Lower Body Mobility Exercises: Unlock Flexibility And Strength

Lower body mobility exercises can significantly impact your ability to move and perform daily tasks. Whether you are trying to build strength, run faster, or recover from an injury, mobility exercises can help improve your:

• Flexibility
• Stability
• Control

What Are Some Lower Body Mobility Exercises?

Lower body mobility exercises will focus on your hips, knees, ankles, and lower back to help you move more easily while performing your daily activities. 

There are several exercises you can perform to target these areas of the body, such as the following (1):

World’s Greatest Stretch

The World’s Greatest Stretch is a dynamic stretch that targets your hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, shoulders, calves, and thoracic spine.

This movement is an excellent lower body mobility warm up exercise.

1. To begin this stretch, start in a lunge position with your right foot forward, your left leg extended behind you, and both hands on the floor on the inside of your front foot.
2. Rotate your torso as you reach for the sky with your right arm to achieve a good spine stretch.
3. Slowly rotate back to the starting position as you lower your arm.
4. Shift your weight as you straighten your front leg to stretch the hamstring.
5. Repeat on the other side.

Deep Bodyweight Squats

Deep bodyweight squats target your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. 

They help open up your hips to improve flexibility and range of motion and encourage better joint alignment, which can help reduce stiffness (2).

1. Stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointed slightly out.
2. Slowly lower your body as you would if you were sitting in a chair. 
3. Try your best to keep your heels on the ground as you descend.
4. Go as low as you can without feeling pain. The goal here is to get your hips below your knees.
5. Pause briefly at the bottom, then push through your heels to return your body to the starting position.

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Forward Fold

The forward fold, also known as Uttanasana in yoga, is a great stretch that targets the hamstrings and calves. It also opens up the hips, releases tension in the lower back, and can help improve blood circulation. It’s an excellent choice for anyone who sits or stands for extended periods throughout the day (3).

1. Stand straight with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Bend at the hips to fold your upper body over your legs, aiming to bring your chest to your thighs.
3. Hold the maximum stretch, allowing your body to hang for 30–60 seconds while breathing deeply.
4. Slowly return to the starting position.

Seated Hamstring Stretch

The seated hamstring stretch is a great way to target the hamstrings, calves, and lower back. It’s a perfect morning stretch and also works well as a cooldown exercise.

1. Sit tall on the floor with your legs extended straight out in front of you and your toes pointed towards the ceiling.
2. Bend at the hips as you reach for your toes while keeping your back straight.
3. Hold the maximum stretch for 20–60 seconds while breathing in through your chest and out through your stomach.
4. With each breath out, try to reach a little bit further. Focus on relaxing and breathing with ease. 

Calf Stretch

Your calves do a lot of work throughout the day, and the calf stretch can help relieve stress on the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles that make up the calf. 

These are also a good choice if you get frequent calf cramps, also known as charley horses (4).

1. Stand straight with your hands on a wall in front of you for support.
2. Step one foot back and press the heel down, keeping the leg straight.
3. Bend your front knee slightly as you lean into the wall to maximize the stretch in your back calf.
4. Hold for 20 – 30 seconds before returning to the starting position and repeating with the other leg.

Glute Bridge

The glute bridge is a floor-based exercise that is easy to learn and targets the glutes, hamstrings, core, and lower back. It can help improve posture and is ideal for individuals who spend a lot of time sitting (5).

1. Lie flat on your back with your knees bent, your feet flat on the floor, and your arms resting at your sides.
2. Push through your heels and engage your glutes to raise your hips toward the ceiling, aiming to form a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
3. Pause briefly at the top, squeezing your glutes before slowly lowering your body back to the starting position.

Ankle Circles

Ankle stretches are often easy to overlook, but they can be beneficial for improving range of motion, flexibility, and joint health. They are perfect for any time of the day, and you can do them seated, lying down, or standing.

1. Sit or lie down with your leg extended and toes pointed away from your head.
2. Slowly rotate your foot clockwise, using only your ankle.
3. After 10 – 15 circles, reverse direction and repeat.
4. Do the same with the other foot.

Read more: Morning Chair Workout: 8 Exercises You Can Do With or Without Weights

What Are The Signs Of Poor Mobility?

Signs of poor mobility can include difficulty squatting or getting into the lunge position. You may also experience joint stiffness after prolonged periods of sitting. 

