10-Minute Hip Flexor Stretch (Unlock Tight Hip Flexors!)

Hi, I'm Lindsay Baumgren of Nourish Move Love. And today I'm gonna take you through five of my favorite hip flexor stretches. We're gonna stretch out the hips, specifically focusing on your hip flexors located right here on the front side of your hip. You have five stretches. You're gonna hold each stretch for around 45 seconds, and then we'll have a 15 second transition. We're gonna do all five stretches times two. A quick 10 minute stretch. That's gonna feel so good for your hips. I promise. We're gonna jump right in. Okay, you guys, we're gonna start with hip flexor stretch, Basically a half kneeling lunge. So right foot forward, right knee right in line with my right hip, Left toes tucked under, and you're going to hold here. A lot of times we think we have to come into this big arch position. Instead of doing that, I want you to think about tucking your tailbone. So tuck your tailbone. Just tuck that tailbone. All it is is a simple tailbone tuck and it's going to open up this hip flexor right here. Option. To reach those arms overhead. Hold it here. Back left toes are tucked under. You can stay here. Option. You can take this into a low lunge. So this back knee is just going hover off the mat slightly. Again, it's about that tailbone tuck. That tiny pelvic tilt is really where the magic is going to happen. I'm going to show you from the side so you don't have to be way out here. It's just right here. Tuck that tailbone. Option. Hold here. Option Bring it up to a low lunge. We're just going to hold this stretch for a final 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Bring it down. Back knee to the mat. From here, you're going to place your hand inside your right foot. Left knee is slightly back again. Left toes still stay tucked under. Then I'm going to go for Spiderman rock. So I'm just going to rock my hips forward, and then I'm going to rock my hips back, rock my hips forward. Think about dropping this hip flexor towards the ground. Now you get that rock in that nice deep stretch, okay? Just rocking the hips forward and back. As I'm dropping this left hip towards the mat, I'm thinking about opening up this right hip. So driving that right knee out, going to open up both hips at the same time. You have the option to stay right here with that back knee on the ground. Or you can come and straighten through that back. Left Leg tucking the toes under. Holding here, holding this nice low lunge position option to take a nice little rotational twist. Face those fingertips. You can drop that elbow down to the caption ankle area, and you can continue to open. From there, you determine whatever feels best for your body. Today you're going to be here for three, two, and one. From there, you're going to come to a seated position. You're going to find a 90, 90 switch. Okay, so I'm actually. I'm gonna go here, and then I'm gonna switch to this side. So I'm going to start here. Right shin is parallel. Okay. Legs are bent at 90 degrees. Create some distance between your heel and your knee. And I'm going to think about cutting the shin in half by directly bringing my midline, the center of my body, over the middle of the shin. It's really easy to go over here to the side. Frame this front foot. Front foot stays parallel right here. I'm thinking about driving my right knee and my left knee into the mat at the same time. Okay. I'm the outer glute on the right. I'm gonna hit this inner hip flexor by pushing this knee into the ground. I'm gonna hold for three, two, oh, one. And then I'm gonna shift. Nice. 90, 90. Other side, same thing. I'm cutting my left shin in half. I'm driving my left knee and my right knee simultaneously into the mat. Hold it here. Nice work. You're gonna hold for 3, 2, 1. Awesome job. From there, you're going to come onto your back side again. You always have the option to hit pause. Hold all of these stretches for longer. Come on to my backside. Legs are bent at 90 degrees. I'm going to take the top leg. It's going to come across at a 90 degree bend. I'm going to take this inside leg and come to a quad stretch. I'm pulling the heel towards the glute. I'm opening up the leg that's closest to the mat. That hip flexor is opening this outside leg. I'm hitting this outer hip, outer glute. Nice little thoracic spine rotation, low back. Thinking about dropping my shoulders to the mat. Thinking about pulling through again. It's not so much about how much I can torque on that quad stretch. It's more about that tiny little pelvic tilt, right. Tucking my hips right underneath my rib cage. That's where I get that nice hip flexor stretch. That's where that really comes in. You're going to hold it here for about seven more seconds. Awesome job. Then we're going to go lying flat on our back in 3, 2, and 1. Nice. From here, you're just going to come lying flat on your back and you're going to take one leg. Doesn't matter which one. We're going to do the next one the next time. And I'm just going to pull it up towards my chest. And then from here, I'm going to pull this knee out towards my armpit. I'm just going to get a nice wide lying hip flexor stretch. So I'm just gently pulling this knee out towards my armpit slightly going wider and wider. And I'm just going to hold here, laying on my back. This feels really good. Now I'm actively stretching the knee that's pulled to me by pulling that knee out towards the armpit. But I can actively stretch this hip flexor at the same time by driving that heel into the ground. Nice. Think about keeping both hips connected to the mat. Don't let this hip hop off. That tiny pelvic tilt again is going to stretch this hip flexor at the same time. You're going to hold here for about 10 more seconds. It should feel really good to just lay here, enjoy this hip opening stretch. And then we're going to repeat all five stretches, switching sides as needed. Awesome job. Nice work, guys. From here, I'm going to gently release. I'm going to roll over, get off the ground safely with this growing baby bump, and we're going to come back in to our half kneeling hip flexor stretch. Okay. This time I'm going to switch legs. So left leg forward, left knee straight out from left hip. Tuck my back toes under again. Don't have to be reaching way forward. It's about that pelvic tilt. So I'm tilting my tailbone right underneath. Stack that tailbone right underneath my rib cage. You're going to know you're