Try Them Today
Try Them Today
Read this if you have lower back pain. …Or if you simply want to avoid having it.
Over 80% of Americans have it and your hip flexors could be why!
Related - Do This Before Lifting Weights
The hip flexors are a group of muscles that attach your thigh bone (femur) to your pelvis and lumbar spine. They allow you to bring your legs toward your torso. This is a prime mover in all lower body movement, including walking, running, lateral movements and even just standing.
When we sit in chairs in our office cubicle, our hip flexors are inactive and they get tight. This combination can lead to low back pain, lack of flexibility, and a plethora of other issues.
All of the sources I have seen a focus on stretching the muscles of the hip flexors including the iliopsoas (psoas major, psoas minor and the illiacus muscle), rectus femoris, sartorius, tensor fasciae latae, adductor longus and brevis, and the pectineus and gracilis. This is completely missing the boat. There are three ways we need to care for the hip flexors:
By doing all three of these, we can ensure optimal health and performance. Tight and weak hip flexors will cause a strain on your lower back by pulling your pelvis forward.
This is a great way to release the hip flexor muscles and relieve any pain or tightness caused by everyday life, like sitting at a desk. Here are some movements to get accomplish this. Trigger Point and Foam rolling can help with:
Here are the best trigger-point methods to target your hip-flexors:
Lacrosse Ball Leg Lift
Lay down on your stomach with a lacrosse ball (a tennis ball will work as well) under your front hip. Move around until you find a spot sorer than others.
Lift the left on the side the ball is on off the floor slowly, keeping the rest of your body and your other leg on the ground. Slowly lower your leg to the ground.
Perform 3 reps per side for 2-3 sets.
Kettlebell Hip Trigger
Choose a relatively heavy kettlebell. Hold Kettlebell “bell up.” Place corner or curved part of the kettlebell on the front of your hip.
Move kettlebell around until you find a sore spot. Hold it there for 20 seconds. Switch Sides and perform 2-3 sets of 20 seconds per side.
Stretching
Static stretching has its place, but when strapped for time, SKIP this. Move straight into movement since movement is essentially ballistic stretching, a great way to get increased health, strength, range of motion as well as not risk decreasing strength as can happen with static stretching pre-workout. [1]
But for tight hip flexors, when done either post workout or on a submaximal weight training day, this can be a great tool to help with your hip flexors. Here are some static stretches that you can perform.
Kneeling With Posture
Lean forward slightly, tighten your core and squeeze the glute of the leg with the knee on the ground. Maintaining this posture, shift your entire body slightly forward. Hold this position for 2-4 seconds while breathing out.
Return to starting position and then squeeze your glute and slightly lunge forward again. Repeat 6-8 times and then switch legs. Perform 1-2 rounds of this movement.
Modified Hurdler Stride Stretch
Start in a modified hurdler position. Lean forward as far as comfortable possible. Hold for 20 seconds.
Relax and repeat two times. Perform for both sides.
Side Lying Quad and Hip Flexor Stretch
Laying on one side, position the lower leg at a 90-degree angle. Place your bottom arm either behind your head or in front of you.
Grab your top leg with your top arm on your back-side. While contracting the stretched leg’s glute, pull until you feel a stretch in the hip flexors and quads of the top leg.
Hold for 20 seconds and switch legs. Perform 2 rounds of 20 seconds per leg.
This is the absolute KEY to healthy hip flexors. With movement, we conquer balance, strength, flexibility and the ability to move!
This is far superior to static stretching and will not only prepare you for the workout ahead, it will help strengthen and eliminate imbalances and also can aid in recovery by delivering blood and nutrients to muscles. These are the best movement prep exercises for your hip flexors.
World’s Greatest Stretch
As the name implies, this is, arguably, the greatest stretch, in the world, ever. Working everything top to bottom, requiring balance and also incorporating a lunge-type movement for strength, if you had to choose one stretch to do the rest of your life, this would be it.
In a lunge position, right leg forward, foot flat on floor, knee bent 90 degrees, keep your left leg fully extended behind you with your foot on the floor; right arm straight and touching the floor and left arm bent both arms inside of your right knee, keep your back flat and shoulder blades retracted.
With your right arm, “punch up” to the sky and point straight up, all while keeping your left hand on the floor. Rotate back down and place your right hand on the outside of your right knee. You will now have your right hand on the outside of your knee and left hand on the inside, back flat, in a lunge position.
Extend your right knee and point your toe toward your face, all while keeping your back leg straight. Drop down back into the lunge position. Step back to standing position and repeat.
So, six reps each leg pre-workout.
Reverse Lunge With Lateral Bend
Start standing tall with tight posture. Step back with your right foot until you have completed a full lunge. While at the bottom of the lunge, reach your right arm and “punch the ceiling” and bend your torso to the left.
Return to the starting position with a tight core and lower your arm. Step back into the next lunge, this time raising your opposite arm and bending in the opposite direction.
Perform 6 reps each leg pre-workout.
7 Way Hips
Pioneered by Ryan Flaherty at Nike, this is the STUFF for hip warmups!
Mini Bands Lateral
Mini Bands Linear
Stationary Hip Warmup
There is so much you can do to stretch your hip flexors, but these are the bread and butter! You can do more, but just do these and we will be set. Anything more will be redundant.
So, you might be asking, what about weight training? What can I do while lifting weights to strengthen my hip flexors?
A lot of people forget that by doing primal movements, we will improve our ability to move as we are supposed to. Primal movements are movements that we need to be able to perform to survive in nature.
Squatting (squats) and bending (deadlifts) are two great examples. We also want to focus on using closed-chain movements. This means that your feet and upper body are not free to move and wiggle around.
An example is while on a squat your feet are on the ground and bar on your back with hands around it (closed), on a leg extension you can wiggle your feet freely (open). These are the top exercises to work those hip flexors.
The KING of all exercises. But we aren’t talking that 90-degree stuff, we are talking deep squats. To get a deeper squat, squat!
If a bad back is an issue, never fear, the goblet squat is here! This, when taken BELOW PARALLEL, will loosen and strengthen the hip flexors.
The old adage that if you want to squat better, then squat, is correct! Add goblet squats into your training for strong and supple hip flexors.
How to Perform a Goblet Squat
Not only do lunges stretch the hip flexors, but you can add resistance and strengthen the hip flexors as well!
How to Perform a Lunge
We have all of this information. While we can interchange all of these movements, here is what I recommend for one of your warm-up options. Do this pre-workout or on your off day.
Start this today! Be sure to work them hips at least three times per week and be on your way to a pain-free and mobile life!
Please comment below after doing this how it made you feel!