Your Psoas Isn't Just Tight, It's WEAK [Don't Stretch, Do These Instead]
Summary
TLDRThe video explains why tightness and achiness in the hip flexors happens and provides 5 exercises to address the root causes. It covers the anatomy of key muscles like the psoas, rectus femoris and pectineus. Sitting incorrectly shortens these muscles causing weakness and tightness over time. Static stretching can make this worse. The 5 exercises - self-myofascial release, standing glute contraction, standing slumpy psoas, side-lying hip extension and front support hip flexion - aim to restore muscle length, strength and control throughout the range of motion. Doing them 2-3 times a week for 4+ weeks can provide lasting relief.
Takeaways
- 😀 The psoas muscle contributes to hip flexion but also to lumbar spine stability. It needs to work properly for good alignment.
- 👉 Sitting too much shortens and weakens the psoas over time. This causes tightness and achiness in the front of the hips.
- 🧘♂️ Avoid static stretching for tight hip flexors, as it can make the problems worse. Follow a structured routine instead.
- 💪 Do self-massage first to improve tissue quality. Then activate and strengthen the muscles through their full range of motion.
- 👣 Standing glute contractions co-activate the hip flexors in a neutral spine position to restore proper activation.
- 🤸 The standing slumpy psoas technique strengthens hip flexion with a neutral spine, avoiding compensation.
- 🏋️♀️ Progressively add load to hip flexor exercises once technique is solid, to build strength effectively.
- 🦵 The side-lying hip extension drill works on regaining full hip extension range of motion and hip flexor length.
- 🔁 A complete routine should be done 2-3 times per week for at least 4 weeks to retrain movement patterns.
- 😊 Following a program like this can relieve achiness and tightness over time by addressing the root causes.
Q & A
Why does the psoas muscle often get tight and weak?
-The psoas often gets tight and weak from too much sitting. When we sit, we are often in a posterior pelvic tilt and lumbar flexion, which shortens the psoas and prevents it from working properly to stabilize the lumbar spine.
Why is static stretching not recommended for tight hip flexors?
-Static stretching doesn't address the root issue of weakness and can actually further irritate the joint capsule and ligaments, leading to more pain and tightness over time.
What is the purpose of the self-myofascial release technique?
-The self-myofascial release technique helps to break up adhesions and scar tissue in the muscles and improve tissue quality so the muscles can contract through their full range of motion.
How does the standing glute contraction exercise help with tight hip flexors?
-Activating and strengthening the glutes helps to balance out overactivity of the hip flexors by co-contracting the muscles around the hip.
What is dissociated movement and why is it important?
-Dissociated movement separates out commonly linked patterns to better target specific muscles, like flexing the hip without posteriorly tilting the pelvis to better activate the psoas.
How can you adjust the standing slumpy psoas if the TFL is overactive?
-Cues like abducting and externally rotating the hip can help shut off overactivity of the TFL to better target the psoas and iliopsoas.
What is the purpose of the side-lying hip extension technique?
-This technique strengthens the hip extensors and flexors through their full range of motion to improve flexibility.
Why use bands for the front support hip flexion?
-The bands allow progressive loading to build strength in the hip flexors in an integrated, functional position.
How often should you do this hip flexor routine?
-Aim to do the full routine 2-3 times per week for at least 4 weeks to see results. More frequency with just bodyweight, less frequency if adding load.
What other resources are available for hip pain?
-There is a full hip pain solution program available that includes more exercises and an easy-to-follow, time efficient programming approach.
Outlines
🚫 Why Standard Hip Flexor Stretches May Not Help
The video introduces the topic by explaining the common issue of achiness and tightness in the hip flexor area, particularly focusing on the psoas muscle. The speaker, Coach E from Precision Movement, emphasizes the importance of understanding the anatomy and function of hip flexor muscles to address the root causes of discomfort effectively. Instead of relying on standard stretching techniques, which may not offer lasting relief, the video promises to present five exercises designed to target the underlying issues. The approach is grounded in scientific reasoning and anatomy, highlighting the role of the psoas muscle in lumbar stability and its impact on overall hip function. The narrative sets the stage for a deeper exploration of specific exercises aimed at relieving tightness and improving muscle function through targeted activation and strength building.
