After a week of tough workouts and getting back into my normal exercise routine, I have experienced some tight hip flexors over the past few days.

All the squats and lunges I have done in boot camp this week have made my hips a little stiff, so I have added daily stretching to reduce the tightness.

Do you sit all day at work all day? You might want to stretch out… if you sit all day this causes the muscles in your hip to shorten up. The good thing is you can get that flexibility back.

Here are a couple of pictures that demonstrate a hip flexor stretch. Make sure to ease into the stretch if you have never done it before. You don’t want to over stretch the muscle.

To get a deeper stretch raise your arm straight up and bend it slightly over your head.

This is just one of many stretches for the hip flexor. I have also been doing the butterfly stretch and the seated straddle stretch. I am hoping that after a few days of stretching my hip flexors I will be able to get a little deeper and more comfortably into my squats!

How often do you stretch? Do you feel better after you do?