Let’s talk about hip flexor stretches this time. But before that, I hope you are having a great day!
We are finally above freezing in Kelowna and things are warming up. So, it is time for this year’s first swim….
My 12-year old chocolate lab loves to swim. He hasn’t been able to swim for the last 5-6 months so he’s very excited to jump to the lake and play sticks.
Now today, I have a quick fix for the overhead squat for you.
Enjoy!
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3 Reasons Why Tight Hip Flexors Affect Your Squat
Your hip flexors are a group of muscles that help you bend and rotate your hips. These muscles also extend your knees and lift your thighs up toward your torso. If you have tight hip flexors, it means they’re contracting involuntarily when you’re trying to extend or rotate your hips. This can make performing certain movements difficult or even impossible.
The good news is that these are easily preventable and fixable with some simple stretches for hip flexors and strengthening exercises.
I wanted to go through the #1 muscle you need to fix in order to improve your squat.
1. Muscle You Need to Fix In Order to Improve Your Overhead Squat
CLICK HERE to watch the video.
This number one muscle is called the hip flexors. These are the muscles that comprise the front of your hip and thigh. When they are shortened or tightened, they will have a big effect on your squat. Check these stretches for hip flexors.
1. Shift weight onto your toes
This hip flexor stretch is perfect. It will shorten up and they will shift your weight more forward and more on to your toes. The shifting of your mid foot and toes puts greater stress on the knees. So if the hip flexors are loosen up, you are able to put more weight on your mid-foot and heel which allows your bigger muscles like hamstring and glutes to help you out when squatting.
2. Squat depth stretches for hip flexors
The hip flexors affects how deep one can go when squatting. If you are not able to go very deep when performing a squat, you are relying more on your quadriceps which put greater stress on your knees. If you can get deeper in your squat, then you are able to use your glutes and your hamstring to get you out of the squat position. Try this hip flexors stretch now!
3. Tilt the pelvis forward stretches for hip flexor
This hip flexors stretch is also good. If your hip flexors are tightening up, it tilts your pelvis forward. The tilting of the pelvis forward decreases the room for hip flexion. This will affect how deep you can squat due to pinching or decreased range of motion.
So there you go! If you have any issues when squatting, take a look your hip flexors and check out the three reasons why those tight hip flexors can affect your squat.
Take care!
Rick Kaselj, MS
If you want to instantly release your hip flexors for more strength, better health and all day energy, then click here to check out the Unlock Your Hip Flexors program.
