When sprinters line up in the starting blocks and get into position, they want to be the fastest off the mark. They want to be explosive, powerful, and fast, so they need a quick reaction and strong acceleration. The answer? Strong hip flexors.

When it comes to speed, no muscle is more important. The hip flexors drive the knee forward, so when the foot strikes the ground, as much force as possible is produced to propel the body forward. Strong hip flexors are priceless for sprinters—just as they are for basketball players, soccer players, or any sport that relies on running, jumping, and kicking.

Sadly, strong hip flexors aren’t something we’re born with, and hours of sitting down can cause them to become short, tight, and weak. Over time, this can hinder performance and create pain in the hips, knees, or lower back. Hip stretches can provide relief and help lengthen the hip flexors to improve mobility, but if you really want to prevent injury and improve your athletic performance, then you need to be doing hip flexor strengthening exercises: and we’ve got the five best ones ready to show you.

We’ll give you everything you need to know about why you should do hip strengthening exercises, show you how to identify if you have weak hip flexors and go through how to do each hip flexor exercise step-by-step. It’s time to say goodbye to hip pain and skyrocket your speed, power, and explosiveness.

What You'll Find In This Article:

• What Are The Hip Flexor Muscles?
• The 5 Best Hip Flexor Strengthening Exercises
• How Do I Know If I Have Weak Hip Flexors? (The (Modified) Thomas Test)

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What Are The Hip Flexor Muscles?

The hip flexors consist of five key muscles: two agonist muscles (which contract to facilitate movement—in this case, hip flexion and knee extension) and three synergist muscles, which assist the agonists.

• Psoas major (a primary mover or agonist muscle) is responsible for hip flexion. It is the only muscle that connects the upper and lower body together. 40-60% of people also have a psoas minor, but research shows its function is very minor [1].)
• Iliacus (also a primary mover of the hip flexor. Together with the psoas major, these muscles are called the iliopsoas)
• Pectineus (a synergist muscle, the Pectineus is situated on the front of the upper and inner thigh and assists the primary movers with hip flexion and adduction)
• Rectus Femoris (a synergist muscle: One of the quad muscles)
• Sartorius (a synergist muscle: The longest muscle in the body that crosses the hip and the knee joints)

Do Hip Flexors Need To Be Strengthened?

Between 9-5 in the office, lunchtimes spent scrolling TikTok, and evenings spent binging Netflix, our ever-increasing sedentary lifestyle is not only making our hip flexors shorter and less mobile but weak [2]. This can impact athletic performance and cause issues with gait, mobility, and even pain in other areas of the body (commonly the back and knees).

If you’re partial to a pigeon pose or hip flexor stretch at the end of your workout, then, like us, you probably give ample time to stretch your hip flexors. And we wouldn’t blame you for thinking that’s enough. Unfortunately, research proves otherwise, with a 2021 review of eight hip flexor studies concluding that hip flexor stretching of up to 120 seconds had no effect and stretching for over four and a half minutes had a negative impact on performance [2].

So what’s the solution? Hip flexor strengthening.

It makes sense, really: You would never repeatedly stretch your hamstrings, but steer clear of any deadlifts, good mornings, or lying leg curls. The same goes for every other muscle group. So why would you treat the hip flexors any differently?

If you want healthy, mobile hips, and to keep aches and pains at bay, don’t fall for only stretching your hip flexors; make sure you strengthen them, too.

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