If you spend most of your day sitting, whether at a desk, in a car, or on the couch, you may notice tightness at the front of your hips. This feeling can have several causes, so it does not automatically mean that the muscles are weak.
Your hip flexors are a group of muscles that bring your knee toward your chest. They support walking, running, squatting, and upright posture. When they lack strength or control, some movements may feel less steady or comfortable.
This guide explains how the hip flexors work and presents a structured workout that uses holds, controlled lowering, and resistance exercises.
Key Takeaways
- Hip flexors help lift the knee and support movements such as walking, running, and squatting.
- Strength work can include isometric holds, controlled lowering, and resistance exercises.
- Start with manageable resistance, focus on control, and adjust the routine to your experience.
- If you have sudden or ongoing discomfort, consult a qualified professional before training the area.
What Can You Notice During Hip Flexor Movements?
A feeling of tightness or limited movement does not identify one specific cause. Still, noticing how the hips move during common exercises can help you decide when to adjust your form, range, or resistance.
Here are some movement patterns you may notice:
- Difficulty Lifting Your Knee Above 90 Degrees: If lifting your knee changes your posture or feels difficult, try a smaller range of motion and focus on control.
- Lower-Back Discomfort While Standing: Some people notice tension or discomfort in the lower back when standing for long periods. This can have many causes and does not, by itself, show that the hip flexors are weak.
- Knee Discomfort During Movement: The hip flexors contribute to control around the hip and femur (2). If running or squatting feels uncomfortable, reduce the load or range and check your form.
- Compensatory Movements During Leg Raises: If a hanging leg raise or lying leg lift shifts most of the effort to your lower back, reduce the range or resistance and focus on controlled movement.
- Tightness That Returns Quickly: A recurring feeling of tightness can have several causes. Avoid assuming that weakness is the cause based on this feeling alone.
These observations cannot identify the cause of discomfort or limited movement. A qualified professional can assess ongoing concerns.
How Can I Check Hip Flexor Movement and Control?
Before starting the workout, you can use a seated hip-flexion movement check to notice your current range and control. This is not a diagnostic test (3).
Seated Hip-Flexion Movement Check
- Setup: Sit on a bench or chair with your feet flat on the floor and your back straight. Don’t lean back against a backrest.
- Execution: Lift one foot off the floor, bringing your knee up as high as possible toward your chest. Hold this position.
- What to notice:
- Controlled movement: Notice whether you can lift and hold the knee without leaning backward or using your hands for support.
- Movement feels difficult: Use a smaller range if you shake, cramp, or need to lean back. This does not confirm weakness or identify its cause.
If this movement feels difficult, start with a manageable range and resistance. A trainer or physical therapist can help if you have ongoing discomfort or are unsure about the cause.
How Can I Make My Hip Flexors Stronger?
Strengthening your hip flexors requires a targeted approach that uses progressive overload (4). This means you must gradually increase the difficulty of the exercises over time to force the muscles to adapt and grow stronger.
You can achieve this through three primary mechanisms:
- Isometric Holds: This involves holding a contraction without moving. For example, lift your knee and hold it briefly within a range you can control.
- Eccentric Loading: This focuses on the lowering phase of an exercise. Controlling the descent of a leg lift slows down the muscle lengthening process, which is highly effective for building strength and tendon resilience (6).
- Concentric Resistance: This involves lifting against resistance, such as using a resistance band or cable machine to pull the knee toward the chest (7).
To see real changes, you should aim to train these muscles 2-3 times per week. Integrating specific movements into your warm-up or as accessory work after your main compound lifts ensures consistency without leading to overtraining. You can also explore more exercises to strengthen hips as part of a broader lower-body routine.
Workouts, weight management tools, and recipe ideas come together in the BetterMe: Health Coaching app, giving you practical support for building a more consistent wellness routine.
What Are Workouts to Strengthen Hip Flexors?
Below is a structured program of hip flexor exercises that’s designed to take you from beginner to advanced hip flexor strength.
Program Notes
- RPE (rate of perceived exertion): On a scale of 1-10, how hard the set feels. An RPE of 7-8 means you should have 2-3 reps left in the tank.
- Rest: Rest for 60-90 seconds between sets to allow for recovery.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Tempo | RPE | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lying psoas march | 3 | 10-12/side | 2-1-2002 | 7 | 2-3x / week |
| Seated kettlebell lift | 3 | 8-10/side | 1-1-2002 | 8 | 2-3x / week |
| Standing banded knee drive | 3 | 12-15/side | Explosive up, 2 down | 7 | 2-3x / week |
| Eccentric leg lowering | 3 | 6-8 | 1 up, 4 down | 8 | 2-3x / week |
Read more: Daily Stretching Routine: 8 Beginner-Friendly Exercises to Start
Lying Psoas March
This is an excellent entry-level exercise that teaches you to engage the hip flexors while stabilizing the core.
