A pulled hip flexor can be a painful and potentially debilitating injury for some. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may be limited to certain types of stretching exercises. While lunges and other gentle stretches are generally safe...
Soccer players use a wide variety of muscle groups to carry out the complex motions involved with kicking, running and jumping. Hip flexors are a particularly important muscle group because of their relationship to a soccer player's leg movements....
Five muscle groups are located in and around your groin; they are called the adductor muscles and are separated into long and short adductors. Like any other muscle, you can strain the adductors in the groin or pelvic area, creating significant...
The lateral hip flexor is the name given to a group of muscles that offer rotation and movement of the hip joint. This muscle group is made up of the psoas major and minor muscles, the adductor muscles found in the inner groin, and other muscles,...
A pull or strain to the muscles of your groin, hip or thigh is a fairly common skiing injury. Do not attempt to continue skiing after hurting yourself. If you follow your doctor's advice to rest and treat the groin pull, you will be able to resume...
The hip flexors are a group of muscles that are located in the front top of the thigh and extend into the hip. They are responsible for bringing the thigh towards the chest and moving the hip forward. These muscles can become pulled, strained or...
There's a never-ending stream of new exercise equipment designed -- or so the manufacturers claim -- to give you perfectly toned abs with little or no effort. The professional fitness models employed to demonstrate the equipment have enviably...
Although leg raises are often billed as a core strengthening exercise, your hip flexors are actually the primary movers, not your abs. Although your abs do work to stabilize your lower back in an isometric contraction, the strong pull of your hip...
Running, jogging and brisks walk are common physical activities. Hip movement gets you up and running, or walking, and hip flexors play key roles when you are on your feet. Hip flexors are activated during physical activity, and the muscle group...
The hip flexors are a group of four primary muscles on the front side of the body that serve to lift the leg closer to the torso. They play an integral role in stability of the hips, sprinting and even squatting. Runners and cyclists often overuse...
Ab Rocket and Ab Lounger commercials both promise to help you tone and strengthen your abs. The popularity of ab exercise equipment like these machines might be due in part to the popular myth of spot reduction. Many people believe that if you...
Situated on the upper thighs and just beneath the hipbones, hip flexors allow for lifting of the knees and bending at the midsection, according to MayoClinic.com. Because they continuously work to support the body, hip flexors tend to become...
Your leg relies on a complicated interworking of muscles to provide strength and mobility for your body. One such muscle in the thigh is known as the sartorius muscle. The longest muscle in the body, the sartorius muscle helps you to engage in a...
A tight and sore lower back may be the result of an injury. Tight muscles in the hip and thigh, such as the quads and hip flexors, can pull on the hips and spine, resulting in a tight and sore lower back. Hot and cold therapy combined with simple...
The hip flexors, including the rectus femoris and the iliopsoas, lie on the front of the hip and thigh. When they contract, they bring the femur, or thigh bone, closer to the torso. This is the opposite movement of what happens in the air when you...
The Roman chair, also known as a pilot's chair, is a piece of gym equipment that provides a raised backrest, padded arm rests for your forearms and vertical handles affixed to the arm rests for you to grip. When you lean against the back rest and...
Active people may encounter groin strains or hip injuries as a result of certain high-intensity sports such as hockey or squash, although these injuries can occur during any activity, from running to Pilates. Pain in the groin area that radiates...
A tuck sit pullup involves hanging from a pullup bar or Olympic rings with your hands and lifting your legs or knees up toward your body. It requires stabilizing your core, which includes muscles in your abs, spine and pelvis, to maintain proper...
The hip flexors are small muscles that "flex" the hip. This is a motion that causes the thigh to move toward your stomach. When you want to train the hip flexors with a cable machine, you are going to need two ankle cuffs or straps. With some of...
Some pedaling techniques transfer more power from your legs to your bike than others. Good technique helps you pedal more efficiently and save energy on a long ride. It also gives you more power, which helps you go faster. To achieve the most...
Improving hip alignment is typically accomplished using a combination of exercises and stretches to target weakness in the hip musculature and typically tight hip flexors, which both pull the hips into poor alignment if not addressed. Although...
If you want to reach new levels of fitness, a stair stepper can help. Climbing on a stair stepper burns a large number of calories: about 238 calories for a 150-lb. person exercising for 30 minutes. Stair steppers also offer a vigorous...
Stretching your legs and feet is important for maintaining limber muscles and injury prevention. When performing foot and leg stretches, it's important that you never stretch cold muscles and that you warm up thoroughly but doing at least five...
You might know the "hip flexor machine" as the captain's chair or a Roman chair. Although this piece of equipment does work your hip flexors, a 2001 study commissioned by the American Council on Exercise also named it as one of the most effective...
Compared to boxing, football or basketball, jogging has a low incidence of injury, but it is still a repetitive stress type activity. The joints in your legs and spine are your shock absorption system and if you overdo it, they can get injured....
Cycling is a low-impact activity that helps to protect your knees and other joints. It is an endurance activity, meaning that it helps strengthen the heart and increase lung capacity. It also builds strong muscles, particularly in the legs. While...
Though your spine normally curves from front to back, weak or tight muscles can cause too much curvature, resulting in bad posture, pain and injury risk. Your hip flexors are muscles on the front of your thighs. If your hip flexors are tight or...
A groin injury usually results from a pull or strain of your hip flexor, inner thigh or gracilis muscles. Overstretching and explosive starts such as in sprinting increase your risk of a groin pull. Losing your footing is another common cause of...
According to Ann and Chris Frederick, authors of "Stretch to Win," your lower back muscles are part of the posterior fascia chain. This consists of connective tissues and muscles that run from the base of your neck, through your torso and hips,...
Learn how to stretch in the water in this free exercise video on swimming pool workouts and aqua fitness.
Negative pull-ups are a tough body weight exercise that will strengthen lats, rhomboids, abs, and hip flexors. Perform this exercise at a cable rack with a set of handles fed through the lowest pull-up grips. Learn how to perform it in this...
Knee to chest exercises are great for the lower back. Learn exercises and stretches for your workout routine in this fitness video.
Negative pull-ups are a tough body weight exercise that will strengthen lats, rhomboids, abs, and hip flexors. Perform this exercise at a cable rack with a set of handles fed through the lowest pull-up grips. Learn how to perform it in this...
A lunge with a quad extension works the lower body by beginning with a lunge, adding a knee lift and ending with a full leg extension to the front. Work the lower body with lunges, adding weights to increase the difficulty level, with instruction...
