Stretch and train like an athlete to see faster gains here
Everyone knows that they have to stretch their hips and legs if they want to maintain optimal performance in their training. That said, people often times forget about the mobility component of this and think stretching your hips alone will do the trick. It will not. If you want to build bigger, stronger legs you need to be sure you have both adequate mobility and hip flexibility. In this video, I show you a stretching drill that you can do to improve your hip mobility and flexibility at the same time.
The target of this drill is the psoas major. The psoas is a large muscle that has the main responsibility of flexing the hip. Due to the fact that it has attachments on the lateral aspect of the vertebral bodies in the lower thoracic and enter lumbar spine however, this muscle not only has a great impact on the health of your back, but needs to be addressed completely if it is to have an impact on your training.
To really stretch the psoas major you need to perform a drill that combines hip extension and lateral trunk flexion away from the side of the stretch. This video showcases a quick and easy stretch that you can do in mobility fashion (by moving into and out of the stretch dynamically) that will not only help to loosen up that tight hip flexor of yours but also mobilize your hips in general.
All you need is a moveable bar (as I show in the smith machine) or a simple broomstick that you support over the back of two pieces of furniture. Ideally, this bar can be placed at hip height. You start by standing to the side of the bar with your feet pointed straight ahead of you. Duck down and squat with hips wide apart as you attempt to move under the bar. You will perform a side lunge at the bottom of the squat to get your body from one side of the bar to the other.
Once underneath, rotate your back foot so it’s pointing in the direction you are going. From here, reach your hands up overhead to increase the extension of the hip and lean your torso away from the hip being stretched. This tilt will intensify the stretch even further. The fact that you have to hold this position and then slide back under in the other direction will help to reinforce the greater mobility of the hips as well.
Perform this mobility stretching drill 10 times in each direction or until your hips feel adequately mobilized and loosened.
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26 comments
Kapow we back at it baby
did this for over 30 mins till i felt a crack in my spine , turns out my psoas was so tight it made my right pelvis stuck which is why my right glute wasnt responding as much as the left , instant relief ( in a way ) now felt a much stronger contraction in my right glute working to correct this imbalance , also strengthening the left hip flexor to make sure it doesnt get stuck back in , thanks jeff
Hi Jeff, I did a shoulder streach today that I saw you explain on another video for "popping" shoulders. I'm 61 y.o. You had the thumb side of the index finger going up the wall, kind of like doing a press. Well after a few times doing that, and doing some light shoulder sets, the popping stopped for cable pull downs. Still had some popping on the rear delt machine, but definitely better. Thanks for the tip. Tom
Ok so I need some help to determine which muscle is tight because this is super confusing to me but ok so what happened was like about 2 years ago I was skateboarding and I pulled a muscle in my in my upper leg by my hip and I didn't realize it was super fucked until now but anyways the muscle is tight and my hip is pulled down and a little forward ig some shit like that and it's on my left side my left shoulder is higher and my right shoulder is lower can someone tell me what muscle it is so I can get it stretched and fixed thanks in advance
If yoga is a person, it says, hold my beer. Let me do Warrior Pose and Lizard Pose. Lizard Pose does the deep stretch on psoas
Suppose you cannot sit low to slide under.
My hips are way to tight to attempt that.
Do you have any other suggestions?
Man i was just looking on how to fix this problem and jeff was on the money!! My man
Great exercise but why not show the over exercise too? Everything was set up and would have taken just another minute.
Well that was surprisingly great! Haha wasn't expecting that! I've been struggling to find a good effective stretch for the hip flexors. Constant sitting,driving, etc keeps it tight, hard to stretch. Also lower back, it's all connected and super tight. I hope I find more videos on that! Thanks!
So… Yoga.
That was excellent. But I don’t have that equipment.
I got rid of reoccurring internal hip flexors strain, due to this mobility drill. thanks Jeff. Disciple from India
This is a really helpful video, psoas long as you take it seriously. 😏
Thanks but after exercise muscles behaving like water sound in pipe
Very helpful, thanks allot
Thank you. I find these videos about strengthening and releasing hips helpful. Are you able to focus on the hip issues of female's over 50 and also on the issues for for people who are hypermobile in the future please Jeff?
Big Thank You…:) ..
Thank you
Incredible, thanks so much
Athelan-x, you are the best person in the world!
That's a capoeirista stretch. Esquiva!
Guess you could say this muscle is psoas important
I love this guy! He speaks my language. 🥰
This video is 6 years old and still dead accurate and awesome content. Cool to see your progression at athlean x Jeff.
daaaamnn maaan,you awesome
Jeff is the gold standard