🔄 Introduction to Active Self Myofascial Release & Glute Activation
This section elaborates on the first two of the five exercises aimed at addressing hip flexor tightness. The first technique, active self myofascial release for the hip flexors, involves using a massage ball and weight to apply pressure and improve tissue quality around the hip. This is followed by the standing glute contraction exercise, which focuses on activating the glute muscles with proper alignment and slight internal rotation of the hips. The video emphasizes the importance of following tissue loosening with muscle activation to ensure lasting improvements in muscle function. These exercises are presented as foundational steps to prepare the body for more intensive strengthening exercises, highlighting the methodical approach to resolving hip flexor issues.
🔑 Key Exercises for Hip Flexor Strength and Mobility
The third paragraph introduces more advanced exercises that build upon the foundation laid by the initial techniques. The standing slumpy psoas exercise is designed to dissociate the commonly associated movement patterns of hip flexion and lumbar flexion, targeting effective psoas activation. The side lying hip extension and range expansion technique further aims to strengthen the hip flexors in an extended range of motion, enhancing both strength and flexibility. These exercises are detailed with specific cues and variations to ensure proper execution and maximum benefit. The narrative underscores the importance of correct posture and alignment in achieving effective hip flexor activation and strength.
💪 Advanced Techniques for Hip Flexor Conditioning
The final set of exercises, including the front support hip flexion, are designed for individuals looking to further challenge their hip flexors with added resistance. These exercises incorporate external loads, such as dumbbells and bands, to progressively build strength in the hip flexor muscles. The video emphasizes functional integration, demonstrating how core stability and hip flexor strength support each other. The concluding remarks encourage viewers to integrate these exercises into their routine for at least four weeks, suggesting that such commitment can lead to improvements in flexibility, strength, and potentially reduce pain. The speaker invites feedback and engagement from the audience, highlighting the community aspect of shared health and wellness journeys.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Psoas
💡Hip Flexor Stretch
💡Active Self Myofascial Release
💡Glute Activation
💡Lumbar Stability
💡Posterior Pelvic Tilt
💡Sitting
💡Functional Integration
💡TFL (Tensor Fasciae Latae)
💡Eccentric Motion
Highlights
The psoas muscle contributes to hip flexion and lumbar spine stability.
Sitting shortens the psoas muscle, makes it weak, and causes tightness and achiness in the front of the hips.
Static stretching can worsen achiness in the front of the hips without fixing the underlying weakness.
Self-massage helps break up adhesions, improve tissue quality, and restore mobility of the hip flexors.
Activate the hip flexors after massage to make the changes last.
The standing glute contraction trains hip muscles like the psoas in a neutral spine position.
The standing slumpy psoas targets the psoas muscle by combining hip flexion and spinal extension.
Add load to the standing slumpy psoas once technique is good to build strength.
Use cues like external rotation to prevent over-recruitment of the TFL during hip flexion.
The side lying technique strengthens hip extensors and flexors through full range of motion.
The front support exercise trains core stability while activating the hip flexors.
Use enough load and reps to sufficiently challenge the muscles without over 12 reps.
Perform this 2-3x per week for at least 4 weeks to improve hip flexor mobility and strength.
Consider the full Hip Pain Solution program for more exercise variations and structured programming.
Stop static stretching and focus on strength to relieve hip tightness and achiness for good.
