Hip Circle

It's a bar skill in which the gymnast rotates a full circle around the bar with the hips maintaining contact throughout. It's taught as a foundational element in both men's and women's artistic gymnastics, on high bar and uneven bars respectively.

The direction of rotation around the bar differs: in a front hip circle the gymnast rotates forward over the bar, while the back hip circle rotates backward, typically taken out of a cast. Both keep the hips tight to the bar through the full circle.

It's one of the early bar skills introduced in the first years of training and appears in the compulsory bar routines of the lower levels of the USA Gymnastics program. Mastering the hips-on-bar circle is a gateway to more advanced circling skills later.

In a plain hip circle the hips stay in contact with the bar the whole way around. In a clear hip circle the hips rise away from the bar during the circle, which is what allows advanced gymnasts to build into release moves and flight elements.