We often feel pain for many reasons, like muscle strain after exercise, sitting for long times, overdoing workouts, impact, or aging. You might also feel it in your lower back or knee. And the Hip Flexor Stretch exercise focuses on thigh muscles and doesn’t need many tools, just a mat.
How to do the Hip Flexor Stretch
Some exercises are beginner-friendly, and the Hip Flexor Stretch is one of them. So we’ll show you how to do it right to get the most benefit:
- Lie down on the floor and stretch out your arms and legs.
- Bend your leg at the knee upwards.
- Hold it against your chest.
- Clasp your hands together.
- Relax your lower back muscles, and make sure not to arch your back.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds.
- Return your leg to the floor, and repeat the exercise with your right leg.
- Do the exercise 3 to 5 times.
Benefits of the Hip Flexor Stretch exercise
This exercise gives a gentle stretch that's good for beginners. It only takes a few minutes and has many benefits:
- Reduces lower back pain: You often feel hip pain in the lower back. This is caused by constant sitting, which bends the spine for long periods. This pain often feels like sciatica.
- Reduces hip pain: This happens due to two reasons: over-exercising or overusing the muscle, and the other is not using it for long times.
- Improves athletic performance: Tight muscles or joints stop you from finishing your workout, but keeping on with this exercise improves your overall athletic performance.
- Increases flexibility and mobility: Moving the joints slowly in this exercise helps improve joint movement and flexibility.
Other variations of this exercise
You can make the exercise harder, and some girls at a pro level want tougher workouts. Here are some variations:
- Bring your legs together once. This boosts flexibility and helps improve balance and stability.
- You can increase the exercise duration by one minute.
How to do the Hip Flexor Stretch exercise for pros:
- Lie down on the floor.
- Place your left foot on your right knee and pull it to your chest.
- Clasp both your hands under your left knee.
- Relax like this for 30 seconds.
- Repeat this exercise 5 to 10 times.
- Repeat on each side.
Hip Flexor Stretch Exercise Mistakes
Try to avoid some mistakes to prevent injuries or not getting the full benefit of the exercise. They are:
- Arching your back: Keep your back straight to avoid making lower back pain worse. Also, you might develop a back curve problem over time.
- Slowly stretch your neck: Don't move your neck quickly or pull it too much to avoid pain, and if you feel pain, stop immediately.
Precautions when doing the Hip Flexor Stretch exercise
Try to relieve lower back pain with some exercises and you can consult a specialized doctor about it. This is not the only exercise that can treat lower back pain or tight hip muscles, asif you had surgery in the abdomen or back area within the last 6 monthsyou shouldn’t do these exercises.
Focus on stretching exercises and you can do them on rest days from resistance training. You can also do them during your period. Try a healthy lifestyle with Fitness Garage trainers through the Facebook page or check the results reached by participants. Fitness Garage always cares about providing healthy information on nutrition and exercise.
