Shoulders · Bodyweight
External Rotation Hip - Lateral Rotation
How to do the external rotation hip - lateral rotation, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Reps
- Movement
- Rotation
- Mechanic
- Isolation
How to do it
Sit or lie with your hip and knee bent. Keeping the knee in place, rotate your lower leg inward so the thigh turns outward at the hip. Hold the end position briefly, then return with control and repeat on each side.
- 1Feel the deep muscles around your hip turn the thigh outward
- 2Keep the motion coming from the hip, not the knee
- 3Move slowly through a comfortable, pain-free range
Common mistakes
- Do not twist at the knee to create the rotation
- Avoid letting your pelvis roll to cheat the range
- Do not force past a comfortable end point
Muscles worked
The external rotation hip - lateral rotation mainly works the external rotators, with the glutes assisting.
- External RotatorsPrimary
- GlutesSupport
Kovo programs the external rotation hip - lateral rotation for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More hips & adductors exercises
- How to do the butterfly stretch
- How to do the external rotation
- How to do the cable hip adduction
- How to do the internal rotation
- How to do the cobra pose
- How to do the core scrunch
Last reviewed June 2026.