More extreme cases may leave you feeling “stuck” or restricted in shoulder, hip, and/or ankle movements.

Lower-body mobility issues can make it difficult to walk or run. 

Climbing stairs and sometimes even getting up from a seated position can be a real challenge. If you experience any sudden mobility issues, consult your doctor to rule out underlying health problems (6).

Why Is My Lower Body So Inflexible?

There are several reasons that your lower body might not be as flexible as it used to be.

For instance, sitting for long periods can shorten and weaken your muscles, making it more difficult for them to manage your weight, especially if you are also gaining weight due to an inactive lifestyle.

Dehydration and a lack of stretching can lead to tight, less flexible muscles.

Previous injuries can leave behind scar tissue that reduces flexibility or even impairs movement. However, inflexibility is often reversible with consistent effort (7).

In addition, it could be due to your workout routine in combination with your daily life. 

If you lack flexibility, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re overweight. 

It is just something to work on going forward. Elite athletes often experience inflexibility issues, and it’s not something that only affects inactive people. 

How To Fix Poor Hip Mobility?

Improving hip mobility involves consistently practicing targeted exercises. 

Stretches such as the pigeon stretch, the frog stretch, and cactus squats are all great examples of lower body stretches to improve hip mobility.

Combining these stretching movements with strength-building exercises can also help increase your range of movement (8).

How To Gain Mobility In The Lower Body?

• Focus on lower body mobility warm-ups before each workout. 
• Focus on lower body static stretching after any lower body workout. 
• Set aside time to stand, stretch, and walk often throughout the day, especially if you have a desk job.
• Address your hips, knees, and ankles individually to ensure they all get proper care and exercise.
• Stay consistent with your workout routines. Change takes time.

Does Squatting Improve Hip Mobility?

Squats are one of the best hip mobility exercises that build leg strength as long as you maintain proper form. 

If you’re struggling to do squats, use a pole, wall, or feel free to elevate your heels to get deeper into your squat.

These are all ideal ways to provide support as your muscles develop and flexibility improves.

Read more: 14 Leg Mobility Exercises That’ll Improve Your Performance

What Are The Hip Mobility Exercises For Weightlifters?

• Lateral Step-ups

Lateral step-ups are helpful for building strength, balance, and coordination. 

It’s similar to standard step-ups, but the sideways motion helps target the hip abductors. 

Lower body mobility exercises with weights increase intensity and build muscle in the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.

• Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts

Single-leg Romanian deadlifts utilize a hinge movement similar to the Forward Fold but performed on one leg to help improve hip flexibility, balance, and coordination. 

By adding a dumbbell or kettlebell, you can strengthen your hamstrings, glutes, and core. However, be sure to master the movement before adding an external load. 

• Midline Holds

Midline holds are a weighted isometric exercise that strengthens the core, glutes, hips, and back. 

They help train the body to resist unwanted movement, making it more stable during lifts and squats.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is flexibility genetic or learned?

Flexibility is both genetic and learned. While some people are naturally more flexible than others, you can still become more flexible with frequent training. 

You can also become less flexible due to a sedentary lifestyle, regardless of your genetics (9).

• At which age does flexibility peak?

Children and adolescents are often the most flexible, reaching their peak between the ages of 20 and 30. Older adults can maintain flexibility well into their later years with consistent training (10).

• Is 50 too old to get flexible?

While you may not improve as quickly as you did when you were younger, it’s still possible to see improvements in your flexibility through training, even at the age of 50. 

Staying consistent with your exercise routine over time is key to achieving success at any age.

• Do you lose flexibility if you don’t stretch?

Neglecting to stretch and living a sedentary life can lead to muscle tightness and reduced flexibility over time. Adding even a little mobility exercise in your daily routine can help prevent stiffening (11).

• What are some upper-body mobility exercises?

Upper body mobility exercises will focus on the range of motion in your shoulders, spine, upper back, neck, and wrists. Exercises you are likely to perform include neck and wrist circles, tricep stretches, cat-cow, door frame pec stretches, and sun salutations.

The Bottom Line

Lower-body mobility exercises can significantly improve your ability to move and perform daily activities. Whether you’re trying to build strength, run faster, or recover from an injury, mobility work can help improve your flexibility and control. 

Stay consistent with your routine, and you’ll notice improvements over time. 

Pair them with upper-body mobility movements for a total-body approach.