12 Great Stretches for Tight Hip Flexors

12 Great Stretches for Tight Hip Flexors
You’ve heard the saying: it’s all in the hips, but for many of us, our hips – or more precisely, our hip flexors – are tight, stiff and inflexible. If you’re an office worker you can probably thank sitting down at your desk 8 or more hours a day for your tight hip flexors. Habitual sitting causes your hip flexors to tighten and shorten – adjustable standing desks, anyone? Luckily, there is a lot you can do to get those hips nice and flexible again, so whether you want to tear it up on the dance floor, improve your athletic performance or just get better posture – now you can! Purpose of Hip Flexors First off, just what do you hip flexors do? There’s no point in stretching something if all it does is sit there looking pretty! Luckily, it turns out these little muscles are pretty darn important! Specifically, your hip flexors are a group of skeletal muscles responsible for: Flexing your hip joint. Flexing your trunk forward. Pulling your knees upward. Moving your legs from side to side and front to back. Helps stabilize your lower body. Why You Should Stretch Your Hip Flexors Tight hip flexors negatively affect the results you get from your workouts! Everybody loves to drop it like a squat, but to get a great squat you need to have great hip flexor mobility. Especially, if you want to hit those glutes for best results. In other words, flexible hip flexors are going to help you get a better booty! Not only that, having flexible, strong hip flexors will help you get better results from many abdominal exercises. Tightness in this area also often goes hand-in-hand with anterior pelvic tilt, i.e. where your butt sticks out (more than it should) and, if there’s too much tilt it isn’t great for your posture and as a result can contribute to back pain. Not to mention a negative effect on your athletic performance and just about every activity you do. Getting flexible in this area can help to correct anterior pelvic tilt, especially when combined with glute and core work, giving you much better posture. Warm Ups for Hip Flexors Before you do any static stretching, you’ve got to get those muscles warm. Here are some good warm ups for your hip flexors. Stretches for Tight Hip Flexors Which is your favorite stretch? Did we miss any? Let us know in the comment section below! Original article and pictures take http://www.fitbodyhq.com/fitness/12-great-stretches-for-tight-hip-flexors/ site