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When was the last time you went to the gym just to get in a hip flexor workout?
Probably never.
But while you obviously don’t have to get in a full workout each week strictly targeting your hip flexors, you should add a few exercises to your routine to strengthen these forgotten muscles.
But first, what are the hip flexors exactly, and why should we bother with them?
The hip flexors are a group of muscles around the upper and inner thighs and pelvic region that help power nearly every movement we perform. Running, jumping, and even just standing require proper flexion and stabilization of the hip flexors.
Strong hip flexors are especially important for active people and athletes, as studies have shown links between weak hip flexor stabilizing muscles and injuries (1).
Why do the hip flexors matter? Not only because most people don’t focus on strengthening their flexors, but also because every day we do things that both weaken and shorten (or tighten) them.
For example, if you sit in front of a computer or at a desk for hours a day, it both shortens and tightens the muscles in the front of the body (including your hip flexors). It also causes your shoulders to round forward, along with a forward-head posture (2).
And then if you go to the gym for a workout after sitting at the desk all day and you don’t stretch out and strengthen your hip flexors, you can compound that bad posture, creating muscle imbalances.
How does this happen? Because you’re essentially training muscles while they’re in the incorrect position.
Also, even if an individual is an athlete (say, a runner) who is moving most of the day, they can still be at risk for injuries stemming from weak hip flexors.
This is because by not doing exercises that strengthen the stabilizer muscles in the hip flexors that keep the pelvis in line, they set themselves up for improper positioning of the hips. This can then lead to hip and knee injuries by promoting incorrect foot placement while running.
That’s because the deep muscles of the hip (including the piriformis and quadratus femoris) play a critical role in hip stabilization (3).
Also, runners with iliotibial band syndrome (a common issue affecting a “band” of muscle that runs from your hip to your knee) had significant weakness in muscles of the hip (4, 5).
In short, strengthening the flexors will help avoid impact injuries in the lower body by promoting correct foot placement.
After all, the last thing you want to do is run a marathon (if you do that sort of thing) with improper form. Ouch!
Strengthening and increasing hip flexor flexibility can also increase performance. For example, one study found athletes who did hip flexor exercises as part of their routine both improved their hip flexion strength by 12.2 percent and cut their run times by as much as 9 percent (6).
Not to mention, strengthening those muscles can also improve range of motion, which is also crucial to avoid injuries (7).
Now that we’ve discovered how important your hip flexors are, let’s look at five hip flexor strengthening exercises you can introduce to your routine. Know that a few will require a stability ball.
While traditionally an abdominal exercise, ball pikes also require a lot of hip strength in order to maintain balance and pull your hips into a pike position.
How to Perform Ball Pikes
Knee drive holds engage the hip flexors in order to drive the knee to the chest, making them an excellent hip flexor strengthener. You can use either a stability ball or chair for your surface for this exercise.
How to Perform Knee Drive Holds
The dead bug is another exercise that engages the hip flexors, this time in both an isometric hold as you extend your leg, and a contraction as you return your leg to parallel.
How to Perform the Dead Bug
The reverse lunge with knee drive provides a dynamic stretch for the hip flexors while also strengthening them as you drive your knee toward your chest.
How to Perform the Reverse Lunge with Knee Drive
Ball knee tucks are similar to ball pikes. However, instead of piking our hips toward the sky, we’re keeping them level and using the lower abs and hip flexors to pull our knees in toward our chest.
How to Perform Ball Knee Tucks
While all of these exercises are great for strengthening the hip flexors, it’s also important that we work on their flexibility.
That’s because tight hip flexors can actually contribute to bad posture – which causes a whole host of health problems in and of itself – but “pulling down” the upper body. This is especially true for those who spend most of their days sitting down or at a computer.
To combat tight hip flexors, try this simple stretch you can do anywhere:
It may also be useful to foam roll your hip flexors a couple times a week, especially if they feel tight after prolonged sitting.
Here’s a great roll for the hip flexors:
With these exercises to strengthen hip flexors, you’ll be standing and running tall and strong in no time.
But remember, consistency is the key – it takes time to overcome chronic tightness from hours of sitting.
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Yuri Elkaim is one of the world’s most trusted health and fitness experts. A former pro soccer player turned NYT bestselling author of The All-Day Energy Diet and The All-Day Fat Burning Diet, his clear, science-backed advice has transformed the lives of more than 500,000 men and women and he’s on a mission to help 100 million people by 2040. Read his inspiring story, “From Soccer to Bed to No Hair on My Head” that started it all.