Fencing Strength
The single leg hip hinge is one of the most neglected movements in fencing strength and conditioning. It also happens to be one of the most important — directly building the balance, mobility, and posterior chain strength that translate into more powerful lunges on the strip.
Why Fencers Skip It
Most fencers gravitate toward bilateral movements — squats, deadlifts, leg presses. These have their place, but fencing is a unilateral sport. Every lunge, every recovery, every advance and retreat is driven primarily by one leg at a time. Training in ways that develop each leg independently is essential for both performance and injury prevention.
How to Teach the Hip Hinge Progressively
Step 1: Hip Airplanes (30-Second Holds)
Begin with hip airplanes held for 30 seconds each side. The goal here is not speed — it is learning what the bottom range of motion actually feels like. Most athletes have never spent meaningful time in a loaded hip hinge position, and this drill forces the kind of slow, deliberate awareness that makes every subsequent movement cleaner.
Step 2: Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts with Three-Second Holds
Once the range of motion is established, add the upward phase. Single leg RDLs with a three-second pause at the bottom teach control through the full movement pattern. Adding a small amount of load at this stage prepares the body for the main workout without compromising technique.
Step 3: Contrast Sets — Single Leg RDL paired with Single Leg Med Ball Slams
The main workout pairs single leg Romanian deadlifts with single leg med ball slams for three contrast sets. This combination develops two things simultaneously: the ability to move load through the hip under control, and the ability to move at high speed through the same range of motion.
The pairing matters. The slow loaded movement and the fast explosive one reinforce each other — the strength feeds the power, and the power teaches the body to express that strength quickly.
What These Movements Target
The single leg hip hinge pattern develops the entire posterior chain, with particular emphasis on:
- Glute medius — critical for lateral stability and controlling lunge depth
- Hamstrings — the primary decelerator in footwork and the engine of powerful recoveries
- Foot complex — the foundation of balance on the piste
Neglecting this chain means relying on the quads and hip flexors to do work they were never designed to do alone. Over time, that imbalance becomes a performance ceiling and an injury risk.
The Bottom Line
If balance is breaking down under fatigue, lunges are losing power late in a tournament, or footwork feels unstable on the back foot — the hip hinge pattern is where to look. It is not a glamorous exercise. It does not look impressive in a highlight reel. But it is one of the most direct paths between strength training and better fencing.
Related: Three Squat Progressions Every Fencer Should Know — the squat and hip hinge are the two foundational lower body patterns every fencer’s training should be built around.
The Fencing Strength 12-week fencing training programs include the hip hinge, squat, and every other fundamental movement pattern — structured and progressed over three months so nothing is skipped and nothing is guesswork.