Hip Flexor Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility

Here are eight hip flexor stretches for better mobility and range of motion, plus common stretching mistakes to avoid – and a simple routine you can do anywhere.

What Are the Hip Flexors?

The hip flexors are a muscle group on the front of your hip. They move your thigh or knee toward your chest (that’s the hip flexion part), but also help with stability and posture.

The most prominent ones are:

• Iliopsoas: The primary hip flexor, formed when the psoas major and iliacus join forces.
• Rectus femoris: Better known as a quad muscle, but also a hip flexor.
• Sartorius: It flexes, abducts, and externally rotates the hip. Also known for being the longest muscle of all.
• Tensor fasciae latae (TFL): Dabbles in pelvic and knee stabilization in addition to hip flexion.

For a lifter, they can be prime movers, like when you do hanging leg raises, or they can be stabilizers, like when you squat.

Should You Stretch Your Hip Flexors?

If you lift through a full range of motion, chances are you don’t need to stretch much, if at all, for the sake of flexibility. Full-ROM strength training itself is as effective as stretching.^{1 2}

However, the hip flexors might be something of an exception. For example, when you squat, you take your hips through plenty of both flexion and extension, but that doesn’t mean you train all the hip flexor muscles through their full length.

So, compared with muscles you regularly load at long lengths – most of them – I think there’s a reasonable argument to be made for dedicated hip flexor stretches and mobility work.

But that doesn’t mean every lifter needs to stretch their hip flexors. First, do you have the hip mobility you need for the exercises you do (or the movements you need for a sport)?

If you do, there’s little need to stretch for even more flexibility for the sake of it.

But if you don’t, then yes, stretching can probably help, as an addition to your regular full-ROM lifting.

When Should You Stretch?

If you do stretch your hip flexors, timing matters.

Before you load up the barbell, dynamic movements that prepare your hips for action, not static stretching, are the way to go. The latter can actually make you weaker for a few hours.³

Save the long static holds for after your workouts or for a dedicated mobility session.

Also, hip flexibility without the strength to back it up is like a loose rubber band. You can’t rely on it. You need to be strong in all the muscles around your hips for mobility you can actually use. That means strength training with a full ROM – exercises like squats, lunges, side lunges, split squats, and Romanian deadlifts – with stretching as a potential add-on.

8 Great Hip Flexor Stretches

Quick reminder: these stretches are for improving a healthy range of motion and uninjured muscles.

If you’re injured – or just have something that hurts around your hip area – it’s not automatically a good idea to stretch. It can delay healing or, in the worst-case scenario, worsen an injured muscle.

So, unless your physio has told you otherwise, it’s often better to keep moving the injured muscle as best you can to keep it active and get a good blood flow rather than to stretch it.

1. Cobra Pose

This is a very gentle stretch for the hip flexors and abs. It’s a good one for beginners, and for really tight hip flexors that can’t get into more direct stretches.

How to Do the Cobra Pose

1. Lie face down with your legs extended behind you and your hands right beside your shoulders.
2. Lift your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body, until you feel a stretch in your abs and hip flexors.
3. Hold the stretch.

If you start to feel it in your lower back, don’t push higher.

2. Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

Another simple but effective stretch, this one is one step up in intensity.

Start with a lower step than you think you need. You’ll notice that you don’t have to go deep at all or force the range to get a good stretch through your hip flexors.

How to Do the Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

1. Stand in front of a step or a bench.
2. Place a foot up on the step.
3. Push your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the front of your hip.
4. Hold the stretch, then switch legs.

3. Kneeling Lunge

The kneeling lunge, or the half-kneeling hip flexor stretch, as the cool kids say, is one of the most common and effective stretches for this area, including the rectus femoris down the quad.

Try to tilt your pelvis slightly backward instead of pushing your hips as far forward as you can. You’ll reduce the risk of compensating elsewhere, like with a lower back arch.

How to Do the Kneeling Lunge

1. Kneel on the floor with one foot in front and the knee bent at 90 degrees.
2. Tuck your pelvis under and squeeze your back glute.
3. Shift your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the front of your back hip.
4. Hold the stretch, then switch legs and repeat.

You can move the knee of the rear leg further back to increase the intensity of the stretch.

4. Lizard Pose

This is a pretty intense stretch that works several areas around the hips, from the hip flexors to the groin to the inner thighs (adductors).

It works best if you already have enough flexibility to relax into the stretch rather than having to struggle to get low enough.

You don’t have to go all the way down on your forearms if it feels uncomfortable or too deep; staying on your hands works well, too.

How to Do the Lizard Pose

1. Step one foot forward and extend the other leg behind you, with the knee touching the floor.
2. Bend forward and place your hands on the floor on the inside of your front foot.
3. Lower your forearms toward the floor (optional).
4. Move your hips forward and down.
5. Hold the stretch, then switch legs and repeat.

5. Front Splits

If you can do the full front splits, you already have way more hip flexor mobility than 99% of us will ever need.

A modified front split, something in the middle between a kneeling hamstring stretch and a full front split, is an excellent variant for those other 99%.

How to Do Front Splits

1. Begin in a half-kneeling lunge.
2. Slide your front heel forward until the leg is straight.
3. Move your hips forward and downward, keeping your rear knee bent, until you feel a stretch in your hip flexors and front leg hamstring.
4. Hold the stretch, then switch legs and repeat.