- Lie flat on your back with a resistance band looped around the balls of both feet.
- Keep your legs straight and your lower back pressed firmly into the floor.
- Drive one knee toward your chest against the resistance of the band, keeping the other leg straight and grounded.
- Pause at the top for 1 second, ensuring your hip flexes past 90 degrees.
- Slowly return the leg to the starting position.
Seated Kettlebell Lift
This movement isolates the hip flexor in a shortened position, which is essential for overcoming “sitting posture” weakness.
- Sit on a bench with your legs bent at 90 degrees and your feet flat on the floor.
- Place a light kettlebell or dumbbell on top of your foot (hook your toes up to secure it).
- Maintaining an upright posture (don’t lean back), lift your knee toward the ceiling.
- Lift as high as possible, pause briefly, and lower with control.
- Ensure the movement comes purely from the hip, not by rocking your torso.
Standing Banded Knee Drive
This functional variation mimics running mechanics and builds explosive power in the hip flexors.
- Anchor a resistance band to a low point behind you.
- Loop the other end around your ankle or foot.
- Stand tall, facing away from the anchor point.
- Drive your knee up explosively toward your chest.
- Focus on maintaining balance on the standing leg and avoiding arching your lower back.
- Lower the leg slowly to the starting position.
Eccentric Leg Lowering
Eccentric exercises are one option for training control during the lowering phase of a movement (6).
- Lie on your back and lift both legs straight up toward the ceiling.
- Engage your core to press your lower back into the floor.
- Slowly lower both legs toward the ground, taking a full 4 seconds to reach the bottom.
- Stop just before your lower back starts to arch off the floor.
- Bend your knees to return to the starting position while keeping the movement controlled, and press up again for the next rep.
How Long Will It Take to Strengthen Hip Flexors?
Changes in movement coordination can occur during the first few weeks of consistent training (8). During this phase, you may notice that your hips feel “lighter” and movements such as squatting feel more stable.
Structural changes, such as muscle growth and tendon adaptation, generally take longer than changes in movement coordination. The timing varies with training history, load, nutrition, sleep, and consistency.
Consistency is key. Performing these exercises sporadically will yield minimal results. Stick to the frequency outlined in the table above, and you may notice changes in strength, control, or movement comfort over time.
Read more: Why Does Stretching Hurt and What Can You Do About It?
Is It Better to Stretch or Strengthen Hip Flexors?
The answer depends on the root cause of your restriction, but for the majority of modern office workers and athletes, strengthening is often superior to stretching.
Here’s why:
- Why Tightness Can Return: A feeling of tightness may return after stretching for several reasons. If it persists, avoid assuming one cause and consider asking a qualified professional.
- Range of Motion: Strength training through a full range of motion can improve flexibility just as effectively as static stretching (11). For example, the seated kettlebell lift requires you to actively use your hip mobility, which gives you practice producing force through that range of motion.
- Stability: Stretching makes a muscle more pliable (12), but it doesn’t necessarily make it more stable. Strengthening provides the stability your pelvis and spine need to maintain good posture.
If a qualified professional has advised you to stretch, follow that guidance. Many people combine hip mobility stretches with targeted strengthening.
Does Stretching Your Hip Flexors Strengthen Them?
No, passive stretching doesn’t strengthen the hip flexors.
Stretching involves increasing the range of motion attributable to increased tolerance to the stretch sensation (13). While high-volume stretching may promote small increases in muscle hypertrophy and strength, it’s less effective compared to strength training in applying the mechanical tension required to stimulate muscle fiber growth or neural recruitment (14).
In fact, excessive static stretching before a workout can temporarily reduce the power output of the muscle (15). If your goal is to have hips that are both mobile and powerful, you must load the muscles.
Think of standing desk stretches or standing hip stretches as maintenance work to reduce stiffness from being sedentary, but rely on the resistance exercises listed above to actually build capacity.
Incorporating exercises for people who sit all day should involve active movement, not just passive holds. Active end-range work forces the muscle to produce force while lengthened, which serves the dual purpose of mobility and strength.
BetterMe offers a variety of workouts, recipes, challenges, and support tools to help you stay more consistent with your wellness routine. Explore the app to find features that fit your goals, preferences, and schedule.
