What are the best methods for the strengthening of the hip flexors the gym we are using does not have a a hip flexor machine.
we are currently using the thera bands but interested to see if there was other methods we could use.
There’s usually no need to specifically load the hip flexors. They will get plenty of action from the high intensity components in the training.
Your main priority for the hip flexors will be keeping them flexible and relaxed, which is hard enough without adding direct loading to them.
i don’t know the relevance of building up hip flexor strength through weights, but i did need some for my event the loing jump where you have to bring your kneee through at take of just like the posiotion you have atthe top of a running a skip drill.
for that i did single leg cable puill through into that running a top position. just get a cable attach it to your foot and perform a stationary running a drill i worked from a comfortable 3x10 reps building up resistance untill i was significantly stronger to reps of 3x6 i found this helped me loads for my event.
also they get specific strength though the running a’s and bs you can always ad weighted jackets reistance to your drills
Charlie or someone else would be more qualified to comment regarding the role played by the hip flexors in the jumps.
However, one point made by Charlie in a couple of his videos is the importance of forward rotation of the hips in lifting the leg during the recovery phase of the stride. If the hips are loose and the abdominals are sufficiently strong, the counter rotation of the hips and shoulders, combined with elastic reaction off the ground, does most of the lifting and forward projection of the swing leg, minimizing the demands on the hip flexors. I imagine this has some relevance to jumping as well.
And yes, running A’s for distance will blast the hip flexors pretty well. You won’t feel like loading them any more after doing a few sets of A’s.
thanks guys
wont name the coach but a former aussie based foreign coach preached the use of hip flexor exercises in the gym.
i will endeavor to try and dig out the program and paste in coming weeks.
so do the therabands play any use in the flexability of the hips flexors?
I would think the therabands would add to tightness, and decrease flexibility of the hips. Basically any ab work (trunk flexion) can hit the hip flexors pretty hard, and that should be more than enough for 99% of people. If you do decide to do specific hip flexor strengthening, with A’s/B’s, weight exercises, make sure to add an extra emphasis to stretching them, and utilizing other hip mobility exercises (hurdle walks, overhead squat etc).
So Apart from the hurdle walks which we currently do min 1 per week what other methods do you use for hip mobility…
yeh, best comment you can give on this!
i thought, i have to train my hip flexors:
The result were bad problems with my back!
Sprinters have automatically strong hip flexors!
There is a really need to tretch them…
tish needs plenty of time. dont waste you time by loading your hip flexors.
hurdlke walk overs and unders should be a key warm up priority in your traiuning i have started them this year and have noticed the diffrence. Add to this leg swings side to side i.e laying on your nack with arms out to the side and looking to swing one leg overt the body to opposite arm and repeat on other side a set of 10 either side, do the same but lyingon your stomach swinging opposite legs to opposite arms and of course basuc hip circles are under rated in warming up the hip area. I find some gentle pnf at the end of all that excellent way to make the tome ready for some fast sprints
Great we currently are doing all of these right now, was concerned about the hip flexor routine in the gym. or our lack of it
which seems to be prescribed by so many…
can rest easy
I agree that hip flexor dont need futher loading when there is a lot of ab work, sprinting and other HI exercises. Mostly, they need more stretching than loading… but, one this that crossed my mind is this:
I am not a proponent of Charlie’s ab circle work (after avoiding spine flexion, my back are normal again), because it is proven that in sprinting (among other activities) abs (rectus, obliques) acts as a stabilaizers in a isometric contraction, rather than flexors. If we avoid doing spine flexion (ab work) and instead do more McGill Big Three type-of-exercises (isometrical in neutral spine position) do we have more space to load hip flexors? Three thing crosses my mind:
- single leg pull trough
- flexor machine
- sledge pulling-walking (strap on the feets)
Opinions?
Hip flexor strength is important part on sprinting. Have the power to push and drive through the hip spring forward down the track. The flexors play an import role in that. Just look at the size of most elite sprinters flexors. Look at Mo’s, Flo Jo, or Ben in his day, theire flexors were huge.
It is a balance, becasue you can over do it. But over all hip strength is vital to any sprinter.
I know that the tensor fascia latae (TFL, the visible muscle on the side of the hips that is considered by the casual observer to be the ‘hip flexor’) does contribute to hip flexion and you really ‘feel the burn’ in them while doing things like flutter kicks, but I don’t really think that the TFL is a primary flexor. The primary flexors, the iliacus and the psoas, are not externally visible. Additionally, the psoas attaches all along the lumbar spine. The problem with extra loading of these muscles is the potential for tightening, which will cause an anterior pelvic tilt (in relation to the top of the pelvis). This will place a lot of stress on the L5/S1 junction. I believe that all posting understand that the hip flexors play a large role in the recovery phase of the running cycle, but Charlie is adament (and the majority rightly agree) that sprinting provides plenty of direct work to the hip flexors. The concern is that extra work (not to mention long periods of sitting) will work to tighten these structures, which shorten stride length and cause (or at least contribute to) back pain. Incidently, the big muscle (the TFL) is more active as both a hip abductor and mainly as a ‘static’ stabilizer of the knee joint.
Adding hip flexor exercises to my weightroom routine significantly boosted my track gains for approximately a month, then the effects tapered off, perhaps just a case of accidently finding an imbalance in my routine, at any rate after a few weeks of hip flexor work I pr’d from 21’3 to 22’1 in the lj with slight head wind, and a slight pr in the 100 from 11.30 to 11.29fat.
The most common exercises I used were weighted leg raises and decline sit ups. I think they are good exercises to look at if your hitting a plateau on the track, but probably not need as a staple of your weightroom workouts.
sign me up lol jk
anyways i think this debate is similar to the calf muscle debate
your hips get a lot of work if ur doing snatches and other Ol’s properly…
with younger athletes when it seems their hips are week, it is usually their leg strength as a whole.
u shouldnt have to isolate any muscle unless ur rehabbing
Considering I had been stuck in the upper 11.4s and upper 20 foot range for the past few meets, it was a nice surprise
I agree that sprinters do have an adequate amount of hip flexor work already embedded in their program through running and additional work when olympic lifts are incorporated into their program.
However, I had been doing the olympic lifts as well, usually a clean or snatch twice a week, as with any muscle group it doesnt hurt to switch the stimulus once in a while. As was my case diversification is always a good method of breaking out of plateaus.