What are your hip flexors and why are they important? Simply stated, they flex the hip–they bring your thigh towards the abdomen or abdomen towards the thigh. They are active during knees to elbows, box jumps, dead lifts and sit ups and act as the midline stabilizers during pretty much any exercise we do in the gym.
Your hip flexors are actually two muscles, the Iliacus and the Psoas Major. The Iliacus originates on your pelvic crest and attaches on the top of the femur, which is the big bone in your leg. The Psoas Major starts at the lumbar vertebrae and attaches to the femur.
Often accompanied with a hip flexor problem is knee pain. Because the quadriceps muscle also functions as a hip flexor when strained pain can be experienced in the knee.
In addition to overuse, sitting down puts these muscles in a shortened position. After any extended time in this shortened position, they actually do not want to stretch back to their correct length. When they get tight, they pull on the lower back and cause low back pain. They also pull your pelvis into an unnatural tilt, which all sorts of strange actions on your spine when you load it to press overhead or squat.
Listen to Coaches Scott Lofquist and Matreena Noland’s tips for keeping your hip flexors and hamstrings strong and long for better lifting technique and injury prevention.
In addition to keeping our clients strong, Crossroads Bootcamp wants to keep our clients balanced and flexible. That’s why Matreena teaches our popular POWER STRETCH class on Sundays at 11am immediately after our Sunday am Bootcamp. This crosstraining workout is a challenging compliment to all of our workouts and a critical part of your balanced workout regime.
For more information on POWER STRETCH and all of our Crossroads Bootcamp fitness training programs, call 816 842 BOOT or email tina@crossroadsbootcamp.com today!
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