Morning all,

I’ve recently restarted a weekly functional fitness routine at the gym and would like to incorporate something to help address my tight hips alongside the bi-weekly yoga sessions that have previously helped. For the last two sessions I used the seated ad/abduction machines for 3 x 10 sets of 30kg for each however someone mentioned that the standing DAP machine is better as the seated machines represent an unnatural movement i.e. the stretch while seated compared to engaging the hip flexors to support core stability which is a closer parallel to their intended function.
What are peoples thoughts on this?

Weight training has a tendency to tighten muscles /tendons rather than loosen them up, unless you’re using them for weighted isometric holds to work on increasing end of range motion.

I used to have really tight hip adductors, but I’ve cured it through doing Cossack squats every time I go to the gym…

If you want improve hip mobility, I wouldn’t use machines, I’d do something like this routine…

Thanks for that, will give that a spin and see how I get on 🙂

Thanks for that, will give that a spin and see how I get on

Just remember that gaining range of movement via stretching is a long process. I’ve been doing Cossack Squats pretty religiously for 6 months to get a noticeable improvement. Bit like doing the splits, you won’t get there is a few weeks, but you just might in a few years. Consistency and little and often is what it takes.

In which direction are your hips tight? I’d want to know that before I start any exercise program or you might be targeting the wrong muscle groups. Also, training your hip flexors to improve your core stability sounds like the wrong way to go about it to me- hip flexors are normally the firs thing we use when we don’t have core stability, and the problems often arise from there

These are the directions your hip can move in:

How Does a Hip Joint Move?

Plus internal and external rotation, not shown above