Hip dips are one of the most searched body-related topics online, and also one of the most misunderstood. If you are wondering how to get rid of hip dips, this guide gives you an honest answer: how much you can change them, what exercises actually help, and what you cannot change through exercise or diet alone. The question of how to get rid of hip dips is worth answering carefully, because much of what circulates online overpromises what’s actually achievable.
What Hip Dips Actually Are
Hip dips are the inward curves that appear on the outer thigh just below the hip bone. They occur because of the natural distance between the ilium (the upper part of the pelvis) and the greater trochanter of the femur (the top of the thigh bone). When that distance is relatively large, the soft tissue between those two bony points does not fully fill in, creating the inward dip that many people notice.
This means hip dips are primarily structural. They are determined by the shape and proportions of your pelvis and femur, which are set by genetics. No exercise eliminates bone structure, and no amount of weight loss or gain directly targets fat in this specific location in a predictable way.
That said, building muscle in the surrounding areas and adjusting overall body composition can meaningfully reduce how noticeable hip dips are, and for many people that is enough of a change to feel genuinely satisfied with their appearance.
What You Can and Cannot Change
What exercise can change:
- The size and shape of the gluteus medius, which sits directly over the hip dip area and can visually fill in the indentation when sufficiently developed
- The size of the gluteus maximus, which adds fullness to the overall hip and glute region
- The tensor fasciae latae (TFL), a small muscle on the outer hip that contributes to the fullness of the upper thigh area
- Overall body composition, which affects how much fat is distributed around the hips and thighs
What exercise cannot change:
- The width of your pelvis
- The position of your hip bones
- The angle and length of your femur
- The depth of the hip dip caused by the structural gap between those bones
Understanding this distinction is important before committing to any workout program designed to address hip dips, since results will vary significantly between individuals based entirely on their underlying bone structure.
How to Get Rid of Hip Dips Through Exercise
Building the gluteus medius is the most targeted approach. This muscle sits above and to the side of the gluteus maximus, precisely in the area where hip dips are most visible, and developing it through consistent strength training is the most direct way to add muscle volume over the indentation.
The most effective exercises for the gluteus medius:
Side-lying hip abductions. Lie on your side with your legs stacked, then lift the top leg toward the ceiling, keeping it straight, and lower it with control. This isolates the gluteus medius directly. Adding an ankle weight increases the challenge as you progress.
Banded side walks (monster walks). Place a resistance band just above your knees and walk laterally in a half-squat position, maintaining tension on the band throughout the movement. This activates the gluteus medius in a functional, compound way.
Clamshells. Lie on your side with hips stacked and knees bent at roughly 45 degrees, then open and close the top knee like a clamshell while keeping your feet together. Adding a loop resistance band above the knees increases difficulty as you build strength.
Single-leg glute bridges. Lie on your back, bend one knee, extend the other leg, then drive through the planted heel to lift your hips. Single-leg variations recruit the gluteus medius more significantly than standard two-legged bridges because of the stabilization demand.
Bulgarian split squats. A rear foot elevated split squat places substantial load on the glutes of the working leg, including the gluteus medius, while also developing the gluteus maximus for overall glute fullness.
Sumo squats. A wider-than-shoulder-width stance with toes pointed out at roughly 45 degrees recruits the outer glutes more than a standard squat stance, making sumo squats a useful addition to a hip-dip-focused routine.
Curtsy lunges. Step one foot diagonally behind and across the standing foot, bending both knees. This movement pattern targets the gluteus medius specifically because of the cross-body loading it creates.
How Often to Train
For meaningful muscle development in the glute region, two to three dedicated sessions per week targeting these muscles specifically is the recommended frequency, with at least one rest day between sessions to allow for muscle recovery and growth. Progression matters: gradually increasing resistance, reps, or difficulty over time is what drives continued muscle development. Performing the same exercises at the same resistance for months will eventually plateau.
Results take time. Building visible muscle typically requires several months of consistent, progressive training before changes in appearance are clearly noticeable, particularly in areas where underlying bone structure limits the ceiling for improvement.
The Role of Body Composition and Fat Distribution
Gaining weight, particularly in the form of fat, can sometimes fill in hip dip areas because some fat is distributed around the hips and thighs. However, you cannot selectively gain fat in one specific area, and overall fat gain comes with changes to the whole body simultaneously.
For people who are already at a healthy weight, focusing on building muscle in the targeted areas is more reliable and sustainable than attempting to gain fat specifically to fill in hip dips.
For people who are at a very low body fat percentage, being at a somewhat higher body fat level can naturally reduce the appearance of hip dips simply through increased fat distribution in the surrounding tissue. This is not a prescription to deliberately gain fat but rather an observation that people at extremely lean body compositions may find hip dips more pronounced than they would at a moderate body fat level.
Why Hip Dips Are Normal
The conversation about how to get rid of hip dips often overlooks that hip dips are a normal anatomical variation present in a large proportion of people. They became a point of concern largely through social media and photo editing culture, where smoothed-out hip contours became the visual norm despite not reflecting natural anatomy for most bodies.
Understanding this does not invalidate the desire to feel confident in how you look, but it does provide useful perspective when evaluating what is realistic and whether the goal is worth the effort. Many people find that seeing hip dips explicitly named and normalized reduces the urgency around changing them entirely.
Key Takeaways
- How to get rid of hip dips depends on understanding that they are primarily structural, caused by the natural distance between the pelvis and femur, and cannot be fully eliminated through exercise for most people.
- Building the gluteus medius through targeted exercises like side-lying hip abductions, clamshells, banded side walks, and curtsy lunges can visually reduce the appearance of hip dips by adding muscle volume over the indentation.
- Supporting exercises that build overall glute fullness, including Bulgarian split squats, sumo squats, and single-leg glute bridges, contribute to a rounder, fuller hip appearance that complements gluteus medius development.
- Two to three training sessions per week targeting the glute and hip area, with progressive overload over time, produces meaningful results faster than occasional, lower-intensity work.
- Body fat level affects how noticeable hip dips are, since very lean individuals often have more visible hip dips than those at a moderate body fat percentage, though selective fat gain in one area is not possible.
- Results from targeted training take several months to become clearly visible and vary significantly based on individual bone structure, since people with a wider gap between their ilium and femur will see more limited visual change than those with a narrower structural gap.
- Hip dips are a normal anatomical variation present in a large proportion of the population and became a point of appearance concern largely through social media culture rather than reflecting an actual physical problem.
- The most honest answer to how to get rid of hip dips is: you can reduce how noticeable they are through consistent, targeted strength training, but you cannot fully eliminate them if your underlying bone structure creates a significant indentation.
