Hips first

The hip is where sitting shows up first and most usefully. These four movements cover the directions a chair doesn’t let you visit.

The couch stretch, done properly

Kneel with one shin against a wall or sofa, back foot up, front foot planted. Now the part everyone skips: tuck your pelvis under, as if starting a crunch, and squeeze the glute on the kneeling side. Without that tuck you’re just arching your lower back and calling it a hip stretch.

Thirty to sixty seconds a side. It should feel like the front of the hip and thigh, never like the lower back.

The 90/90

Sit on the floor, front leg bent at ninety degrees in front of you, back leg bent at ninety degrees to the side. Sit tall. Then rotate to the other side without using your hands, letting your knees sweep across the floor.

This is the rotation your hip almost never does, and it’s the one that makes walking feel easier. Five slow rotations each way.

Glute bridges

Lie on your back, feet flat, and drive your hips up by squeezing your glutes rather than arching your back. Pause at the top for two seconds. Fifteen reps.

The pause matters. Without it you’re bouncing, and the muscles you’re trying to remind are the ones that skip the work.

Deep squat hold

Sit into the deepest squat you can hold, heels down if possible, and hold onto something in front of you if you need to. Thirty seconds, breathing normally. If your heels lift, put a book under them - that’s not cheating, it’s how you get to do the movement at all.

Order and frequency

Couch stretch, 90/90, bridges, squat hold. Once a day if you can, three times a week if you can’t. Frequency beats duration here by a wide margin.