Weight-Assisted Hip Stretches

Here’s another oldie but goodie for your hips. You will need at least one plate (start with a 25lb plate) and perhaps a friend.

1. Sit on your booty with one knee bent in and the other leg straight out.
2. Place the edge of the plate (or have your friend do it for you), in the crease of your hip and lay it flat against your leg. Be careful of your goodies when adjusting the plate!
3. Lay back while holding plate in place (it may wobble a bit). As you are laying there, focus on not only relaxing that hip with the plate on it, but driving the lumbar region of your back (lower back) down to the ground. While you may have it pop up slightly, we don’t want to create a tunnel of sorts, like you do when you bench press.
4. While focusing on the two previously mentioned areas, you also want to keep that opposite hip down; this can be difficult to do especially if your flexibility is a little lackluster, so this is where your friend can help by applying some pressure to that area.
5. Be sure to switch sides after about 1 minute.
6. If you are super flexy, you can either up the weight of the plate or bend that straight leg in and add a plate to the other leg at the same time. I do not recommend this for everyone, as it causes a severe arch in the back that we want to avoid. If you want to try it, though, be sure to lighten the weight of the plates.
7. Don’t forget to breathe!

Happy stretching!