Pilates Myth: “Get out of your hip flexors”

March 19, 2010 at 3:02 am

(This post was updated on August 9, 2020 over 10 years after originally published…please read and learn more information than when originally posted)

I don’t mind saying that there are a lot of commonly used phrases in Pilates that have little to no meaning. We must make sure that we are present with what we’re saying that not only do our cues make sense and have value to our clients, but that we know what our cues actually mean! Along with that, should we happen to use a phrase that is a “Pilates myth,” then we’d better be using it for a really good reason!

A “Pilates myth”? Yes, there are a lot of Pilates myths out there. Wonderful phrases that teachers use to cue their clients that actually don’t make any sense at all. Some have value. Some do not. They are virtual lies. (uh oh!) We have to make sure that we know what we’re talking about, why we’re saying this and that they are indeed untruths. Here are a few: “Your Powerhouse moves the carriage.” “Your back does nothing; your abdominals do all of the work.” “Push with your Powerhouse, not with your legs.” “Get out of your hip flexors. You don’t use your hip flexors in Pilates.” OK, my fellow teachers… all of those phrases, and more, are 100% not true Personally, I try to stay away from them and reword them thusly: “Pull your lower abdominals in and then move the carriage.” “Work your lower abdominal and back together.” “Deepen your lower abdominals and grow tall to push with your legs.” “Pull your abdominals in and lift lower back bones, so you’re not just hanging in your hip flexors.” Why not talk in truths?

You are well-meaning…you don’t mean to be speaking something false. That is true. Let’s learn!

Let’s focus on that last one “Get out of your hip flexors”. A fellow teacher, Alex, who reads this blog wrote to me asking that I go into further detail (this was back in 2010 when I first wrote this piece. It’s 2020 as I am updating it). I’m pleased to do so. Let’s dispel this particular myth and understand why this phrase ever came about in the first place.

Our clients come to take Pilates for many reasons. Whatever their reasons, we find out in their early sessions that they are imbalanced. We recognize their imbalances and use the method of Pilates to restore balance to this body and mind. It is a constant process; un-ending. There is no balance, there is only working-towards-balance. That is The Truth.

Now, that we know we’re looking for imbalances and working towards restoring balance we see some common patterns: weak abdominals, tight and weak lower backs, tight and weak hamstrings, tight and weak hip flexors.

Tight and weak hip flexors? Yes. Those hip flexors are weak. Many people think that our clients tight hip flexors are strong and taking over the responsibilities of other muscles, but the truth is that they are probably short, tight and weak and more than half of them are completely underutilized.

As our clients are beginning their training in Pilates we see that their hip flexors seem to want to do the work that the abdominals, other muscles or hip extensors ought to be doing. Some exercises that we see this in are The Roll Up (Beginner Exercise), The Neck Pull (Intermediate Exercise), The Teaser (Intermediate Exercise). What do we see in The Roll Up? When the client lifts her head and chest up and then attempts to reach her torso forward over her legs, her legs actually pop up off of the mat while the torso stays still rather than her legs staying still as her torso comes forward. The same thing happens in Neck Pull. In Teaser, our client strains and aches her lower back and hangs in her hip flexors. She often times can’t move her torso forward towards her legs without throwing her legs forward or using her hands to pull her torso toward her legs. She complains of her hip flexors straining. You’ve seen this over and over again. And you say something like, “Get out of your hip flexors”. If your client could get out of her hip flexors, she would, but she can’t so, you must first figure out what is really going on and then figure out what you can really teach your client so she can indeed get out of her hip flexor strain or, rather, into her lower abdominals, back muscles, more hip flexors and hip extensors.

When we refer to “hip flexors” we are generally referring to 4 muscles: rectus femoris, tensor fasciae latae, psoas and iliacus. Rectus femoris is part of the quadriceps. It is the only quadriceps muscle that crosses over both the the hip and knee joint. When the leg is straight and the hip is flexed, rectus femoris is in a shortened position, thusly in a weakened state for hip flexion. (Remember this point…it will become vital in a moment.) Tensor fascia latae is primarly a thigh abductor as well as a medial rotator of the femur. Via the iliotibial band, it aides in stabilizing the condoyles of the femur/knee stabilization.

So…rectus femoris and tensor fasciae latae aide in hip flexion, but only aide…it must be psoas and iliacus that do the majority of the effort. Or…maybe there is more! There is…there are!!! They are your adductors as well as pectineus and likely gracilis, too! Any muscle that crosses over from your leg to the front of your pelvis will help flex your hips. They are light hip flexors and they are meant to be part of hip flexion! How do you get them to strengthen so they are prepared to do adduction, internal/medial rotation and hip flexion? You hug the midline! Yes! Press your heels together whenever your legs are together. Even if you have knock-knees. For those with knock-knees, have as little bend in your knees as is necessary to get your heels together when your legs are together in an exercise. Hug your heels together! Press your heels together! That actually works your adductors, pectineus as well as your deep external rotators of the femur. Together, this combination of muscular action will really work to stabilize your femur in your hip and be helpful for nearly everything you do. Not just strengthen your hip flexion so you don’t grip! (That stabilization is fodder for another blog…)

Now that we recognize that your adductors are hip flexors…that’s great! But we’ve got to get those other ones working well! Psoas, really. And actually that’s a priority before the midline even.

