Half-Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

How to do it

Setup

1. Assume a half-kneeling position on the floor, placing a mat under your back knee for comfort.
2. Position your front foot flat on the floor with both knees bent at roughly 90 degrees.
3. Keep your torso upright with your hands placed on your front thigh or hips.

Movement

1. Engage your abdominals and actively squeeze the glute of the trailing leg to tilt your pelvis posteriorly.
2. Shift your weight slightly forward from the hips until you feel a gentle stretch across the front of the trailing hip and upper thigh.
3. Hold the position for the desired duration while maintaining an upright posture.
4. Release the stretch slowly and repeat on the opposite side.

Breathing

Breathe smoothly and deeply, using slow exhalations to help the hip flexors relax into the stretch.

Cues

• Squeeze the back glute
• Tuck your tailbone
• Stay tall through the torso

Common faults

Excessively arching the lower back to simulate hip extension

Brace your core and perform a posterior pelvic tilt before shifting forward.

Lurching too far forward without engaging the trailing glute

Keep the forward shift small and controlled, emphasizing pelvic position over forward travel.

Safety

• Use a padded mat under the back knee if you experience patellar discomfort.

Muscles

• Iliopsoas stretched
• Rectus femoris stretched
• Gluteus maximus stabilizer
• Rectus abdominis stabilizer

Joints

• Hip: Extension
• Knee: Isometric stabilization
• Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization

Details

Movement

Stretch

Modality

Flexibility, Mobility

Mechanics

isolation

Force

static

Laterality

unilateral

Kinetic chain

closed

Level

beginner

Equipment

None

Record

Duration

Load

none

Sources

• wger: Solo Hip Flexor Stretch, by Croak6728 (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
• wger: Hip Flexor Stretch, by Davidgj32 (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

half-kneeling-hip-flexor-stretch.json