set of glutes, but increase the likelihood of reducing more pronounced hip dips.

The king of glute exercises that you absolutely should make a staple in your regimen is the HIP THRUST.

It’s actually been shown time and time again to be the most exceptional exercise for glute growth and strength.

It largely strikes the gluteus maximus which is the biggest of the 3 butt muscles, but will give you a solid amount of glute medius work as well.

For the glute med. we’re going to want to perform a lot of banded abduction work.

Lifting weights will tone you up, make you solid and also give you that outstanding hourglass form you desire.

But even with a perfect workout program there’s only so much you can do with exercise alone...

You Can’t Out-Lift A Garbage Diet!

Doing all the right exercises will be enough to give you some initial progress, but if your diet is garbage you’re going to have trouble achieving your maximum potential.

So if you wish to give on your own the very best opportunity at reducing the look of your hip dips, you have actually reached shed any excess body fat in those 'problem areas' (“muffin top”) ... and the only way to genuinely do that is by tidying up your diet regimen!

So ditch the refined & packaged foods, fast food, alcohol and also sugar. Change them with nutrient-dense whole foods, lots of protein and lots of water.

Remember, you can’t spot reduce body fat. So wherever you're genetically predisposed to hold the majority of your body fat, will usually take the longest to remove fat from.

One Final Thought

There is definitely nothing wrong with wishing to look your best.

However please remember that having hip dips is100% normal.

I have hip dips. So do millions of other women.

It doesn’t mean you’re fat, have poor genetics or are worth any less.

As opposed to hating on them, why not embrace them? They are what make you, YOU.

Nit-picking at body parts will never make you happy, so try to take a look at them from a different perspective.

Did you understand that larger hips are seen as extremely appealing to a lot of people? Celebrate that!

A lot of people would be jealous of your curvy hip! As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.

I guess what we’re trying to say is, with or without hip dips you are stunning and gorgeous just the way you are!