Stretching vs. Strengthening Hip Flexors: Which is Better for Running?

When it comes to optimizing your hip health for better running performance, two common strategies often emerge: stretch hip flexors to alleviate tightness and strengthen hip flexors for running efficiency. However, both approaches have their place, and a balanced combination is key. In this article, we’ll dive into the complex role of your hips, how chronically shortened hip flexors can feel tight and weak due to improper pelvic alignment, and the importance of pelvic positioning in creating a strong foundation for running. I’ll discuss strategies for addressing these issues through proximal hamstring engagement, neutral pelvic positioning, and targeted hip flexor strengthening. By addressing both the flexibility and strength of your hip flexors, you can improve your stride, reduce discomfort, and enhance overall performance. Let's explore how the right exercises and understanding of your body’s mechanics can help you achieve stable, efficient hips for every run.

Stretch and Strengthen Hip Flexors For Running With Strong & Stable

Strong & Stable is one of my programs for female runners focused on hip strengthening and, if you’re reading this freshly after being posted (in December 2024), you’ve missed the pre-sale, but can still get in! It will be available to the public starting in January 2025. If you would like to be the first to know AND get access to other discounts and bonus content, you can join the priority list here.

The program is built on the foundation that the hips move in 3 planes of motion: sagittal (as viewed from the side), frontal (as viewed from the front), and transverse (as viewed from the top). The table below shows the movements of the hip in each plane.

Over the next few weeks, ahead of the official launch of Strong & Stable, I'll be stepping through our movements at the hip in all 3 planes of motion and what that means for how you can train strong, stable hips for a more efficient running stride.

Stretch Hip Flexors or Strengthen Hip Flexors? That is the Question

Today, I want to start by talking about your hip flexors, who are responsible for creating hip flexion and resisting hip extension. 

I see two camps of thought going around when it comes to hip flexors:

1 -  Your hip flexors ARE tight and short; you need to stretch them.

2 - Your hip flexors AREN’T tight and short, they are just weak; you need to strengthen them.

I think a little bit of both can be true, but I don’t agree in full with either of those! In my opinion, a lot of times the hip flexors are chronically in a shortened position, but stretching them isn’t going to make much long term change unless we change the position.

In the anatomy drawing above, the hip flexors are on the front and the hamstrings on the back. If/when the pelvis is more tipped forward the hip flexors are in a chronically shortened position. They will struggle to lengthen (aka feel tight) because of the position of the pelvis.

If you feel pinching on the front of your hip, this is likely part of it.

And then layered on top, they will likely feel tight because they are weak (because they never fully lengthen to strengthen) and are just doing all they can to hold it together all the time.

It’s a both/and situation.

As you’re considering whether you need to stretch hip flexors or strengthen hip flexors for running, this might help: this 7-minute video will walk you through the full body connection to this pelvis position and give you a little test/retest you can use to feel the difference using the exercises below.

• Introduction to the Stack (0:00 - 0:44)
• Overview of the stack’s importance and its impact on movement.
• Introduction to the plan: exaggerating unstacked positions and testing their effect on range of motion.
• How the Stack Can Get “Jacked” (0:45 - 2:09)
• Common postural misalignments (e.g., rib flaring, anterior pelvic tilt).
• Examples of compensations like locking the knees or squeezing glutes.
• Why the Stack Matters for Running (2:10 - 3:20)
• Role of the stack in load transfer, hip flexion, hip extension, and rotational movement.
• Demonstration of reduced range of motion in exaggerated unstacked positions.
• Rotation in Running (3:21 - 4:43)
• Explanation of running as a rotational exercise.
• Demonstration of how unstacked positions limit rotational range of motion.
• Hip Flexion Range of Motion Test (4:44 - 5:32)
• Step-by-step guide to testing hip flexion range on each side.
• Identifying compensations and asymmetries.
• Improving the Stack and Retesting (5:33 - 6:56)
• Using controlled exhalation and proximal hamstring engagement to correct posture.
• Instructions for retesting hip flexion to observe changes in range of motion.

If we zoom in on the pelvis, we need to optimize the position of the pelvis AND strengthen the hip flexors!

Optimizing Pelvic Position for Hip Flexor Strength

Enter the hamstrings! See them there in the drawing above on the back of the pelvis? We can work on engaging the proximal hamstrings, the hamstring right up at the top by the pelvis, to help stabilize and tip the pelvis back more into neutral.

You might say, “but my hamstrings feel tight all the time too!” And that makes perfect sense!  If/when the pelvis is more tipped forward the hip flexors are in a chronically shortened position AND the hamstrings are in a chronically lengthened position. Using the proximal hamstrings to stabilize the pelvis will provide relief to the hip flexors AND the hamstrings!

Keep in mind that neutral isn’t the butt just tucked all the way under! 

Remember how I always say the body is smart? It subconsciously tries to create a quick fix that isn’t necessarily the “right” fix. A lot of times the unconscious strategy to do this is to just squeeze the glutes in an effort to tip that pelvis back. But we don’t want this! It just adds another layer of compression on top. Can you say pancake butt? You can learn more about that last question here.  

Exercises to Stretch Hip Flexors for Running

Here are a few ways to help find those proximal hamstrings and orient your pelvis without squeezing your glutes. If you’ve been here a while they’ll look familiar. I use them a lot for good reason!

Both of these exercises practice using the proximal hamstrings to stabilize as you move the pelvis through its full range of motion in the sagittal plane (tipping it forward into an anterior tilt and back into a posterior tilt). Try them both; one may feel better to you than the other.

Do not over tuck, just start with dragging the feet and feeling those muscles on the back of the leg kick in. Think of the lift in the 90-90 position (just enough to slide a piece of paper under your butt) as more of a lift and spread (aka. no glute squeezing).

THEN we strengthen it!

Exercises to Strengthen Hip Flexors for Running

I like to use hip flexor strengthening exercises that either encourages finding the hamstrings and the pelvis position within the exercise (like the Bridge with Hip Flexor Pulls) or focuses on loading the hip flexors in a lengthened position (like the Hip Flexor Sit Up).

And of course, breathing matters too.

I know, I know. Eye roll, she’s talking about breathing again.

Just do me a favor and look real quick at where that other pesky hip flexor, your psoas, sits.

The psoas is a hip flexor that is integrated with the deep core muscles AND the diaphragm. With each breath the psoas works with the diaphragm and deep core to facilitate respiration and spinal stability. Chronic “vertical breathing,” rib flare, and states of stress and anxiety can leave the psoas overworked and over tensioned in a way that stretching can never touch.

I’ll definitely plan to expand on this part soon.

The point is, it’s ALL connected! We can get the best results when we recognize this and train with all the parts in mind….

And that’s exactly what I’m here for! 😉

Next on Your Reading List:

Running: Hip Drop Exercise That Actually Works

Pelvic Floor Running Guide: Everything I Wish Runners Knew About the Pelvic Floor

Breaking Down the Link: Can Stress Cause Hip Pain? Unraveling the Intriguing Connection.