Transcripts
if your psoas or your front of the hip
area feels achy and tight stop doing the
standard hip flexor stretches in this
video you're going to learn why that is
and five exercises to get to the root
cause so you can relieve that achiness
and that tightness for good
[Music]
hey it's coachee here from Precision
movement and we're back with another
YouTube video to help you move freely
and without pain and today we're
focusing on this area the hip flexor
area and we're going to focus a little
bit more on the psoas muscle but there
are other muscles involved in the
exercises out I'm going to show you and
in the problems of achiness and
tightness in the front of the hip right
here now if you like unique time
efficient and most importantly effective
exercises to get you out of pain and to
keep you moving then make sure you're
subscribed to our Channel because that's
what we do around here now before we get
into the five exercises I want to cover
a little bit of background some anatomy
and some scientific reasoning behind why
the soas muscle and the hip flexor area
does get tight and achy and even before
that I just want to commend you for
being here for continuing to be a
student and learning and taking control
of your own health and well-being this
is something that we need more of and we
need more people like you so keep it up
good work
now the muscle is involved I mentioned
the psoas muscle it's a popular one and
it's part of the hip flexor group so hip
flexion is this movement right here
bringing the knee to the chest that's
hip flexion the PSO is is one muscle
that does it there's also the iliacus
and those two muscles are often combined
and called the iliopsoas but we like we
think of them differently because they
have slightly different functions which
I'm going to cover in a second there's
also the rectus femoris which is a
quadricep muscle it's part of the
quadriceps group but because it crosses
the hip joint it can contribute to hip
flexion thing is we just don't want it
to contribute to hip flexion too much
and the last muscle that I'll talk about
is the pectineus and that's a short
muscle in the front of the hip here and
it does hip flexion and adduction so
these are kind of the four main hip
flexor muscles and the psoas is the one
that we're going to focus on
because of where it originates it
originates on the different vertebrae
and the lumbar spine and this tells us
that
it contributes to hip flesh and yes but
it also contributes to something at the
lumbar spine that's something is lumbar
stability especially in the neutral
position or the slightly extended
position so that's a key cue throughout
all of the exercises that you'll see is
that we need to maintain that lumbar
spine's position so that the psoas can
effectively work so now that you can see
it and you can visualize it it should
help you to execute the exercises better
and get more out of the exercises
so that's one of the cues that is really
important when you do the exercise so
remember that we're going to cover a
couple other now why does this always
get tight and weak sitting that's one
thing that contributes to so many issues
in today's society we sit too much but
specifically when we sit
we are on our butts often in a posterior
pelvic tilt so if we had a tail it would
be as if we were tucking our tail
between our legs and with a flexed
lumbar spine So based on what I just
said the psoas can effectively work in
that position the other thing is we've
got a backrest so we're leaning back
we're in this bad position this slumped
flexed position so the psoas is
shortened up and it doesn't have to work
because we're on this backrest so it the
psoas doesn't have to contribute to this
proper neutral spine good alignment of
the lumbar spine and stability of the
lumbar spine so if we're not using it
we're going to lose it use it or lose it
that's a maxim that applies to pretty
much everything human at least but if
we're not using it we're losing it so
it's getting weak it's atrophying it's
in the shortened position it's getting
short and that causes so many issues so
we're gonna do exercises to restore all
of those issues now I mentioned at the
outside of this outset of this video no
static stretching the standard stretch
is this hip flexor kneeling
lunge half dealing lunge hip flexor
stretch where you basically go like this
you can stick an arm up you can reach
over to the side like that and stretch
out the hip flexor I used to prescribe
this quite a bit actually but I rarely
do so now and when I do there's a few
specific cues that we need to keep in
mind
the problem with this is that
number one it doesn't restore strength
so if you're expecting
lasting changes in muscle length and
range of motion from this you're not
going to get it because you're not going
to strengthen the muscle with this and
number two it's really easy to be over
aggressive with this stretch you can get
in there you can really put your weight
into it Reef on it and
be aggressive
the issue here is that doing so will
aggravate the anterior
part of the hip specifically the hip
joint capsule and the ligaments there
when you do that you can increase your
achiness and you think oh I need to do
more stretching you do it you keep doing
it and it's just a vicious cycle and
you're going to get worse and worse and
more and more achy and you're not going
to really improve your hip flexor length
so we're going to go through five
exercises in this routine that you can
do two three days a week for if you want
to feel some good effects at least four
weeks it could be up to eight weeks but
four weeks is a good amount of time to
feel some good effects two weeks you
might to feel some stuff I mean you
