Why You’re Hip Isn’t Getting Stronger (Even Though You’re Working Out Consistently)

If you have hip impingement or a labral tear and feel like you’ve been doing all the right things—working out regularly, doing your glute exercises, staying consistent—but you’re still not getting stronger… you’re not alone.

And more importantly? You’re not doing anything wrong, but there is a reason you’re stuck. And your strategy might be to blame.

The truth is, if your workouts feel random, your results will be random too. So having a clear strategy to make progress becomes essential.

Let’s talk about how to get there.

3 Reasons You’re Hip Isn’t Getting Stronger

1. You haven’t increased your weights in months/years

Your body only changes when you give it a reason to. This is called adaptation.

In order to start effectively building strength, it requires challenging your body in a zone where progress will actually happen. That means once things start to feel a little easy, it’s probably time to increase your weights, increase the reps or maybe even change up the exercise. 

If you keep doing the exact same workout over and over again, your body has zero reason to get stronger.

So what does it do instead? It maintains. Which is fine, but certainly won’t be enough to improve your hip stability enough to see a long-term change in pain. And this is especially important if you are someone who’s trying to manage your hip conservatively and avoid surgery.

So in short, if you’ve been doing the same glute workouts for months or using the same weights every time, it makes sense that you’re not seeing progress.

It’s time to challenge your body in a way that actually asks it is change.

2. Random Workouts = Random Results

This is one of the biggest patterns I see in my clients who are active but not following a progressive program. 

Random workouts. 

This usually looks something like: See how you’re feeling, open up the Pelaton app, pick a workout based on your mood, and then do that a few times each week.

Is this the worst thing in the world? Absolutely not. It keeps you moving, it keeps you consistent, and you probably are enjoying it. But here’s the problem:

There’s no structure. No progression. No strategy.

And without that, your body doesn’t know what it’s working toward. So progress ends up being slow, inconsistent or completely stalls. 

Too much variety might feel productive but it actually may be exactly what’s holding you back.

Especially in the case of impingement and labral tears, we want to see consistent progressive overload so your hip is strong, stable and able to handle the demands of life.

3. Not taking the time to build solid movement patterns first

I hear this all the time: “I don’t understand, I’m doing glute exercises constantly. Why does my hip still feel unstable and hurt?”

For most of these clients, when I have them demonstrate a movement (like a deadlift), they are going through the motions but not actually feeling anything happen. So sure, they’ve been doing glute exercises, but they never have actually felt their glutes working.

I find the majority of my clients with hip impingement and labral tears have a significantly difficult time finding their glutes and deep hip stabilizers. In fact, this is a huge contributing factor to why these problems happen in the first place.

So if we can back up, build solid movement foundations first, the strength will come easier. 

What Your Body Actually Needs to Get Stronger

If you want real strength gains—especially after hip pain or injury—you need two things:

1. Structure

2. Progression

Let’s break it down.

Step 1: Build a Structured Program (Not Just Random Workouts)

Instead of asking: “What workout should I do today?”

We shift to: “What is my program building toward?”

That means:

• Knowing your goal (pain-free dancing, running, daily movement, etc.)

• Identifying what muscles need to be stronger

• Training movements that match your goal

For example: If your goal is to carry a laundry basket upstairs without pain, your program should include:

• Squatting patterns

• Step-ups

• Loaded movements

If your goal is to run a 5K, your program should include things like:

• Single leg movements

• Plyometrics

You don’t need any more random exercises that may or may not translate to real life.

Step 2: Focus on These 3 Foundational Movements

You don’t need 50 exercises.

In fact, more isn’t better here.

What you do need is consistency in the right movement patterns. Here are the 3 main movements that every person with hip pain needs to eventually incorporate into their routine:

1. Squat variations

2. Hinge/deadlift variations

3. Single-leg or split stance movements

These are your foundation and everything else builds off of these.

Step 3: Stop Overcomplicating It

You don’t need a brand new program every week. In fact, that’s part of the problem.

If you’re constantly switching exercises:

• You can’t measure progress

• You can’t build strength efficiently

• You stay stuck in “starting over” mode

Instead, keep your exercises consistent for a few weeks. Then progress within them.

Step 4: Give Your Body a Reason to Adapt

This is where everything changes.

If you want to get stronger, you have to progress something: Weight, Reps, Sets, Tempo etc.

Even small changes matter.

Examples could be:

• Slowing down your squat and adding a pause at the bottom

• Increasing reps from 10 → 12

• Moving from double-leg → single-leg

• Adding 10 lbs

No heavier weights? No problem.

You still have options.

How to Know When It’s Time to Progress

This is one of the simplest (and most powerful) tools you can use: Reps in reserve

After a set, ask yourself: “How many more reps could I have done?”

• If the answer is 10+ → too easy

• If the answer is 0 (complete failure) → too hard

• If the answer is 2–3 reps left → perfect

This is your sweet spot for building strength. And once that weight starts to feel easier? That’s your sign to progress.

If You’re Stuck in Hip Pain, This Is Your Sign

If you’ve been:

• Working out consistently

• Doing all the “right” exercises

• Still dealing with weakness or lingering pain

It’s not a motivation problem, it’s a programming problem.

If you’re tired of guessing your workouts, If your hip still doesn’t feel as strong or stable as it should, and if you want a clear, structured plan that actually moves you forward…

That’s exactly what we’re here for.

Book a discovery call and let’s map out your next step.

Because you don’t need more workouts, you need the right plan.