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Get Hip
to the flexor
Now that another school year is under way, the fall sports season is not far behind. Among those sports is my favorite — football. With football comes a lot of sprinting and the test is on to see how well the body has been prepared in the offseason to handle the rigors of the game. If you plan on playing a game that requires explosive sprinting over and over again, you better have prepared the legs to handle the load, especially the hip flexors. The hip flexors are one of the most important muscle groups needed to sprint because they help drive the knee. Despite that, they are typically the most under-trained and poorly prepared by most athletes because they are rarely isolated for exercises. They are usually only trained when running. For that reason, I make sure to put a special focus on the training of my athletes hip flexors because they are usually the first group of muscles to be sprained when doing repetitive sprints. Injuries to them can leave an athlete sidelined for weeks. HIP FLEXOR TRAINING TIPS ›› High hurdle walk-over: Walk over multiple high hurdles to increase range of motion strength and stamina of the hip flexors. ›› Hanging bicycles: Hang from a pull up bar and bicycle your legs as high as possible for a set time. ›› Seated straight leg lifts: Sit on your butt, back against a wall, and lift your straight leg up as high as possible to strengthen the muscle range. There are many ways to isolate and train the hip flexor, and I have given you a few of my go-to movements. Make sure you heed my warning and do the movements, or you just might be part of the group on the sideline watching the game instead of playing it. ✪ Anthony Trucks is an IYCA-certified trainer who covers weight training for SportStars.
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September 2014
SportStars™
31