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The Bendy Blog: Flexibility Training Articles
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6 Exercises for Hip Internal and External Rotation
Hip rotation is one of the main actions of our hip (along with flexion, extension, adduction and abduction), so a healthy flexibility training routine should contain some exercises to help with your rotation. Flexy and strong hip rotators not only help in poses that require a lot of rotation (like the amount of external rotation required for pigeon pose, or sitting cross-legged on the floor), but they also help stabilize our hips in positions of flexion or extension (like our front splits!).
Hip Flexor Focused Warm Up
It’s always important to warm up your muscles before you do any serious stretching . The hip flexor focused warm up below is great to do before any kind of leg flexibility work, especially things like front splits where tight hip flexors can really limit your range of motion. These 12 exercises can all be done together, or you can pick a couple and throw them into your current warm up routine just for a little extra hip flexion practice.
Can’t Touch Your Toes? 8 Beginner-Friendly Hamstring Stretches
If you’re working on being able to touch your toes, but your hamstrings are so tight you can’t even sit up straight in a pike, stretching can be very frustrating - especially if you’re following “tutorials” written for bendier practitioners...
But never fear, there are plenty of legitimately beginner-friendly stretches you can do that safely and effectively target your hamstrings without stressing your low back.
Why Are My Hamstrings Tight? (and How to Fix Them)
If you have tight hamstrings, you’re not alone! Unless you have a regular stretching practice as part of your workout routine, odds are you can’t touch your toes. Don’t worry, that’s is a pretty “average” level of flexibility in our era of so much sitting.
But why are they tight? And what can you do to help loosen them up so you aren’t getting so much carry-over tension in your low back?
Work Your Y-Scale with PNF
I love working on active flexibility (which is why I make it such a big part of all my classes), especially PNF-style contract-and-release stretches. Y-Scales are a fun one to apply PNF to since they’re a little “easier” than traditional splits, but still very much a cool shape!
Wall Heel Slides for Tight Hamstrings
If you have tight hamstrings and trying to touch your toes in a standing forward fold feels like a laughable exercise - it’s time to switch up your stretch. While there’s nothing “wrong” with a good ol’ forward fold, for the less flexy among us it’s honestly not an ideal exercise to start with. Give these Wall Heel Slides a try instead!
Knee-Friendly Hip Flexor Stretches
Not everyone’s knees like the good ol’ “knee on the ground hip flexor lunge” - here are a couple of knee-friendly hip flexor stretches that you can do without unpleasant knee pressure.
Build a Better Hip Flexor Stretch
Got tight, lazy hip flexors? Here are three exercises to whip them into bendy shape!