You’ve probably seen the ads. They pop up on TikTok or Instagram with some fitness influencer doing "fire hydrants" or "clamshells," promising that if you just do these three secret moves, those indentations on the side of your legs will vanish. It's everywhere. But honestly, if we’re being real, the obsession with hip dips is one of the weirdest things the internet has cooked up in the last decade.
So, can u get rid of hip dips?
Short answer: Not really. At least not in the way most people think.
The reality is that hip dips—or "trochanteric depressions" if you want to sound fancy and medical—are almost entirely about your skeleton. They aren't a flaw. They aren't a sign that you're out of shape. They are just where your skin attaches to a deeper part of your thigh bone. No amount of "targeted fat loss" or glute-medius isolation is going to change the fact that your pelvis is shaped a certain way.
The Anatomy of the Dip: Why Your Bones Matter More Than Your Burpees
Most people think hip dips are pockets of fat or a lack of muscle. That's just wrong. To understand why, you have to look at the pelvis.
The human hip is a complex piece of architecture. You have the ilium (the top part of your hip bone) and the greater trochanter (the top of your femur). The space between those two bony landmarks is where the "dip" happens. If you have a high pelvis and a wide gap between these bones, you’re going to have a more pronounced indentation. It’s literally just the way your frame is built.
Think about it this way. Could you exercise your way into having a shorter neck? No. Could you do enough calf raises to change the length of your shins? Of course not.
Skeletal structure is fixed.
According to Dr. Sarah Shiau, a sports medicine specialist, the prominence of these dips is heavily influenced by the width of your hips and the angle of your femoral neck. If your "sit bones" are wider or your pelvis is tilted a certain way, that skin is going to suck inward toward the joint. It's anatomy. Plain and simple.
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Fat Distribution and the Illusion of Change
While bones are the foundation, body fat does play a role in how visible the dips are. But here is the kicker: it’s usually the fat above and below the dip that makes it look deeper.
If you carry more adipose tissue on your "love handles" (the iliac crest) and more on your outer thighs (saddlebags), the area in between—the hip dip—is going to look like a canyon. This is why people get frustrated. They lose weight thinking the dip will go away, but sometimes, losing fat makes the dip even more obvious because the padding around it is gone.
Can U Get Rid Of Hip Dips With Targeted Exercise?
You've seen the "Hip Dip Workout" videos. They usually involve a lot of side-lying leg raises and banded walks.
Here is the truth: you can grow the muscles underneath the dip, but you can't fill the gap perfectly. The primary muscle in that area is the gluteus medius.
Building the glute medius is great for stability. It’s great for your knees. It helps you stay balanced when you’re running or walking. But it is a relatively thin, fan-shaped muscle. It doesn’t "poof" out like the gluteus maximus (the big part of your butt).
- Muscle Growth vs. Bone Structure: Even if you maximize your glute medius growth, the muscle sits underneath the tendon and bone structure. It might "soften" the look of the dip, but it won't create a perfectly straight line from your waist to your knees.
- The Spot Reduction Myth: You cannot burn fat specifically in the hip area to make the dips go away. Fat loss happens systemically based on your genetics.
- The Glute Maximus Factor: Sometimes, building the overall size of your gluteus maximus can draw the eye away from the side profile, but it doesn't actually remove the indentation on the side.
Working out is amazing for your health. It changes your shape. But it won't rewrite your DNA or move your hip bones closer together.
The Rise of the "Hip Dip" Insecurity
If you go back twenty or thirty years, nobody was talking about this. Seriously. It wasn't a "thing."
The term "hip dips" started gaining traction on fitness forums and social media around 2017. Before that, they were just... hips. But once a name was attached to it, it became a problem to be solved. This is a classic case of the "beauty industry industrial complex" creating a flaw to sell a solution.
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Influencers use specific lighting, high-waisted leggings, and "the pose" (one leg forward, hip tilted) to hide their own dips. Then they sell you a PDF guide on how to get rid of yours.
It’s a cycle of manufactured insecurity.
Real bodies have curves and indents. If you look at classical Greek statues or Renaissance paintings, those figures have hip dips. Michelangelo didn't think they were a flaw; he thought they were part of the human form.
Why Surgery is the Only "Permanent" Fix (And Why It's Risky)
For those who are truly desperate and wondering can u get rid of hip dips through any means necessary, the only real "fix" is surgical.
Fat grafting, also known as a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) variant, involves taking fat from the stomach or back and injecting it into the trochanteric depression. Some surgeons also use dermal fillers like Sculptra.
But this isn't a simple fix.
Fat grafting has one of the highest mortality rates of any cosmetic procedure if the fat is injected into the wrong place (veins). Fillers are temporary and insanely expensive, often requiring thousands of dollars every couple of years to maintain.
Is a small indentation on your leg worth a major surgical risk? Most doctors would say no.
Embracing Your Frame
Instead of fighting your skeleton, look at what your hips actually do. They are the powerhouse of your body.
Strong hips mean you can jump, run, and carry heavy things. If you have "dips," it often means your pelvis is wide enough to provide a stable base for your spine. That’s a win.
The obsession with "smooth" silhouettes is a product of Photoshop and filtered videos. In the real world, skin moves, muscles flex, and bones exist.
Actionable Steps for Hip Health and Confidence
If you still want to improve the appearance of your hip area while staying grounded in reality, here is what actually works. Forget the "magic" 7-day challenges. Focus on these things instead.
Heavy Compound Movements Stop doing 100 reps of light leg raises. If you want to change your body composition, you need to lift heavy. Squats, deadlifts, and lunges build the entire glute complex. When the glutes are strong, the whole hip area looks tighter and more "athletic," even if the dip remains.
Lateral Stability Work Since the glute medius is the "hip dip muscle," train it for function. Use "monster walks" with a resistance band around your ankles. Do single-leg Romanian deadlifts. These movements improve your balance and hip health, which is far more valuable than a "smooth" side profile.
Nutrition for Body Composition If you feel your hip dips are exaggerated by excess fat on the love handles, focus on a slight caloric deficit and high protein intake. Reducing overall body fat can sometimes decrease the "shelf" look above the dip. But remember: don't overdo it. Going too low in body fat can actually make the dip look more prominent as the underlying bone becomes more visible.
Wardrobe Hacks Let’s be honest—sometimes we just want to look good in an outfit. If the dips bother you in certain clothes, look for thicker fabrics. High-waisted, "compression" style leggings or "sculpting" shapewear are designed specifically to smooth out these lines. It’s a temporary fix that doesn't involve surgery or 500 squats.
The Mindset Shift Next time you're at the gym or the beach, look at other people. Not the ones on your phone, but the real people around you. You’ll notice that almost everyone has some version of a hip dip. It is a standard feature of the human body. Once you realize it's normal, the urge to "fix" it usually starts to fade.
You can't change your bones, but you can change how you feel about them. Focus on being strong, mobile, and capable. Your hips are built to move the world, not just to look a certain way in a mirror.