Lunges train several lower-body muscles and require control around the hips. They may place the rear hip flexors under stretch, but they are not the most direct exercise for isolating these muscles. Yes, weak hip flexors can significantly limit squat depth and stability. They’re responsible for pulling your torso toward your legs during the descent (hip flexion). If they’re weak, you may struggle to reach parallel depth or find yourself leaning excessively forward (good-morning squat) as your body compensates for the lack of active hip flexion. In research on collegiate female athletes, hip strength was associated with knee movement during single-leg tasks (17). Knee discomfort or a feeling of weakness can still have several causes and cannot be traced to the hip flexors alone. Yes, leg lifts are one of the most direct ways to strengthen the hip flexors. Whether performed hanging from a bar or lying on the floor, the act of lifting the legs against gravity primarily targets the iliopsoas and rectus femoris muscles. To maximize the benefit, ensure that you’re lifting with your hips and not using momentum to swing the legs up. Walking provides low-level endurance conditioning for the hip flexors but is generally insufficient for building significant strength. While the hip flexors are active during the swing phase of gait (bringing the leg forward) (18), the load is minimal. For strength goals, gradually adding resistance may be useful. Some trainees include hip thrusts up to 3 times per week, depending on their experience, total training volume, and recovery. The glutes (the primary target of hip thrusts) are large, resilient muscles that recover relatively quickly. However, you should make sure that you balance hip extension exercises (such as thrusts) with hip flexion exercises to maintain structural balance around the pelvis.FAQs
Do lunges strengthen hip flexors?
Can weak hip flexors affect squats?
Can weak hip flexors cause weak knees?
Do leg lifts strengthen hip flexors?
Can walking strengthen hip flexors?
Is hip thrusting 3 times a week too much?
The Bottom Line
Hip-flexor training can support control during walking, running, and lower-body exercises. Active strengthening and mobility work serve different purposes, and neither method identifies or treats the cause of ongoing discomfort.
Start with the movement check, then use the exercises in the program with a manageable range and resistance. Increase the difficulty gradually as your control improves.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not serve to address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on for making any kind of decision-making. Any action taken as a direct or indirect result of the information in this article is entirely at your own risk and is your sole responsibility.
BetterMe, its content staff, and its medical advisors accept no responsibility for inaccuracies, errors, misstatements, inconsistencies, or omissions and specifically disclaim any liability, loss or risk, personal, professional or otherwise, which may be incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and/or application of any content.
You should always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or your specific situation. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of BetterMe content. If you suspect or think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor.
SOURCES:
- Comparison of Pelvic Tilt Before and After Hip Flexor Stretching in Healthy Adults (2021, sciencedirect.com)
- Is the Iliopsoas a Femoral Head Stabilizer? A Systematic Review (2020, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Manual Muscle Testing: Hip Flexion (n.d., physio-pedia.com)
- Hip Flexor Muscle Activation During Common Rehabilitation and Strength Exercises (2024, mdpi.com)
- Trends and Scientific Production on Isometric Training: A Bibliometric Analysis (2025, mdpi.com)
- Eccentric Muscle Contractions: Risks and Benefits (2019, frontiersin.org)
- Effects of concentric and concentric-eccentric resistance training on speed and force in adult soccer players (2025, nature.com)
- The increase in muscle force after 4 weeks of strength training is mediated by adaptations in motor unit recruitment and rate coding (2019, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Muscle Hypertrophy – an overview (n.d., sciencedirect.com)
- Understanding Clinical Characteristics of Muscle Weakness (2021, journals.lww.com)
- Comparison of resistance training vs static stretching on flexibility and maximal strength in healthy physically active adults, a randomized controlled trial (2024, link.springer.com)
- Practical recommendations on stretching exercise: A Delphi consensus statement of international research experts (2025, sciencedirect.com)
- Can chronic stretching change the muscle-tendon mechanical properties? A review (2018, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Effects of Chronic Static Stretching on Maximal Strength and Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis with Meta-Regression (2024, link.springer.com)
- Acute Effects of Static Stretching on Muscle Strength and Power: An Attempt to Clarify Previous Caveats (2019, frontiersin.org)
- Improved Hip Flexibility and Gluteal Function Following a Daily Lunge-and-Reach Stretching Intervention (2025, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Weak Hip Strength Increases Dynamic Knee Valgus in Single-Leg Tasks of Collegiate Female Athletes (2021, journals.humankinetics.com)
- Hip Flexor Muscle Activation Across Gait Phases in Healthy Young Adults: Effects of Step Length and Cadence Adjustments at a Constant Walking Speed (2025, cureus.com)
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