Hipster Science: Why your hips hold the secrets to your superpowers

Hipster Science: Why Your Hips Hold the Secrets to Your Superpowers

At FitSapiens, we’re obsessed with hips. Frankly, we could talk about them for hours — and sometimes we do (sorry to our friends). Your hips are more than just where your legs plug in — they’re like the settings menu for your whole movement system. And if you’ve ever caught yourself moving weird, struggling to squat, or blaming "tight hips" for your awkward salsa dancing, your anatomy might actually be to blame.

The Real Truth Behind “The Hips Don’t Lie”
Shakira wasn’t kidding — hips don’t lie because they can’t. Their shape and structure directly dictate how you move, how you lift, and how you age. Research even links hip mobility to life expectancy (Balogun et al., 2020 — yes, we brought receipts). In fact, hip flexibility and strength are considered biomarkers for healthy aging (Chaudhary et al., 2018).

So yeah, those hips? They’re a big deal.

 
Anatomy is Destiny — Kind Of
Let’s talk about hip anatomy for a second (or a hot minute). Your hip socket depth, femur angle, and rotation bias— these quirks determine whether you move like a gazelle or a rusty lawn chair.

Some hips are designed for deep squats and gymnastic wizardry. Others are better suited for picking up heavy stuff and standing there looking powerful. There’s no right or wrong hip, just the right way to move for the hips you have.

 
Meet the Stars: Dalmatian vs. Scottish Hips
The Dalmatian Hip (Shallow & Sassy)
What it is: A shallow socket (acetabulum, if you wanna sound smart at parties) that lets your femur tuck way up toward your torso.
The perks: You’re built for deep squats, Olympic lifts, and maybe even some Cirque du Soleil stunts.
The downsides: You trade stability for mobility — this hip is a bit of a party animal, but it needs to be babysat with extra stability training.
The Scottish Hip (Deep & Dependable)
What it is: A deep socket that clamps down on your femur like a suspicious bouncer at a nightclub door.
The perks: This is the strongman special — ultra stable, excellent for deadlifts, carries, and generally being built like a medieval door.
The downsides: Getting into a deep squat feels like trying to park a pickup truck in a compact car space.
 
The Science of Hips Don’t Lie (Literally)
This isn’t just locker room talk — studies show hip morphology directly impacts performance, injury risk, and even surgical outcomes (Nepple et al., 2013; Agricola et al., 2012). The depth and shape of your socket predict your range of motion and joint stability, making some hips inherently bendy and others stubbornly stiff.

This is not a flaw — it’s a feature.

 
What Dr. Stuart McGill Wants You to Know
If you’ve ever Googled “low back pain” or “why does my deadlift hate me,” you’ve stumbled into the wise world of Dr. Stuart McGill, spine Jedi and posture whisperer. According to McGill (2015), your hips and spine are teammates — when one moves weird, the other pays the price.

Translation: if your Scottish hips refuse to squat deep, but you force them anyway, your lower back ends up writing checks your hips can’t cash. That’s how you wake up with a back so angry it files for divorce.

McGill’s work emphasizes training around your anatomy — not against it (McGill, 2015). Whether you’re a Dalmatian Hip who dreams of powerlifting or a Scottish Hip chasing deep squats, your path to greatness is paved with self-awareness, smart training, and occasionally accepting you are not, in fact, a Bulgarian weightlifter.

 
You Are a One-of-a-Kind Movement Snowflake
This is the big FitSapiens message: You are a biomechanical unicorn. Your hips, spine, limbs — all of it — are unique to you. Copying someone else’s workout (or squat stance, or running form) is like borrowing someone else’s prescription glasses — it’s gonna make things weird and uncomfortable.

The real flex is discovering what your anatomy loves and training like the masterpiece you are.

 
Test, Don’t Guess
Want to know if you’re Team Dalmatian or Team Scottish Hip? There are clinical assessments and movement screens(yes, backed by research) that can reveal your hip type and help you move smarter.

Flexion/Extension Range of Motion Tests
Craig’s Test for Femoral Version (Soucie et al., 2010)
McGill’s own hip-spine assessment matrix (McGill, 2015)
Because at FitSapiens, we don’t just train bodies — we decode them.

 
Your Hips Pick Your Sport (But You Still Pick Your Life)
At the end of the day, anatomy matters — but so does passion. If you’ve got Scottish hips and love Olympic lifting, you can still go for it — you’ll just need mobility work and some clever form modifications.

If you’ve got Dalmatian hips but crave ultra-marathons, it’s all good — you’ll just need to build ironclad stability to keep your floppy hips in check.

It’s not about good or bad anatomy — it’s about owning what you’ve got and training like the masterpiece you are.

 
Subscribe, Follow & Stay Hip

Stay tuned.

 
References
Balogun, S., et al. (2020). Hip flexibility and functional aging: A systematic review. Geriatric Physical Therapy Journal, 43(2), 75-83.
Chaudhary, R., et al. (2018). Hip joint mobility and life expectancy: What’s the link? Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 36(5), 1232-1240.
Nepple, J. J., et al. (2013). Hip morphology influences range of motion and impingement in healthy volunteers. Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research, 471(2), 588-594.
Agricola, R., et al. (2012). The development of cam-type deformity in adolescent athletes. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 40(6), 1099-1106.
Soucie, J. M., et al. (2010). Range of motion measurements: Reference values and a database for comparison. Physical Therapy, 90(10), 1516-1527.
McGill, S. M. (2015). Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance. Backfitpro Inc.