Banish tight hip flexors with these three essential stretches to relieve tension and loosen stiffness. They only take a few minutes each to perform, and trust me, offer a deep release afterward.
As we age, managing weak or tight hips becomes crucial for preventing injuries and enhancing athletic performance. Even if you’re not a gym bunny, daily tasks require a healthy set of hips if you want to avoid pain or limited movement through your 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.
Below, I show you how to do each exercise and list off a few benefits you can expect if you perform them consistently with proper form over the weeks and months. I also recommend one of the best yoga mats to help cushion your knees during one particular move — thank me later.
What are the exercises?
I swear by these three hip stretches to relieve stiffness and tension as you age. Here they are.
1. Frog pose
I won’t dress it up, frog pose feels like your pelvis is about to break in half, but actually, this is one of the best hip stretches you can do. The wide-leg position and precise alignment of your joints help open the hips using external hip rotation, meaning the hips rotate outward and the limbs move away from your midline.
During frog, it’s normal to feel an uncomfortably deep stretch through your adductors (inner thighs), groin and hips, and you’ll also feel your glutes and lower back activating. It’s a great stretch to try if you suffer from sciatica, and when performed correctly, shouldn’t irritate your knees or back.
Learn more about the frog pose and ways to adapt it.
- Start in a tabletop position on your hands and knees
- Shift your weight forward and slide your knees outward to the sides. Your weight should be on your inner knees rather than the tops
- Next, slide your feet outwards so that they align with your knees, the inner sides of your feet hugging the mat
- As you exhale, gently push your hips backward toward your feet
- Hold the pose. For a deeper stretch, lower your elbows to the floor, or even your head.
2. Hip sleeper
The hip sleeper internal rotation stretch draws the knee inward to create internal rotation of the hip. It helps build mobility, control and strength around the pelvis, but it’ll also offer a stretch; most people feel the stretch around the glutes, hips and groin.
There are a few variations of this move floating around on the internet, but the variation below is my favorite. Learn more about the hip sleeper stretch and how to modify it.
- Sit on a mat with your right leg extended and the left leg bent and out to the side
- Draw your left knee inward until it runs parallel to your extended leg, then open it again so that you’re properly set up
- Next, lie down on your mat and brace your core, ensuring your lower back is supported
- Use your inner left thigh to draw your left leg inward to the ground without lifting your butt off the ground
- Pause, then take your right foot and gently press against the outside of the left knee to apply pressure
- Hold for 2 minutes
- Next, push your left knee against your right foot as much as you can for 4 seconds, hold for 10-15 seconds, then release for an 8-count.
- Guide the left knee further toward the mat without lifting your butt, and hold
- Repeat the process several times, getting deeper into the stretch each round.
3. Wall-facing pigeon pose
Pigeon pose can be problematic for some people’s knees, no matter how much they focus on alignment and proper form. For that reason, there are several pigeon pose variations you can do to avoid joint pain.
I like to use wall-facing pigeon, which involves your bodyweight, a wall and nothing else. The wall allows you to rest one foot against it while performing the stretch on the opposite side, taking some of the pressure off the body and allowing you to isolate your hip and gluteal muscles while supporting your back.
Once you feel ready, try performing the same steps without the wall (as above) for a more unsupported version.
- Lay facing a wall with your knees bent, feet planted on the mat and toes touching the edge of the wall
- Slightly tuck your pelvis toward you to flatten your lower back and gently engage your core
- Place your left foot on the wall so that your leg is at 90 degrees
- Rest your right foot over your left knee, just above the joint
- Gently open the right hip and press your knee away from you toward the wall
- Press into the wall with the left foot and hold the stretch
- If you need more intensity, shift your butt closer to the wall, or move further away to reduce it
- Switch sides.
Perform each stretch for a minute or two, breathing deeply in through your nose and exhaling slowly through your mouth. The sleeper stretch is a slightly lengthier effort, but you can choose how long you perform it for by opting for greater or fewer sets, depending on the time you have available.
Unlike mobility exercises, these stretches hold the muscles under tension to encourage them to relax and lengthen, increasing short-term flexibility in the muscle fibers. I highly recommend reading my guide on stretching versus mobility if you’re unsure which types of exercises are best for you.
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