Exercise For Faster Hip Rotation Speed

I responded to this question the other day:

My chosen career requires a quick, powerful physical movement done alternately with each hand. I need to create an explosion of speed through just a few inches. The movement starts with a resistance of about 10 lbs, and the resistance grows geometrically through the movement of just a few inches. I need an instantaneous explosion of speed through that resistance. Will the training help me to move quickly through a high resistance?

Yes, I would like to see a short video if you are able to provide one as it would enable me to gain a clearer understanding of what your are looking to improve. I would assume for the moment that you are looking to better develop your martial arts skills and especially your hand speed. As you probably know better than most, a lot of the upper body speed and power comes from a strong and quick core and primarily the rotation around your hips.

Developing faster hip rotation speed has been typically accomplished by simply engaging in the very same activity that you are looking to improve, with perhaps more effort than normal. With that however, comes a loss of control in the very technique you want to develop so, bad habits can quickly be learned.

Two muscle groups come to mind when I think of hip rotation: external hip rotators and internal hip rotators. I have yet to see any really good exercise one can engage in at the gym that specifically targets these two muscle groups. However, through working with the resistance band for the past 15+ years and paying close attention to inquiries like yours, I have been able to develop exercises that engages these two muscle groups directly. The good news is that we show one of them on our site for the external hip rotators here:

http://www.athleticquickness.com/baseball-speed

and here:

Hip rotation exercise

The not so good news is that at the time the MMA program was written, this exercise was not included, although you do have it available to you now. The other exercise is for the internal hip rotators and this can be done by simply referring to the exercise above and either place the band on the opposite leg and do the exercise, or, keep it on the same leg shown in the picture but face the opposite direction.

Developing quick and strong hip rotators is foundational for all the sports involving rackets, clubs, and bats where the arms are used extensively, so I would think the same should apply to your situation. Without speculating any further on what exactly you are looking for, I will leave my answer as is for now.

All the best.
Dr. Larry Van Such