going to feel this hip flexor turn on. It's a tiny pelvic tilt, but man, did that hip flexor turn on. You can add those arms up overhead to intensify. You could always add a little side bend stretch to intensify this hip flexor stretch even more. Again, you have the option to stay here. You have the option to take it into a low lunge. By hovering this back knee off the mat and really tucking that tailbone, you're gonna feel that. I like the kneeling position a little bit less intense for my legs. Since I just finished a leg workout, I'm Going to stretch here for three, two, and one. Now I'm going to take my hands and widen my stance. Hands come inside my left foot here. Right knee goes back just a hair. Right toe stay tucked under. We're going into those Spider man rock. So I'm just rocking my hips forward and rocking my hips back again. Thinking about dropping this hip flexor towards the ground. At the same time, I'm thinking about widening, pushing this hip flexor hip this knee out to open this hip. So I'm opening both hip flexors here. Nice little Spiderman rock. Should feel really good for opening up those hips. Awesome job. Gaze is just in front of you. Nice work here. And you have that option again to stay here with that back knee on the ground. Or you can bring it forward, tuck the back toes under, straighten through that back leg, and take those rotations. Nice low lunge rotation. Drop that elbow down towards the ankle calf shin area. Open it back up, and each time you drop that elbow, just think about sinking a little bit deeper towards the mat. Dropping this hip flexor. Opening up for 3, 2, and 1. Awesome job. From here, we're gonna go back into those 90, 90 stretches. Now that you know how to set it up, we're gonna try and get two on each side. Okay. Distance between heel and knee. Split that shin in half. Hinge forward. Hold it here for 3, 2, 1. Give me the switch flip. Nice. Split this shin in half. Chin is always parall. Hold it here. Hinging forward, both knees pushing into the mat for 3, 2, 1. Let's switch again. Nice work. Come back. Let's hold this one for a five count. Actively pushing this knee into the ground to hit this hip flexor and this outer hip. Hold it here for five. Four. Drive those knees to the mat for three, two, one. Let's switch again. Nice work, guys. Awesome job. Right here. Hinge it forward. Actively pushing this knee and this knee into the mat at the same time and holding for 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Nice work. We're gonna go into that side lying pretzel. Other way, so I'll face this way. This time, I'm gonna come down lying on my backside, and I'm gonna pull those knees up to a 90 degrees. This outside leg is gonna just drop over, and this inside leg is gonna come to a nice quad stretch right here. So side lying pretzel. I'm just go. You drop towards the ground, and then again, pull on that little quad stretch. Feel the glute. Think about keeping both shoulders down towards the mat. And again it's not so much about how much I can fork on that quad stretch. It's more about that tiny pelvic tilt that's going to really hit that hip flexor right here. At the same time hitting this other glute, that pelvic tilt tucks that tailbone right underneath that rib cage. After, you're going to feel that hip flexor really turn on and really stretch and create some length there. Should feel really good. You got about 10 more seconds here. Just enjoy this nice stretch. Inhale, exhale, tuck that tailbone. Get a little deeper into the stretch for the final five. Four, three, two and one. Nice work. From here, you're just going to roll onto your backside and we're going to take that nice wide knee pull. Other way so legs go long. I'm going to pull the opposing the other up towards my chest. From here, I'm gently going to pull it out towards my armpit. Nice. I'm just going to hold this nice wide hip flexor stretch. It should feel really good. Just a nice little gentle stretch here. Again, I'm hitting this hip flexor, but I can also actively engage this hip flexor by flexing this foot and drawing both hips down towards the ground. Nice. You're going to feel this hip flexor turn on that tiny pelvic tilt, tuck that tailbone and instantly this hip flexor should be stretching as well. So you're hitting both hip flexors actually at the same time, which is a beautiful thing. And I get to just lay here on my back and take a couple deep breaths, which is a rare occasion in life. So we're gonna soak it up. Big inhale through the nose. Big open mouth. Exhale. Should feel really good. Nice. One more big inhale through the nose. Big open mouth. Exhale. That is our 10 minute hip flexor stretch together, you guys. And I'm just going to show you one bonus move. This is how I like to finish. Whenever I'm stretching my lower body or my hips, I like to take it back to a wall position. I'm going to bring a towel so I can support my knee. I'm going to place one knee on the ground and I'm actually going to get it nice and butted up to the wall and the foot is going to be flat against the wall and I'm going to come into that half kneeling position. So that very first stretch we did, but this time I have some intensity added because the back of my foot is against the wall. The closer I can get my knee to the wall, the harder it's going to be. And I'm going to try and keep this left knee in line with my left hip. And then again it's about that tailbone tuck that gets really intense opening up through the quad and through this hip flexor right here. And I'm just going to try and hold here option to take those arms overhead if you can. I'm just going to hold here. I like to to do about one minute per side, so I'm gonna hold this side for a minute and then I would switch legs and hold the other side for a minute. So if you love a good hip stretch, this is an awesome way to finish it. Also great for reducing low back pain, opening up the quads and the hips. And that is our 10 minute hip flexor stretch routine. The five best hip flexor stretches you can do. No equipment needed. An awesome way to round out leg day. An awesome way to stretch at the end of the week when you're tired and sore. If you like this stretching routine, go ahead, drop subscribe on our YouTube channel and as always you can check out more stretching routines, more full body workouts, hiit workouts, strength workouts, pregnancy friendly workouts. You can find them all at nourishmoodlove. Com.