4 Powerful Hip Flexor Strengthening Exercises With PDF (2024)

In this post, I’ll share 4 powerful exercises to strengthen your hip flexors for stronger hips.

These exercises will add another layer of strength to your hips and help you improve balance and performance when running, walking, or doing hip flexor-focused activities.

Important note if you experience lower back pain: Follow my 3 important tips below to do the hip flexor exercises without triggering lower back pain.

This is very important if you have lower back and hip issues…

Hip flexor tightness is a leading cause of chronic lower back pain and hip dysfunction and tightness.

Strengthening the hip flexors should come second to core and glutes strengthening if you’re experiencing lower back pain.

Most people nowadays spend a long time sitting, contributing to hip flexor and psoas tightness. So, we want to avoid exacerbating this problem by doing even more exercises for the hip flexors, which can tighten them even more.

You want to balance these exercises with core and glute exercises to strengthen the posterior chain muscles.

I’ll have a list of core and glute exercises for you as well below the hip flexor exercises.

Your Hip Flexors

The iliopsoas muscle unit is the main hip flexor of the thigh. Its overactivity can lead to hip imbalances and dysfunctions.

The psoas major engages in almost any movement…walking, running, sitting, jumping. So, in addition to the great exercises I’ll share to strengthen this muscle, I’ll also share some stretches you can do after the exercises.

What Are The Hip FlexorMuscles

A hip flexor is any muscle that produces flexion at the hips(1).

The seven primary hip flexors (2):

• Iliacus:As shown in the image above. The Iliacus is a flat muscle positioned on the iliac fossa. It’s shaped like a triangle. The Iliacus and Psoas major form the iliopsoas muscle.

• PSOAS major:The largest and principal hip flexor muscle and part of the iliopsoas muscle (Psoas and Iliacus). This muscle plays a significant role in stabilizing the spine.

• Rectus femoris:This muscle is part of the quadriceps muscle group (it runs down the thigh). It is also a hip flexor (when you flex your hips, the quad muscle also plays a role in that flexion).
• Sartorius:This is a thin muscle that runs along the thigh. It’s also the longest muscle in the human body. It contributes to hip and leg flexion.

• Adductor complex:Consists of the adductor brevis, adductor longus, and adductor magnus. The primary function of these muscles is to adduct and flex the thigh. When these muscles tighten up, they affect hip alignment and daily movement.

• Gracilis:The gracilis muscle is a hip adductor. It contributes to leg flexion due to its attachment to the tibia.

• Tensor Fascia Latae(TFL):the TFL muscle is enclosed in two layers of fascia. It has multiple functions because of its location.

How to strengthen your hip flexor muscles

Please follow these 3 important tips when doing the exercises below to make sure you focus on the hip flexors without causing lower back pain.

1. When lifting your hip, perform a slight posterior pelvic tilt to avoid overaching your lower back.
2. Connect your hip flexors with your oblique on the opposite side when lifting up. This will help you keep that tension on the hip flexors and avoid flaring your thoracic spine.
3. Avoid letting your hips hike or drop when flexing your hips. Keep those hips at the same level by engaging the gluteus medius.

Hip Flexor Strengthening Exercises:

Band Hip Flexes

• In a standing position, wrap the band around the thighs.
• Lift one knee up to form a 90-degree angle.
• Focus on engaging the hip flexor muscle by performing a slight posterior pelvic tilt and connecting the hip flexor to your side rib cage.

Seated Hip Hurdles

• Sit on your mat with your arms extended to support your back.
• Extend your legs in front of you and have a dumbbell positioned in the middle.
• Lift one leg over the dumbbell in a hurdling motion and extend the other leg.
• After completing a few hurdles, shift to the other leg.
• Focus on keeping your back straight and using your hip muscles to lift your leg.

Banded Leg Lifts

• Lie on your back with a resistance band around your thighs.
• Engage your core muscles and pull your lower abs in.
• Raise one leg off the floor towards your chest using the hip muscles
• Slowly lower your leg down and raise the other leg up, pushing up against the resistance of the band to activate those hip flexors.

Backward Lunge to Knee Lift

• Engage your core and glutes for stability.
• Lunge backward with your right foot and bring your foot forward.
• Now lift your right knee up by flexing at the hip while balancing on your left leg.
• As you raise your knee, keep your hips at the same level (avoid any hip dropping or hip hikes) and engage your core.
• Remember to have your pelvis slightly tucked in to connect your abdominals with your psoas as you lift up.
• After a few repetitions, switch sides.

How to stretch your hip flexor muscles

When the psoas is chronically tight, you may notice an increase in lumbar lordosis posture.

When the psoas get tight and short, it affects pelvic alignment and posture. For example, ananterior pelvic tiltindicates that the PSOAS is tightened and short.

You can checkout my full post that includes 7 amazing Psoas stretches. One of my favorite hip flexor stretches is the simple lunge down stretch: