Strong Hip Flexors Make a Strong Runner
By contrast, those individuals who don’t ignore and abuse their hip flexors can enjoy both better running economy and faster finishes. Strong hip flexors contribute to a higher stride angle—which was associated with better running economy in a 2014 study published in the National Strength & Conditioning Association’s Journal of Strength and Conditioning. This evidence came roughly a decade after researchers writing for the same publication demonstrated that an 8-week program aimed at strengthening hip flexors resulted in faster running speeds. There are a lot of things you can do to run more efficiently or to run faster, but strengthening the hip flexors represents one of the few opportunities to do both at once.
None of us likes pain or injury, and we all want to run faster and more efficiently, so how can we both strengthen and lengthen these oft overlooked muscles?
Hip Flexor Strengtheners
Some of the best exercises for strengthening the hip flexors require no equipment at all and are intuitively simple, if muscularly challenging. In order of increasing difficulty, here are a few of my favorite exercises to use with clients who have weak hip flexors:
Straight-Legged Sitting: Grab a broomstick and sit on the floor with your legs together and extended straight out in front of you. Run the broomstick along your spine from your tailbone to the back of your head, making sure to keep a bit of space between your lower back and the stick. As you keep that space there, pull hard with your hip flexors until you are sitting up tall at a 90-degree angle. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and repeat up to five times.
Straight-Leg Raise: Start by lying on the floor on your back. Place a hand in the space between your lower back and the floor and keep it there throughout the exercise. Keeping your knee straight, slowly raise one leg as close to 90 degrees as you can without your lower back flattening toward the floor. When you feel your back start to flatten, hold that position for 10 seconds, then switch sides. Repeat up to five times on each side. If you can’t get beyond 30 degrees, use a yoga strap to assist you with the pull for the first one or two repetitions. This will stretch your hamstrings so that they don’t inhibit your hip flexors so much. If you can reach 90 degrees easily from the floor, then do the same exercise standing, with your back against a wall or a door.
Kneeling Foot to Hand: Kneel on a mat in an all-fours position. Without using momentum, very slowly pull your right foot as far forward as you can. The goal is to place your foot flat on the floor next to your right hand, but don’t be surprised if you get nowhere close at first. Again, it’s critical that you don’t use momentum to swing your leg forward. Don’t arc it wide to swing it around, either. Instead, use a steady, strong contraction of the hip flexors to pull your foot forward. Think of your leg as dead weight, where only the hip flexors are functional. If you find this impossible, start with your hands up on a step or bench. Do 5 to 10 repetitions with each leg.