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A common stretch that people do and how I tweak it in order to get more out of that stretch is called the 90-90 Hip Flexor Stretch.
It is when you kneel down and the back leg, ankle, knee and hip are at 90 degrees and the front leg, ankle, knee and hip are at 90 as well.
From the side, you see it as 90-90 and then from the front what I want to make sure is that I have the knee in line with the hip. Make sure that the front leg and the back leg and the knee are in line with the hip. I will brace the abdominal area in order to prevent any change in the curvature in my low back.
The curvature in my low back stays the same. It locks down my pelvis and it allows me to get better stretch specifically through rectus femoris or the most superficial quadriceps muscle. Starting off with bracing through my stomach, then contracting my glute and then bringing my hips forward and I am looking at getting that stretch in rectus femoris.
Oftentimes, people will not look at that back leg and how much that back leg is rotated in and rotated out. For a lot of people doing this exercise, they usually have that heel inwards and their thigh is externally rotated. When they do the stretch they really won’t feel much from the stretch.
What I will get them to do is to internally rotate or to bring that heel out and then go into the stretch and they will feel a greater intensity in that stretch and the stretch move more to that outer side or the lateral side so hitting more vastus lateralis, iliotibial band, and tensor fasciae latae.
One other tweak you can do is bring that heel out during the stretch or even sometimes bringing that heel in when doing that stretch because sometimes that will move the stretch more into the vastus medialis and that adductor muscles.
Look at the foot straight back. If I bring that heel in and going into that stretch, I have targeted more the rectus femoris, adductor and vastus medialis.
And if I bring that heel out, I target more of that vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, IT band, and tensor fasciae latae.
Next time you do that 90/90 hip flexor stretch, consider tweaking it when it comes to bringing that heel in and bringing that heel out in order to target different areas in that hip that could be tight when it comes to your hip flexors.
Howard Bienstock