Place your hands on blocks or the floor to keep your balance and the stretch manageable.

6. Bench Hip Flexor Stretch

An excellent stretch you can scale from easy to advanced.

You can make it harder by taking a big step forward and pushing the front of your thigh down on the bench, or easier by taking a shorter step and not pushing your hips forward as much.

How to Do the Bench Hip Flexor Stretch

1. Stand beside a bench or plyo box, facing along its length.
2. Place one leg on the bench behind you, with your knee and shin resting on it.
3. Step your other foot forward into a lunge position.
4. Push your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the front of your hip.
5. Hold the stretch, then switch legs.

7. Couch Stretch

Also a great quad stretch, the couch stretch is particularly effective for the rectus femoris.

You can start with your back knee farther from the couch or wall to reduce the intensity, and place a cushion underneath it to make your knee more comfortable.

How to Do the Couch Stretch

1. Kneel with your back knee near a couch or wall and place that foot up against it.
2. Step your other foot forward into a lunge position.
3. Bring your torso upright until you feel a stretch through your thigh and hip.
4. Hold the stretch, then change sides.

8. Leg Swings

Here we have a dynamic hip flexor stretch, which makes it better for before your workouts. You get warm and improve performance, unlike with static holds.⁴ Some good examples include leg swings, bodyweight lunges, air squats, and glute bridges.

Start with small swings before you gradually increase the range.

How to Do Leg Swings

1. Stand next to a wall or sturdy gym machine for balance.
2. Swing one leg forward and backward in a controlled way.
3. Repeat on the other side.

Avoid These Stretching Mistakes

Stretching your hip flexors is a little more complex than stretching, say, your biceps. Avoid these surprisingly easy mistakes to get more out of your time and effort.

1. Arching your lower back. You put slack into the very muscle you’re trying to stretch and get a false sensation of a deep stretch. Keep your abs tight and squeeze the glute of the leg you’re stretching, and it’ll be easier to avoid.
2. Pushing your hips too far forward. Before you move forward, squeeze the glute of the back leg hard and tuck your tailbone underneath you. Once you do, you’ll likely feel a good stretch without having to move forward more than a couple of inches. If you have to lunge across the room to feel the stretch, your pelvis is out of position.
3. Letting your hips rotate. Extra easy if you have one hip that’s less flexible than the other. You want to start with your hip bones pointing forward and your back knee in line with your hip. Twisting can be a part of hip flexor stretching, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can twist the focus away from your target muscles instead.
4. Using the same stretch for every hip flexor. Unlike some other muscles, you can’t cover everything with one stretch. For example, your rectus femoris crosses both the hip and knee, so you want to both bend the knee and extend the hip to stretch it properly.

Then we have non-hip-flexor-specific mistakes, like stretching cold (warming up first or stretching after a workout is usually both more effective and safer) or bouncing (unless you do a sport where ballistic stretching is useful, like dancing or martial arts).

A Simple Hip Flexor Stretch Routine

When you stretch your hip flexors, you should do so from a few different positions, so you hit both the iliopsoas and the rectus femoris.

Here’s a good routine that only takes a couple of minutes. It starts easy, increases in intensity as you loosen up, and ends with a stretch for both the quads and hip flexors.

Stretch	Time
Standing Hip Flexor Stretch	30–45 seconds
Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch	30–45 seconds
Couch Stretch	30–45 seconds

It’s suitable for after a leg or lower-body workout, or for a dedicated mobility session at another time entirely.

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You can find all the hip flexor stretches in this guide in our free workout log app, StrengthLog, along with many other neat mobility exercises for the entire body.

The above stretch routine is also free in the app:

Where the app really shines is for tracking your training. If you don’t track your training, making progress becomes much more of a challenge than it needs to be.

And if you need to strengthen your hip flexors, check out the Hip Flexor Workout, which is free in the app. It looks like this:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Hanging Leg Raise	3	8–10
Standing Hip Flexor Raise	3	10
Mountain Climbers	3	30

Final Rep

Stretching your hip flexors can feel like magic, especially if you’ve spent all day fused to an office chair.

Just remember that you can’t stretch weakness out of a muscle. If you stretch and stretch and your hip flexors keep tightening up, your entire hip might not be strong enough to control the range they already have. In that case, the solution is usually called strength training.

But there is no doubt that stretching is effective for flexibility and range of motion, and very useful when that’s what you actually need.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your training (and stretching).

And for more great stretching exercises, check out these resources:

• Adductor Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility
• Chest Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility
• Glute Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility
• Hamstring Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility
• Hip Flexor Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility
• Quad Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility
• Shoulder Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility

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Last reviewed: 2026-09-24

References

1. Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Apr 7;9(4):427. Strength Training versus Stretching for Improving Range of Motion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
2. Sports Med. 2023 Jan 9;53(3):707–722. Resistance Training Induces Improvements in Range of Motion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
3. J Sport Health Sci. 2024 May 10;13(6):805–819. Revisiting the stretch-induced force deficit: A systematic review with multilevel meta-analysis of acute effects.
4. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2023 Aug 29;15(1):106. A systematic review and net meta-analysis of the effects of different warm-up methods on the acute effects of lower limb explosive strength.