Psaos major is a hip flexor. True. However, its primary action is most likely lumbar stabilization. So, it only assists in hip flexion. As a lumbar stabilizer…we’ve got to get it working! But that other myth of “don’t use your back muscles” is really making the psoas weak and tight! Your back muscles (in all dimension including your quadratus lumborum and psoas…not just your extensors) need to work…a lot. They just need to work efficiently. They need the right tension on their connector tissue: the Thoracolumbar Fascia (TLF). Specifically the lower part of the TLF, the thoracolumbar complex (TLC). The initial part of that tension comes from your deeper lower abdominals: the lower transverse abdominis and internal obliques. They are connected to this TLC and when they are engaged, then the lateral tension on the TLC is such that it appears to help the lower spinal muscles be more efficient. There’s more to the story and I’m happy to share it with you elsewhere. You can read a bit more here: Abdominals. Spine. Why? and Biotensegrity. And you can learn a lot about it in my workshops. Now, if you pull your lower abdominals in and “lift” your lower back bones…then your psoas (connected to the front of your lumbar spine/lower back) is working and strengthening and even going to get more supple.

So…in every exercise:

1 – Pull your lower abdominals in and “lift” your lower back bones. Eventually all back bones.

2 – Hug the midline. Yes…even when legs are apart, you can hug your midline.

Then when we get to hip flexors gripping…they won’t! Why? Because all hip flexors will work!

Not the end of the story…

Now, of course, this is not the end of the story. There are other times when hip flexors seem to “take over” when the “Truth” of the matter is that they are doing just great and other things aren’t working well. Like in The Roll Up. You know when your legs pop up during the difficult action of bringing your torso up and forward over your legs. What’s happening? Same thing in Neck Pull…and actually same thing happens in The Teaser. Now, it’s not about needing more hip flexors to help poor rectus femoris out. Now, it’s about hip extensors! Yes!

You don’t need a strap (neither do your clients). You need stronger hamstrings, buttocks and back muscles (again). OK…actually, we need really strong iliacus, a great hip flexor, too. It’s the one at the entire front pelvis/ilium that rotates your pelvis up from lying down. If we want stable legs and a mobile pelvis to get up (spine mobile, then pelvis mobile) then we need to figure out how to stabilize those legs. They fly up because the legs aren’t staying down. They do hip flexion and lift up off of the mat because hip extension isn’t happening to stabilize those legs and keep them down.

To keep your legs down and let your hip flexors have the balance they require so they can bring your pelvis up and flex your hips against stable legs…you press your heels strongly down into the mat/floor. Yes! You’ll feel your hamstrings and gluteus maximus engage. You won’t have to squeeze them. They will just engage becaus

e you’re asking them to do their appropriate actions: hip extension (as though you’re pressing your legs through the floor behind your pelvis…hip extension).

Now, how do we manage this with The Teaser?

If your client is still struggling with Teaser feeling strain in her hip flexors, with both legs extended, have her lightly bend her knees a bit. Remember that if rectus femoris is weak, it doesn’t have enough strengthen to both flex the hip and extend the knee. With slightly bent knees, the rectus femoris is only doing hip flexion (not knee extension as well) and there is likely enough strength. Then your client can keep legs up and deepen her lower abdominals and lift her lumbar spine more! Add to it to hug her heels tightly together and it all works! Over time, she’ll be able to extend at her knees longer and longer all while keeping her thighs up (a deep hip flexion). So…”get out of your hip flexors” not really the truth. Clearly, we need to get first make a deep loer abdominal connection, “lift” lower back bones and then get “into” our hip flexors a bit more (meaning use all of them fully).

And when doing Teaser I (stable legs while you roll your torso up and down from the mat)…you know how legs tend to go up rather than stay stable? Well, when we roll down, the action of hip extension has to happen. Right? When you’re up in your Teaser “V” you’re in deep hip flexion. When you start rolling back you’re in less of a deep “Ve” less deep hip flexion is toward hip extension. So…press your legs away from your; your upper leg bone/femur away to keep it stable in space. Mobilize your pelvis and spine while keeping stable legs. That sounds like The Roll Up! That means your hip extensors will be working to keep your legs stable while your roll down each time.

Be patient as a teacher.

Make sure your goal is to understand your clients’ imbalances and then restore balance. The goal is not to do the ideal version of an exercise or to get advanced or to do Teaser. The goal is help your client achieve her physical goals. We help our clients become more balanced of body and mind using movement. We happen to be working with Pilates/Contrology. And if we’re going to teach using these phrases, then we’d better understand what they really mean and use them well…use them better, even! “Get out of your hip flexors” is simply not enough. There must be more to it! Clearly, there is!

I thank Alex for asking about this cue!

Enjoy your teaching! Please reach out and comment on this post and/or ask me to discuss some other subject! I wish to write on subjects that you want to understand in Pilates. Please let me know what you’d like to learn! Thank you for giving me the forum for it! info@TheVerticalWorkshop.com

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