I have done martial arts for about the past nine years so I do have pretty decent flexibility. However, I have always battled stiff, achy hips when I go about my daily business. It gets MUCH better right as soon as I warm up, but other than that it's a total pain. Finally, I went to a muscle therapist who works with some pro baseball teams, so I guess I will do what he says. He basically told me that the front of my hips (flexors?) and the outsides (abductors?) are overly tight and much stronger than the insides (adductors?). He told me this is creating an imbalance that is keeping my tendons/muscles stretched even when not stretching, which causes the aching and what not. So he tells me to strengthen the insides (adductors?). The question is; my gym has absolutely NO equipment/machine/anything for adduction and I really have no experience trying to do hip exercises, so I am completely lost. Does anyone have any ideas, tips, or exercises that you think might help my situation? Thanks.
Very common problem. Buy some bands. The kind at the drug store will do for now and do some adductor work and stretch the hip flexors and abductors. Should help gluteal recruitment too since having tight hip flexors often means your glutes don't fire properly and it puts stress on the low back because it has to pick up the slack. Look up postural stuff on t-nation, there are several articles on these kinds of issues.
Do sumo deads and sumo squats... I'll also post some really helpful links when I get back home that has some good stretchnig and advice on hip flexors
The only sumo squats I have seen is with someone holding a dumbbell and squatting... can this be done with a barbell and just standing in a sumo stance?
By sumo squats I just mean squats with a really wide stance(PLing style), and here are links: 7 Dynamic Stretches to Improve Your Hip Mobility | StrongLifts.com How to Optimize Posterior Chain Power: Glute Activation | StrongLifts.com
All good advice, bands are fantastic. Put them around your knees (doubled) and then lower to a squat position and then walk sideways around the gym (think of those ridiculous drills from high school gym class). With the bands, it *really* makes you work.
Putting them around my knees would work my abductors though and it is my adductors that are teh weakness...
i think i have something similar, i have always had tight hips as well, recently i started stretching them and my glutes daily, which as helped alot. but i now it feels like i strain my adductors really easy (ead my hip pain from sex thread) especially my left side.