might do start to feel some beneficial
Effects by doing it just once with me
today but if you want your results to
persist and the changes to persist
you've got to put in the time and the
Reps the first technique we're going to
go through is active self myofascial
release for the hip flexors and with
this
got a massage ball here and I'm going to
use a weight that's the easiest thing to
use for this exercise you can use apply
pressure with your hand but it's much
easier to do it with the weight
for this all you're going to do is in
the front of the hip where those muscles
are you're going to place the ball then
you're going to place the weight on the
ball and keep your knee bent to start
once you got some pressure there
relax all the muscles you're not tensing
up the hip flexors and then just slide
the legs slowly
forwards now you're going into hip
extension
and then move the ball to another area
and repeat
if you feel anything weird you might be
on a vessel
just don't go on that area don't do
anything that feels weird or causes more
pain so I'm going to reset all around
the front of the hip here for one to two
minutes
and if you only have one side that
bothers you do both sides this is good
for you and this will help to restore
tissue quality
break up any adhesions or scar tissue
and
allow that muscle to work properly
through its full range of motion allow
it to contract through its full range of
motion
so that's active self myofascial release
for the hip flexors one to two minutes
per side
after that we've restored length there
after that we want to get the activation
going right away
we never stretch or we never go for
massages and then just leave it at that
we loosen the tissue up improve the
quality of the tissue then we activate
that tissue and that's how we can get
those changes that we've
gained through the massage or through
the stretch or the release
we can get them to stick so the next
exercise is the standing glute
contraction
this is in the ROM coach app
and I've shown this in other videos but
it's very simple
all you do is you start off good posture
good alignment
relaxed knees soft not hyper extended
just soft and then you're going to
slowly ramp up glute activation with a
little bit of internal rotation of the
hips turning the thighs inside this way
just a little bit it could be like
one to five degrees that's all
I'm gonna wrap it up nice and strong as
hard as you can
in terms of activating the glutes and
then holding that for
five to ten seconds
and then you release gradually
so it's a slow ramp up and slow ramp
down
the key is that internal rotation
that'll help you to keep your weight on
your feet even not rolling out to the
sides and it keeps that alignment of the
pelvis and the hips so again I'm
standing here I'm going to ramp up the
glute activation
with a little bit of internal rotation
once I'm holding it as strong as I can
without any pain or issues
I'm breathing and holding for five to
ten seconds or one to two slow breaths
and then I wrap it down
and what this is doing is it's
activating we're focused on activating
the glutes but it's going to co-contract
around the hips get all the hip muscles
working those hip flexor muscles that we
talked about earlier and it gets them
working in this neutral or slightly
extended position because remember we've
got our hips stuck in this position from
all the sitting so now we're lengthening
it and we're activating the muscle so
we're starting to restore that
activation restore that strength for
this exercise two to three sets no one
to two sets actually four to six reps
holding for five to ten seconds
after that we're gonna go to the
standing slumpy psoas and this is a
great exercise because it dissociates
the commonly associated movement pattern
of hip flexion which is when we Flex our
hips we often posteriorly pelvic tilt
and flex our lumbar spines but by doing
that we're not effectively targeting the
psoas muscle especially so we're going
to do the opposite
what you do is you stand against the
wall lean against the wall and just get
in bad posture so we're starting off in
that posterior tilt
lumbar flexion and slumped spine it's
really bad posture from here I'm going
to do one side I'm going to flex the hip
as I
anteriorly pelvic tilt
and straighten up and get into good
posture good spinal posture at the top
here I'm holding and what I'm thinking
of is keeping my pelvis level so I might
have to drop this
hip towards the ground
and then breathing naturally and sucking
the leg in to the pelvis those two cues
so I'm here holding and then from there
I slowly lower down and try to feel
the hip flexors lengthen and keep them
contracted to work that eccentric motion
of the hip flexors
again let's demo that I'll do the other
side so switch sides start off
slumped posture bad posture
and then I'm going to flex the hip
and get into good posture at the same
time
and hold at the top keep driving the
knee up to flex the hip and activate
those hip flexors and think of pelvis
level here so dropping this hip towards
the ground and sucking the leg into the
pelvis sucking the thigh into the pelvis
not reaching it towards the wall but
sucking it away from the wall
a strong support leg here
and then keep those muscles on as I drop
the foot slowly to the ground for a soft
Landing
that's the standing slumpy sauce and
it's a great exercise to work this
muscle in the proper way to start to
build strength here now once you've got
good activation we can actually use them
add some external load like a dumbbell
to this because by then you're queuing
your Technique should be good you know
all the cues there
and all you do is you start off
