A lot of people sit in a chair for 8 hours a day, and often a chair that does not allow you to keep good posture all day either. The result of this is that your hip flexors will become tighter and be at risk for a strain unless you perform hip flexor exercises.
Now ideally you should be performing these stretches every day for at least 5 minutes, if you can do up to 10 or 15 minutes even better.
Hip Flexor Treatment For Painful Back Hips and Legs
Despite their importance to many physical activities, hip flexors are the most neglected muscle group in strength training.
It is very rare to find workout programs that include hip flexor exercises.
By contrast there is usually a great deal of emphasis on exercises for the leg extensors.
There are some common reasons that they are left out. The hip flexors muscles are the psoas and the iliacus.
Because they are relatively deep-seated surface muscles they get overlooked by bodybuilders who have traditionally been the innovators for muscle targeting.
Secondly, there is no easy ways to properly exercise hip flexors with free weights.
Another reason they are not commonly targeted with workout programs is that these muscles are not thought of as a functional use like the extensor muscles. They are the opposite of the extensors as both hip and knee flexors perform a vital role in controlling the descent and ascent motions for leg extension exercises such as squats or presses.
Why You Should Strenthen Your Hip Flexors?
Strong hip flexors provide an advantage in a wide range of sports and athletic activities. In sprinting high knee lift is associated with increased stride length and therefore considerable attention is given to exercising the hip flexors.
However, they are usually not exercised against resistance and consequently there is unlikely to be any appreciable strength increase.
Hip flexor strength is directly relevant to a range of activities in football. Kicking a ball is a complex coordinated action involving simultaneous knee extension and hip flexion, so developing a more powerful kick requires exercises applicable to these muscle groups.
Strong hip flexors can also be very advantageous in the tackle situation in sports such as football, baseball, golf and tennis.
The problem in developing hip flexor strength has been the lack of appropriate exercises.
Two that have traditionally been used for this muscle group are incline sit-ups and hanging leg raises, but in both cases the resistance is basically provided by the exerciser's own body weight.
As a consequence these exercises can make only a very limited contribution to actually strengthening the flexors.
Treating Hip Flexor Pain At Home With Exercise and Stretching Methods
Until now the only weighted resistance equipment employed for this purpose has been the multi-hip type machine. When using this multi-function apparatus for hip flexion the exerciser pushes with the lower thigh against a padded roller which swings in an arc.
One difficulty with this apparatus is that the position of the hip joint is not fixed and thus it is difficult to maintain correct form when using heavy weights or lifting the thigh above the horizontal.
One of the easiest ways to target these illusive muscles is to use a hip flexor stretch foam roller.
As fitness professionals become more aware of how important hip flexor exercises are, there has recently been more focus put on strengthening this vital muscle group.
Stretching and exercise systems have been created to specifically target hip flexors.
Learn More About Treating Your Painful Flexors
