[Closed] Hip flexor exercise.

It's a big thing in Wing Chun and, probably many other Chinese martial arts, to help enable you to move as one unit instead of torso leading and your feet catching up.

Surely for anyone clipped in or runners it’s a super important muscle.

Don't all the muscles you need for an activity develop as you repeatedly do said activity?

and is certainly not considered a must do movement at the gym.

Or yoga. Lots of poses/sequences target the hip flexors e.g. runners lunge.

Don’t all the muscles you need for an activity develop as you repeatedly do said activity?

Don’t all the muscles you need for an activity develop as you repeatedly do said activity?

Probably, but that doesn't mean they all develop at the same rate or to the optimum extent e.g. due to poor form or another confounding factor like being otherwise sedentry such as due to a desk based job.

When I squat it's more about pushing my knees away from my chest.

I don't 'drop' in my squat but neither do I take 2 seconds to reach the bottom.

I would have thought hip flexor strength would be the opposite.

The reason the squat is such a fundamental exercise is because it works a huge variety of muscles, even if you don’t realise it.

https://strongmadesimple.com/blog/2012/07/squatting-with-your-hips-flexors

if that were true then pro athletes wouldn’t need to do any training other than play their sport. Is that the case?

Good observation. Taking it somewhere less physical like snooker - possibly distance running to develop stamina for long matches could be of benefit, but could the same stamina be gained from playing progressively longer? Which would mean working on the specific skills required at the same time.

Developing muscles in a way that aren't specific to the sport could have a downside of carrying more muscle than necessary and using more energy/oxygen but could also be beneficial in injury prevention. I think??

Probably, but that doesn’t mean they all develop at the same rate or to the optimum extent e.g. due to poor form or another confounding factor like being otherwise sedentry such as due to a desk based job.

Good point.

I appreciate Chris Hoy has done many a heavy squat to help explosive power from a standstill, but aren't squats for cycling in general not helpful??

Squats for downhilling I can understand.

Surely for anyone clipped in or runners it’s a super important muscle.

Not really, even when clipped in you still don't pull up. The whole "pedaling perfect circles" thing is a myth. If you look at the raw output from a power meter you're still pushing down with the back leg, it's just unweighted. I mean just look at your hip flexor, it's tiny next to the quads doing the pushing. It's evolved so you don't trip over while running.

Actually, part of my dissertation was on strain gauges (power meters) in sports, rowers actually try and do the exact opposite we do, they look at the display and try and reach their peak force when the oar is perpendicular and tail off either side where it's wasting energy. The cycling equivalent would be deliberately pushing hardest at 2-4 o'clock.

Doubt there's any sporting activity that wouldn't benefit from the squat - it's the cornerstone of strength training as stated above.
It seems quite reinforcing for cycling (big quad activation) rather than targeting muscles that are typically weak for cyclists (e.g. hamstrings) - but you can do squat variations that work the hams.

I do a lot* of hip flexor flexibility work as i have persistent hip issues but nevr targeted strengthening them. It seems a valid point to me and I'll look into doing some.

*relative to the zero flexibility work i do for other muscles

I appreciate Chris Hoy has done many a heavy squat to help explosive power from a standstill, but aren’t squats for cycling in general not helpful??

I can't squat. No wonder my life is a mess

I mean we all do hip flexor stretches. That's virtually a primary stretch / warrior pose and all that.

Surely - if we strengthened out hip flexors it would help with going up stairs, hills, med to fast paced running etc.

Surely – if we strengthened out hip flexors it would help with going up stairs, hills, med to fast paced running etc.

When people talk about hip flexor problems it's almost always to do with them being too tight which gives you an anterior pelvic tilt and associated problems. The last thing you would want is to strengthen them in that scenario. you strengthen everything else and try and stretch the hip flexors to pull everything back into alignment.

But often muscles are tight because they are weak. If they are stronger they'll extend more and allow a larger range of movement, they are tight because they are protecting their weakness.

But often muscles are tight because they are weak. If they are stronger they’ll extend more and allow a larger range of movement, they are tight because they are protecting their weakness.

They're tight because people sit in chairs which isn't natural. Cyclists have especially tight hip flexors because we're exercising in a sitting position.

I used to regularly get pain down my left side and specifically centred around my groin, testicles and abdomen. It got to the point where I was having tests via the doc for prostate problems, ultrasounds and other nasties. My exercise at the time was basically running and cycling.

Got talking to a mate at work who is in to serious road work and triathlons. He immediately said it would be my hip flexors and showed me some stretches that targeted them. Job done, years of pain over!! I've since started a more varied fitness regime and the pain has pretty much gone.

Adding into the discussion. I've recently just had tightness in hip flexors and piriformis/ glutes. Went to Phsyio for 3 sessions then started yoga as Phsyio was average. 4 days of yoga on my lower back, hips and hamstrings and my pain has gone.

Often the large muscles aren't firing and the piriformis and hip flexors start taking the brunt. Now I'm more educated on why we cyclists should really be stretching or doing some yoga once or twice a week. I'll also be building my glutes up with bridges, squats, clams.

I thought i had an issue with this, did loads of work on the hips, then had a couple of physio sessions and it turns out i have a hip impingement similar to what Andy Murray had, cartilage is all gone and it hurts riding long distances, sometimes tightness in that area is a sign of this as well.

but aren’t squats for cycling in general not helpful??

Pretty much every cycling-specific weight training resource I've seen recommends squats in some form. I won't pretend to understand the anatomy, but I suspect that it does a good job of working a whole load of muscles.

Often the large muscles aren’t firing and the piriformis and hip flexors start taking the brunt.

Same for me. Exactly what my physio said.

Not completely convinced about the solutions (slow squats etc) as it hasn't worked amazingly well.

However I have put a sit stand desk in and that had been a revelation. Got used to it quickly and happily so squats stood there.

Also I use on of those hard balls (trigger points) to dig into my hip area.

Not completely got rid of my chronic back pain but it's better.

I've had lower back spasms and pain around my side and some physio identified weakness in the hip flexor and hams as a factor. As well as stretching and squats I've found bridges the most effective exercise. A week of sets twice a day has made a great improvement

When people do that sit ups daftness, the hip flexor is the primary mover.
You can't beat the goblet squat, promotes good squatting form and smashes the core into submission.

I have recently had Hip Flexor issues, and the recovery was based on strengthening the hip flexors and all the supporting muscles. The physio prescribed the following exercises which over a month or so have resulted in recovery =

Single leg bridge
Single leg squat
Arabesque deadlift
Lunges
Various side plank exercises

In addition to this I've been going to the gym and they do have flexor exercising machines, but I found that doing squats or leg presses seemed to be the most useful.