It’s all in the Hips: (hips are the engine)

I’ve spent years chasing strength, power, and resilience. I’ve lifted giant stones, fought in the cage, trained in the mountains, and pushed my body far past its limits! But one of the most humbling lessons I’ve learned: When the hips stop sharing load correctly, everything else starts to fail.

In the gym, on the mat, or on the field, we see this breakdown everywhere. It shows up as a nagging ache in the lower back, a sharp pinch in the glute, or a dull throb on the outside of the hip. Stiff hips decrease athletic performance and mobility. We give these things fancy clinical names, but they are all symptoms of one root problem: The hip has abdicated its throne.

When the hip stops doing its job, movement becomes an act of survival instead of an expression of power. What I’ve found through training, recovery, and rebuilding after injury is that restoring natural hip mechanics doesn’t start with more therapy. It starts with position.

Part 1: The Triple Threat of Hip Dysfunction

To fix the problem, we have to understand the three ways the hip typically breaks down. These aren't separate issues; they are different ways your body tries to compensate when the "Big Engine" of the glute stops firing.

The term "glute amnesia" makes it sound like the muscle is dead. It’s not. It’s just been excluded from the pathway. Your nervous system is the ultimate protector. If your pelvis is out of alignment or your feet aren’t grounded, your brain stops trusting the glutes to produce force. It’s like a circuit breaker, if the wiring is frayed, the brain won't send the high-voltage signal to the glutes because it knows the structure can’t handle the torque.

When this happens, you experience a "delayed fuse." You go to hinge or squat, and for a split second, the glute does nothing. In that millisecond, the force has to go somewhere. Usually, it leaks into your lower back or your hamstrings. This is why so many people have "tight hamstrings" that never get better with stretching, the hamstrings are exhausted from doing the glute’s job.

The piriformis is a small, deep muscle meant to be a "helper"—a fine-tuner for rotation. It is not meant to be a primary stabilizer. But when the glutes aren't showing up for work, the piriformis is forced to step in and hold the hip joint together.

It tightens, it guards, and eventually, it starts to compress the sciatic nerve. This then leads to “sciatica”. People spend years sitting on lacrosse balls trying to "release" the piriformis, but the pain always returns. Why? Because you’re asking a protector to relax while the actual threat (instability) remains.

Tendons are cables, not engines. They are designed to transmit force, not absorb it. Gluteal tendinopathy happens when the force that should be carried by the big, meaty glute muscles gets dumped onto the thin tendons on the outside of the hip. Think of it like a rope being pulled over a sharp rock. Over time, that rope starts to fray. You feel this as deep, aching pain on the outer hip, especially when walking uphill or lying on your side at night. This isn't an "overuse" injury; it’s a misuse injury. The load has no home, so it lives in the tendon until the tissue begins to fail.

Part 2: Why Traditional Solutions Fail

The standard approach to these three issues is usually a mix of "rest, ice, and isolation exercises." You’re told to do "clamshells" with a rubber band or "bird-dogs" on the floor. While these aren't inherently bad, they miss the point. The body doesn't move in isolation. It moves as a kinetic chain. A healthy hip requires three things to happen at the exact same time:

1. The Foot must be solid on the ground.

2. The Femur must be centered in the socket.

3. The Pelvis must be stacked over the base of support.

If you are doing isolation exercises but your joint isn't centered and your foot isn't grounded, you’re just building "strength" on top of a broken foundation. You might get a better "burn" in the muscle, but the moment you go to lift a stone or run a trail, the old compensations will come screaming back.

The real root issue is Poor Load Sharing. To fix it, we have to stop trying to "activate" muscles and start restoring the environment where those muscles must work.

Part 3: The Solution — The Hunkerin Stool

This is why I invented the Hunkerin Stool. We were built to rest in a deep squat. For thousands of years, this was the primal human rest position. In a deep squat, the spine lengthens, the pelvis finds neutral, and the hips are forced into a position of maximum stability. But in the modern world, we sit in chairs that suspend us, causing our hip capsules to tighten and our glutes to go slack.

The Hunkerin Stool is designed to bridge the gap between our modern lifestyle and our biological design. It isn't just a place to sit; it’s a mechanical reset for the human engine.

• It Fixes Activation (Centering the Joint):When you settle into the Hunkerin position, the head of the femur is driven deep into the center of the hip socket. This "centers" the joint. The moment the joint is centered, the nervous system feels safe. It flips the "circuit breaker" back on, allowing the glutes to engage reflexively. You don’t have to think about it; it just happens.

• It Silences the Piriformis (Providing Stability): The Hunkerin Stool places the pelvis in a "stacked" position over the feet. This creates a direct, vertical load path. Because the stool provides a base of support, the piriformis no longer has to guard the joint. It finally gets the signal that it can stand down. This is the only way to get a permanent "release" of that deep hip tension.

• It Heals Tendinopathy (Isometric Loading):Tendons don't heal with rest; they heal with load. The Hunkerin position provides a gentle, constant isometric load to the gluteal tendons at a long muscle length. This is the gold standard for tendon rehab. It teaches the tissue how to handle tension again without the "friction" of repetitive, poorly aligned movement.

Part 4: Reclaiming Your Foundation

When you use the Hunkerin Stool, you are re-routing the body’s energy. You are teaching the force to flow correctly: Foot > Hip > Glute > Core.

I feel it directly in my own training. When I spend time in the Hunkerin position before a workout, my right glute (my "problem" side) wakes up. My hinges become powerful instead of stressful. My low back stops absorbing the impact of my movement. We don't achieve strength by forcing the body into submission. We achieve it by restoring the truth of how we were designed to move.

The Hunkerin Stool doesn't "fix" you. It simply restores the conditions where your body can fix itself. It centers the hip, reconnects the foot, and quiets the protective tension that has been holding you back.

If you are tired of chasing symptoms, if you are done "releasing" your piriformis and "stretching" your hamstrings with no results, it’s time to look at your foundation.

When the hips carry force the way they were designed to:

• Strength returns.

• Pain recedes.

• Movement becomes honest again.

Turn back on your hips and start your engine! Get off the chair and get into the proper resting position. It’s time to Hunker Down⚡️