“Hip dips,” “violin hips,” “hip divots.” Whatever you choose to call them, those little indentations you may have noticed on the lower half of your body sure are gaining attention these days. Social media is divided into two camps on the topic: on one hand, you’ll see Instagram posts of women celebrating the look of the inward curve on the tops of their legs, right under their hip bones. At the same time, you can’t miss the claims that hip dips are weird lumps of fat that must be gotten rid of ASAP. So what are hip dips, and what do they mean? Here’s everything you need to know.
What are hip dips?
Essentially, every woman has hip dip—they’re a normal part of our body structure. Whether you can see them or not has to do with how high your hips are, and how wide they are. “Hip dips are really just the shape of your pelvis,” says Holly Roser, a certified personal trainer and certified sports nutritionist in New York City and San Francisco. “They are a normal part of your body. You may notice the shape of your hips specifically because, as women, we tend to store fat on our hips. It can be hard to look and tell the difference between muscle and fat sometimes. But when you see the ‘dip’ in your hip dips, what you’re looking at is actually your bones.” https://www.tiktok.com/@ris.writes/video/6894299556419276038?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1 The “lump” you see on each side of a hip dip may be your gluteus medius muscle, or it may be, again, some normal body fat you happen to store on your hips. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to genetics. Whether your hip dips are pretty pronounced or barely visible has to do with the shape you were born with.
Does exercise cause hip dips?
Hip dips are not caused by a lack of exercise, or by exercising too much. “You don’t want to overtrain your hip area, because you can build up muscle there that might make your hips look bigger, if that’s not your goal,” Roser notes. “But hip dips themselves just happen—you don’t make them happen through physical activity.”
Hip dips are not a bad thing
Experts suggest letting any stress over your hip dips go as soon as possible. “You can try to change your body fat percentage, but then you might find something else about your body you’re going to want to change,” says Roser. “Instead of trying to be perfect, try to love who you are.”
Can you change the appearance of your hip dips?
Exercise will not get rid of the hip dips you were born and blessed with. “You can possibly make your hip dips less noticeable by building the muscle up in your hips, however,” says Roser. “The TFL (tensor fascia latae) is a hip muscle you can grow. Again, you don’t want to overtrain this area of your body.” You can, however, tone your lower body as a whole, meaning your hips, legs, and glutes can look sleeker. Try the following exercises if that’s your goal, doing a modest 3 sets of 6 apiece.
Side squats
Seated mini band abduction
Cable hip abduction
Next up: Hip Swivels to Relieve Hip Tightness
Sources
Holly Roser, certified personal trainer and certified sports nutritionist in New York City and San Francisco
