What exercises are good for develpoing explosive strength in the hip flexors. Two Ideas I have has are Kneeing a medicine ball, (like a soccer ball) and starting it with the ball at my feet (standing) then tuck jumping and catching the ball, and finally hanging leg raise throws. I know that hip extensor power is more important. but isn’t there a limit to how much you can develop them and a time would come where better knee lift would be the limiting factor?
Hip Flexor Power
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Participant
OL’s work hip extension as do most every other leg movements (squats and especially deadlifts) but flexors are antagonists and actually inhibit the movement. Mike how important are the flexors in running or jumping. Am I just overestimating their involvement in the running action (high knee action maybe coming from a more powerful foot strike as opposed to strong hip flexors).
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KeymasterHip flexors are important for running and jumping but mostly in ways most people don’t think of. Before I get into that though, I’d like to discuss my opinion on the recruitment of the hip flexors in sprinting. I don’t really think that the activation of the hip flexors should be overly emphasized. I think that initial hip flexor recruitment will be an involuntary contraction due to stretch reflex if posture and sprinting mechanics are correct. Having said that, powerful hip flexors are still important because a more powerful muscle will contract with more power even when contracted involuntarily (or semi-involuntarily). Most people think their primary importance is in creating a high knee lift and while this is important I think that it is secondary to the effect that a powerful hip flexion has on ground reaction forces while the athlete is still in contact with the ground. That is, while in support the forward and upward motion of the swing leg causes an increased downward and backward force to be applied to the ground. And because the force that are applied to the ground are the primary determinant of sprinting speed, hip flexor power is important for its contribution to this aspect of running.
ELITETRACK Founder
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Participant
so, as far as improving hip flexor strength would u suggest weighted exercises or unweighted exercises. i was thinking about doing a set number of high knee's 3 days a week.
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Participantso mike what work do you do specifically with the hip flexors?
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Participant
For the triple jump, old school coaches did recommend hip flexor specific exercises. If you ever read about triple jump training you'll find exercises like the few that you have already listed. I know a few more exercises though from the Polish school and Russian School:
1. Step up with free leg thrust up at the top with weight.
2. Lean against a wall at a 45 degree angle, have a weighted thigh strap on your thighs, then swing forcfully forward with that leg with the weight. It's just like the wall acceleration drill except you have weight on your thighs and your swinging forcefully. (this one is a big favorite of the Polish School)
3. Sit down next to a bench, have weighted thigh strap on leg, swing the weighted leg up to bench height.
These are just a few, but if you really want all the options… look into triple jump training in the 1970's to 1980's, no program that I know of really does these anymore. I don't really read into sprint training, so maybe these are used to increase leg speed? Hope this is helpful.
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Participant
I know this topic is old but I would like to look further into this because it is very interesting…Any thoughts guys?…Any updates Mike?
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Participant
Studies for consideration
Training the hip flexors can make you faster
Effects of Hip Flexor Training on Sprint, Shuttle Run, and Vertical Jump Performance
DEANE, RUSSELL S.; CHOW, JOHN W.; TILLMAN, MARK D.; FOURNIER, KIM A.The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 19(3):615-621, August 2005.
EFFECTS OF HIP FLEXOR TRAINING ON SPRINT, SHUTTLE RUN, AND VERTICAL JUMP PERFORMANCE. run tim…
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Although hip flexion is integral in sports, hip flexion exercises are seldom emphasized in strength and conditioning for sports performance. This study aimed to determine whether a hip flexor resistance-training program could improve performance on a variety of tasks. Thirteen men and 11 women completed an 8-week hip flexion resistance-training program. Eleven men and 13 women served as controls. Isometric hip flexion strength, 40-yd dash time and the time for the first 10-yds, 4 x 5.8-m shuttle run time, and vertical jump height were evaluated at the beginning and end of the training and control period. Improvements were observed in the training group but not in the control group. Individuals in the training group improved hip flexion strength by 12.2% and decreased their 40-yd and shuttle run times by 3.8% and 9.0%, respectively. An increase in hip flexion strength can help to improve sprint and agility performance for physically active, untrained individuals. -
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