Can You Get Rid of Hip Dips With Exercise?

You cannot get rid of hip dips with exercise in the sense of erasing them, because they come mainly from your pelvis and thigh bone, but building the muscles around the hip can round out the area for some people. The honest framing is to train for strength and shape and treat any change in the dip as a bonus. A free consultation can help set expectations around your own build.

What a hip dip actually is

A hip dip, sometimes called a violin hip, is an indentation on the outer upper thigh, just below the hip bone. It sits where the skin is anchored down along the top of the thigh bone, at a bump called the greater trochanter. How wide your pelvis is, how high that bone sits, and how far apart the hip bone and thigh bone are all decide how deep the dent looks.

None of this is a fitness failure or a sign of poor health. It is anatomy, like the shape of your knees, and it shows up in lean and heavier bodies alike.

What training can change, and what it cannot

Question	Short answer
Can exercise change the bone?	No
Can it add muscle above and below the dip?	Yes, for many people
Can it fill the dip completely?	Usually not
Can fat loss change it?	Sometimes, and not always in the direction people hope
Can spot reduction help?	No

The muscles that matter are the gluteus medius and minimus on the side of the hip, and the upper part of the gluteus maximus behind it. When they grow, the outline of the hip can look rounder, and the indentation can read as shallower. Muscle changes depend on how your own muscle attaches, so two people doing the same work can look different. Our page on building glutes covers the larger picture of glute training, and this page focuses on the side of the hip.

Exercises that target the side of the hip

Choose a handful and do them consistently:

1. Cable or banded hip abduction, standing, 3 sets of 12 to 15 per side.
2. Side-lying leg raise with a slight forward tilt of the toes, 3 sets of 15 per side.
3. Lateral step with a band above the knees, 3 sets of 10 steps per side.
4. Single-leg hip thrust or glute bridge, 3 sets of 8 to 12 per side.
5. Split squat and step-up with a slight lean forward, 3 sets of 8 to 10 per leg.
6. Curtsy lunge, 2 or 3 sets of 8 per side.

Train these two or three times a week and add resistance slowly. Muscle growth responds to getting stronger, so make the last few reps hard and log your weights. Check that you feel the work in the hip and glutes, not the lower back.

What fat loss does to the area

Fat distribution is partly set by genes and hormones. In some people, the fat on the sides of the hips is what makes the dip less visible, so losing weight can make it more noticeable. In others, little changes. There is no universal rule, and no way to predict it for yourself in advance.

That matters if the dip is the main reason you are dieting. Decide whether weight loss is right for your health first, and if it is, expect the dip to follow its own course. A body composition scan can show how much muscle you carry in each leg compared with the other side, as in the segmental lean analysis guide.

Setting a goal that you can meet

A target of “no hip dips” is one you cannot control. A better set of goals:

• Add weight to your hip thrust and split squat over the next 12 weeks.
• Take photos from the same angle in the same light every four weeks.
• Notice posture, walking and stair strength, which usually improve first.
• Keep healthy ranges for body fat in view, as the body fat by age page outlines, rather than aiming lower for looks.

If you notice sudden changes in hip shape, pain, or one hip that differs sharply from the other, ask a physician or physical therapist, since those are different matters.

Training privately in Carmel

Many people feel awkward doing hip and glute work in front of others. At FlexWerk in Carmel, sessions take place in a private suite with a cable system, dumbbells and a rack, and the free consultation includes an InBody scan. Each coach sets their own format, so ask about timing when you book. Pick two hip and glute sessions to start, write down your starting weights, and judge the first month by strength, not by the mirror.