same way and then place the dumbbell on
the knee
and then suck that leg in
drive that knee up and here we can
progressively add load
to build strength
just like any other exercise we would do
in the gym
so it's a great way to get that so as
activated and then use the same
technique and cues to get it stronger
now one thing that a lot of people one
problem that a lot of people run into is
over recruitment of the tfl which is
another hip flexor and it's not one that
I talked about earlier because we don't
really want it to hit Flex too much but
if the tfl is working too much
the tip you can do a couple tips you can
do to shut it off is when you're flexing
the hip you're going out a little bit
it's a little abduction and a little bit
of external rotation and that'll Target
more the pectinius the iliopsoas the
iliacus and turn off the tfl so those
cues there can help you adjust if you're
feeling too much tfl activation on the
outer hip over here
it's outstanding sloppy so us for that
do two to three sets four to six reps
per holding for five to ten seconds and
if you can add load start to add load
next up we've got one of my favorite
techniques to restore this hip extension
range of motion which is
your lengthened hip flexor position
it's the side lying hip extension and
range expansion technique
so for this relying on our side and make
sure you're in good posture in terms of
your spine you're not curled up into the
fetal position
and I'm going to work this bottom leg
I'm going to actively
bring my leg back let me switch views
for you
be a little easier for you to see
so I'm going to actively bring my leg
back this way so now I'm in hip
extension with the glute activation
and this is the range that I want to
work so I'm driving it back and right
there the first activation is holding
there glued activation keep trying to
drive my heel back
holding for 10 to 15 seconds strong
contraction of the glutes
and then I'm going to place my other
foot on the knee and drive my knee into
the foot not letting it move and what
this is doing is it's strengthening the
hip flexors in this extended range of
motion
again 10 to 15 seconds holding nice and
strong keep activating
and the last contraction there are three
contractions is the hip extension again
driving the heel back firing up the
glutes trying to get deeper into the
range of extension
maintaining good posture breathing
and then let it go and that's one cycle
on that side and I would switch sides
and do two to four cycles and that's
going to work that end range of motion
of the hip flexors that length and range
of motion of the hip flexors and it
strengthens both the hip blasters and
the glutes there the hip extensors there
and that's what's going to tell your
brain hey I've got strength here so I'm
using it so I'm not going to don't don't
lose it I need this all right so that's
the side lying hip extension end range
expansion Erie technique
the final one we're going to go through
is another one that you can
progressively add load two and it's
called the front support hip flexion so
for this you can see I got some bands
I've got these ankle straps here I've
got an ankle strap attached over there
and then I'm strapping up over here I'm
going to crawl forward
off the mat here and then front support
is basically push-up position
and from there all I'm doing is I'm
flexing nip same cues apply keep the
pelvis level so don't hike the hip
keep driving the knee up so I'm
activating constantly it's just a two
second hold there
and then return
and then two second hold all the way up
sucking the pelvis the leg into the
pelvis
and then controlling the way back
the good thing with this band setup is I
can add bands if I need more load
and this exercise is an example of
functional integration because here I
need that good core stability to
maintain alignment of the spine and to
train this aligned spine which is
necessary for any sport you're doing
baseball tennis you want good posture
and an aligned spine so I've got the
core stability going while the hip
flexion is going so even if you're
running you want good posture and the
ability to maintain good posture as
you're running and the hip blusters are
working properly so this is a great
exercise and for this one do two to
three sets six to ten reps depending on
how much load you got but keep the Reps
no more than 12 but if you can get
enough load and enough bands so that
it's challenging and you can only do six
ten reps that's how you're going to
build strength so this whole routine
again do it two to three times a week
the more intensity that you use like the
more weight you use or the more bands
you use the lower frequency per week
you'd want to do if you're only doing
body weight you can easily do this three
days a week and give it at least four
weeks and if you do that and you drop
the static stretching you're going to
feel looser you're going to have greater
range of motion and you're going to have
greater strength and if you have pain
hopefully you're going to have less pain
and I'd love to know how it goes for you
so leave us a comment down below
so that is today's video hope you found
it enlightening and you found something
useful and you're going to do this
routine more importantly and got some
other stuff for you if you want to check
it out some other videos that are
related here and here and they're pretty
popular and if you do have pin if you
like this approach the best that we can
give you is our hip pain solution
program so click the link down there
because it includes exercises like this
and a lot more and includes the approach
and the programming that is easy to
follow and time efficient
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