I believe static stretching is often overprescribed—it’s a quick default recommendation from some fitness professionals who don’t dig deeper. Tight hamstrings? Stretch them. Tight hip flexors? Stretch them. Bad hair day? Stretch. Spoiler alert: this is not the right way to stretch your hip flexors.
The real vs. the bogus hip flexor stretch
Static stretching isn’t a complete waste of time, mind you. Sometimes it plays a crucial role in helping people reduce pain and address muscular imbalances or postural issues.
Side note: many people don’t realize what we call stretching isn’t doing what they think. For a muscle to gain true length, you need to add sarcomeres in series, which takes a lot of time. In practice, holding a continuous stretch for 20 to 60 minutes (or more) is often required to increase length meaningfully. When people stretch for about 30 seconds, they’re mostly increasing stretch tolerance rather than length.
Even if static stretching is deemed necessary, there’s a key detail that’s often overlooked: performing it correctly.
Take the hip flexors as an example. Everyone loves stretching them. But you’ll rarely see it done right. Even with weeks, months, or years of stretching, many people don’t see meaningful change, and the area that feels tight stays the same.
This isn’t a new observation; experts such as Mike Reinold, Mike Robertson, and Dr. Evan Osar have been making this point for years.
Side note: I’m actually more inclined to include dedicated hip flexor strengthening exercises instead of stretching—but that’s a topic for another time.
So, let’s look at how to properly stretch the hip flexors.
The real vs. the bogus hip flexor stretch
