5 Stretches for Tight Hips!

Do you have a desk job, poor hip mobility, or just haven't been getting as many steps as usual?

If this is you, keep reading because today we are sharing the best stretches for opening up tight hips! Even if your hips don't feel tight, regular stretching can help keep your body flexible. It can also help with recovery, as well as with increasing mobility and range of motion! Anyone can benefit from routine stretching of the lower body, but especially lifters.
Stretch 1: Cossack Squat

This movement is great for opening up the hips and warming up the stabilizers, knees, and external rotators.
  • To start, widen your stance with your toes facing forward.
  • Take a deep inhale and laterally lunge, with your back stacked and chest open. If your ankle lifts as you are lowering down, widen your stance.
  • Pressing into the outside of your foot and heel, bring yourself back into the starting position.
  • Keeping your spine stacked, laterally lunge to the other side.
Move with your breath and take your time. Ten reps is usually enough. You will feel this in your hip flexors, glutes, quads, calves, core, and back. I recommend doing this movement three times a week for ten reps (each side).
Stretch 2: Lunging Twist Hip Opener

This dynamic stretch opens up the hip flexors, helps with ankle mobility, warms up your knees, and engages the core, glutes, erectors, and back.
  • Get into a lunge position and have your front foot slightly farther out than normal, so your heel is in front of your knee.
  • Making sure your hips are squared, inhale and drive your hips forward. You should feel a stretch in your adductors (inner thighs) and around your hip flexors.
  • Whichever knee is forward, bring the opposite hand onto the ground, next to the foot and set your other hand on the inside of the lunging knee.
  • Take a deep breath and as you exhale, push your knee outwards and hold. Inhale into your chest and exhale pressing the knee further out.
  • After a few breaths, take your hand off of your knee and return to a deep lunge position.
  • Take the hand that was on your knee and reach towards the sky, stacking your shoulders. Imagine your hips and spine are against a flat wall. You will feel this in your mid back.
  • Take a few breaths and then rotate your torso, with the same side hand as the lunging knee on the inside of your lunging foot and the opposite hand reaching towards the sky. Inhale and fill the chest, exhale reaching up higher.
  • Bring both hands to the ground and take a deep inhale. Exhale and pull your hips back, folding over your torso, stretching out your hamstring. Breath here for several breaths.
Stretch 3: Pigeon Pose

The almighty pigeon pose helps open up the hips, knees, ankles, glutes, adductors, and abductors, while engaging the core and encouraging overall mobility. If you have tight hips, this is a must for you.

  • Bring yourself into a proper plank.
  • Inhale and pick up your right leg and draw the knee to your right wrist.
  • Keeping your knee at your wrist, kick your right ankle out to the side, almost under your left shoulder. If this is too tight for you, bring your ankle closer to your pubic bone.
  • Drop your hips down and use your arms and erectors to stack your chest and look forward. Your chest should be open and your shoulders back and retracted.
  • Exhale and slowly drop down to your forearms. Inhale, drawing all your air into your chest.
  • Exhale, sinking lower towards the floor and reach your arms straight out in front of you. Take a few breathes, sinking lower to the ground with each exhale.
  • Keeping your torso low, walk your arms to the right side and exhale. Complete several full breaths here.
  • Slowly walk your arms to the left and complete several full breaths here. When you’ve gone through one cycle, go back to step one and begin from the top, but working with the opposite side.
Stretch 4: Frog Rocks

This is a great movement to encourage hip mobility and flexibility. This one is more demanding as it really opens up tightness in the hips and legs. To make this easier, you can draw your ankles closer together. You will feel this in your adductors and hip flexors. Move slowly and with your body.

  • Staying on all fours, open up your knees straight out to the side, your ankles should be perpendicular to your knees. Bringing your forearms onto the ground and inhale pressing your hips forward
  • Exhale pressing your hips back. Rock back and forth ten times with your breath.
Stretch 5: Adductor Stretch

This helps open up the adductors and warm up the hips. You will feel this along your adductors and hip flexors, it does get easier with time and practice. The more often you do this, the more mobile you will get. This stretch is a must before any Sumo movement.
  • Get onto all fours, your wrists below your shoulders and knees below your hips.
  • Kick one leg out to the side so that your ankle is in line with your wrist, allow the toes to face forward.
  • Take a deep inhale filling your chest and exhale driving your hips back.
  • Rock back and forth with your breath, do this ten times and then switch sides. You will feel this in your adductors, hip flexors, and hamstrings.
Back to DLDNation Blog