You’ve probably spent a good chunk of time twisting around in front of a mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of your silhouette from behind. It’s that specific angle. The one where you’re looking for a smooth, continuous curve from your waist to your thighs, but instead, you see a little inward dent. People call them hip dips from the back, and honestly, the internet has turned them into some kind of "flaw" that needs fixing. But here is the reality: your skeleton isn't a mistake.
Those indentations—formally known as trochanteric depressions—are basically just the space where your skin and muscle skim over the gap between your ilium (the crest of your pelvis) and your greater trochanter (the top of your femur). If you have a high hip bone or a wide pelvis, you’re going to have them. It is literally just how your body is bolted together. No amount of "magic" tea or targeted rubbing is going to change the fact that your femur sits where it sits.
The Anatomy of the Dent
Let’s get technical for a second, but not too boring. When we talk about hip dips from the back, we’re looking at the relationship between the gluteus medius, the gluteus maximus, and the tensor fasciae latae (TFL). The "dip" occurs because there is naturally less muscle mass right over the hip joint itself.
Think of it like a valley between two hills. The gluteus medius sits higher up, providing that "shelf" look on the side of the hip. The gluteus maximus is the powerhouse in the back. In between, where the leg bone connects to the hip socket, there just isn't a thick slab of muscle covering the joint. Depending on your body fat percentage and how your fascia holds everything together, that gap becomes more or less visible.
Why Social Media Lied to You
If you scroll through Instagram, you’ll see fitness influencers with perfectly round, "heart-shaped" glutes without a single indentation. Most of the time? It's posing. Or lighting. Or, let’s be real, a quick tweak in an editing app. By shifting your weight to one leg and tilting your pelvis, you can make a hip dip disappear in a photo. But as soon as that person walks down the street, those dips are right back where they belong.
The fitness industry often markets "hip dip workouts" as a way to fill in the gap. You’ve seen the videos: thousands of side-lying leg raises and fire hydrants. While these exercises are great for strengthening your hip abductors, they won't "fill in" the bone structure. You can grow the gluteus medius to create more shape above the dip, but the dip itself is a structural reality. It's like trying to exercise your way into having shorter shins. It just isn't how biology works.
Understanding the View of Hip Dips From The Back
When you look at this from the rear, the visibility of these indentations depends heavily on your pelvic width. Someone with a "long" pelvis—meaning a greater distance between the top of the hip bone and the hip socket—will almost always have more pronounced dips. This isn't a sign of weakness. In fact, many high-level athletes, especially runners and those in explosive sports, have very prominent hip dips because their bodies are lean and their muscle attachments are highly defined.
Interestingly, your fat distribution plays a huge role here too. Some people naturally store more "love handle" fat (flank fat) above the hip bone and more fat on the outer thigh (saddlebags) below the joint. This "double bump" makes the dip in the middle look way deeper than it actually is. It's an optical illusion created by the surrounding tissue.
The Role of the Gluteus Medius
The glute medius is the unsung hero of hip stability. It’s responsible for keeping your pelvis level when you walk. If you want to talk about "filling" the area, this is the muscle people target. But there’s a catch. Muscles grow in volume, but they don't change their attachment points.
- Squats: These primarily hit the glute max (the big part of the butt). They don't do much for the side dip.
- Clamshells: These hit the rotators and the medius. They help with stability but won't "pop" the dip out.
- Heavy Weighted Abductions: These are your best bet for adding mass to the upper side of the hip.
But even with massive glute development, the structural gap remains. Look at professional bodybuilders. When they are "stage lean," their hip dips are incredibly visible because there is no subcutaneous fat to smooth over the transition between bone and muscle.
Genetics and the "Shelf" Look
It really comes down to the ilium. If your hip bones are flared outward, you’ll have a wider "shelf." If they are more vertical, your hips will look narrower from the back. Most people who are frustrated by their hip dips from the back are actually frustrated by their skeletal width.
There’s also the "Gluteal Fold" to consider. This is the crease where your butt meets your thigh. Sometimes, what people perceive as a hip dip from the back is actually just the natural transition of the glute maximus into the hamstring. We’ve become so used to seeing filtered, smoothed-out bodies that we’ve forgotten what a real human muscular transition looks like.
Can You Actually Get Rid of Them?
Honestly? Not really. Not through natural means, anyway. Cosmetic procedures like fat grafting (the Brazilian Butt Lift or BBL) or Sculptra injections are the only ways to physically "fill" the void. Surgeons take fat from another part of the body and inject it directly into the trochanteric depression.
But even then, it's risky. The hip area is high-movement. Fat doesn't always "take" well there, and you can end up with lumps or unevenness. For the vast majority of people, learning to accept the dip is a lot healthier—and cheaper—than trying to fight your own skeleton.
Training for Function, Not Just Aesthetics
If you’re going to train your hips, do it for the right reasons. Strong hip abductors prevent knee pain. They prevent lower back issues. They make you a better hiker, runner, and lifter.
Focus on:
- Single-leg deadlifts: These force the glute medius to fire like crazy to keep you balanced.
- Side planks with leg lifts: This is a brutal way to build functional side-hip strength.
- Curtsy lunges: These target the glutes from a different angle, which can help with overall rounding, even if it doesn't "delete" the dip.
The Mental Shift
We’ve pathologized a normal body part. Ten years ago, nobody even knew what a "hip dip" was. It wasn't a thing. Then, someone on a forum or a fitness blog pointed it out, gave it a catchy name, and suddenly everyone was convinced they had a deformity. It’s a manufactured insecurity.
Your body is a tool, not just an ornament. When you see those hip dips from the back, try to see them as a sign of your pelvic structure doing exactly what it's supposed to do: providing a stable base for your legs to move.
Actionable Steps for a Better Silhouette
Instead of obsessing over the dent, focus on what you can actually control.
Optimize your posture. If you stand with an anterior pelvic tilt (arching your back too much), it can actually make the hip area look more "collapsed" from the back. Learning to tuck your pelvis slightly and engage your core can change how the muscle sits on the frame.
Build the "Posterior Chain." Focus on the glute maximus and hamstrings. When the back of the leg and the main glute muscle are developed, it creates a much more "lifted" look that draws the eye away from the side indentations.
Check your clothing. This sounds superficial, but it matters. High-waisted leggings with a thick compression waistband often "pinch" the area right above the hip bone, making the dip look ten times more dramatic. If you’re self-conscious, look for fabrics with a bit more "give" or seamless transitions.
Stop comparing your "back view" to someone's "front view." This is the biggest mistake. Most people compare their own unposed, mirror-backside view to a professional's posed, front-angled photo. It’s apples and oranges.
Eat for muscle growth. You can't build the glute medius if you're in a massive calorie deficit. If you want to change the shape of your hips as much as your genetics allow, you need to eat enough protein (roughly 0.8 to 1 gram per pound of body weight) to actually support muscle hypertrophy.
👉 See also: Katie Stubblefield: Why She Did It and the Truth Behind the Tragedy
Accept the "Violin Hip." That’s the old-school name for it. Violin hips. It sounds a lot more elegant than "hip dip," doesn't it? It’s a classic shape found in art and sculpture for centuries. It’s a mark of a human body, not a defect in a manufacturing line.
Focus on getting strong. Focus on moving well. The dips are just part of the architecture.