If, like us, you’ve ever stared in confusion at a traditional body shape chart (Am I a pear? A banana? Why am I comparing my body shape to fruit again?), you know the frustration and uncertainty that can come with trying to figure out your body type define. That’s why we’re so on board with the latest body diversity celebrations exploding on social media; They remind us that every body is different and some (perhaps most) cannot be categorized, and that’s a good thing.The latest feature that people are embracing and showing off? Something that, contrary to what the name might suggest, isn’t a trendy new tortilla dip: hip dips.
hip dips
Also called “fiddle hips,” hip dips refer to the slight indentation some people have where their hips meet their thighs.
A quick scroll through the hashtag hipdip reveals thousands of images of people loudly and proudly showing off their dips. A lot of them talk about how they used to feel self-conscious about those hip dips. However, thanks to social media, we’re finally celebrating the obvious: all bodies, in their weird and wonderful glory, are worth celebrating, and we’re all in it together. Can we get an amen?!
Many of us at Byrdie HQ feel personally connected to this latest trend. We were curious as to how exactly a “hip dip” occurs and why some women have it and others don’t. We selected two personal trainers ahead of time to explain exactly what hip dips are and why some people have them.
Why do some people have “hip dips” and others don’t?
Why do some have it and some don’t? “Although many people believe that hip dips are a sign of whether or not you are healthy, this is not the case,” says NYC-based trainer and Glute Recruit founder Jessica Mazzucco. “Hip dips are solely caused by genetics and the shape of your pelvis. When someone has hip dips, it means that the hip bone is higher than the thigh bone, which causes muscle and fat to curve inward.”
Our bodies are what they are. We can’t choose what template we get, but we can choose how we maximize the template we have through diet, exercise, general wellness, and more importantly, how we accept and love our bodies. The fact is that if you have faith, most people won’t even notice the areas of our body that we are insecure about. You will only notice the beauty that comes with confidence.
Are “hip dips” normal?
Hip dips are perfectly normal and very common. No matter how short, lean, tall, muscular or fluffy my body gets, I will always have “hip dips” due to the structure of my frame (dominant hip flexors and external quads). Many women who have these “hip dips” also tend to have “saddle bags,” which are fat pockets just below the “hip dip,” at the back of our legs.
Can hip dips be treated?
“Hip dips are genetic, so there’s no way to spot treat them if you’re trying to lose weight in that area of the body,” Mazzucco says. “Certain exercises, like glute bridges and lunges, reduce their appearance, but it’s impossible to get rid of them completely. That being said, making efforts to change a genetic trait of your body is futile because genetics are immutable.”
So we can minimize the appearance of a “hip dip” by avoiding exercises that work our quadriceps and hip flexors and we can focus solely on exercises that work our back (which consequently also reduces the appearance of the saddlebag by stretching the skin in that area). But once you realize what a “hip dip” is, you might not really want to get rid of it. It’s a beautiful thing that gives extra shape to your muscles.
I feel it shows power and strength. If you’re unsure about the layer of fat covering the “hip dip,” the only way to reduce that layer is to consume fewer calories than we consume each day. In other words, choose your diet, if you want to burn fat. We can not recognize reduce. Just remember, no matter how thin that layer gets, the “hip dip will still be there, because that’s just the beautiful structure that our own bodies have.