Is Cycling Good for Hip Flexors? (Hip Flexor Repair & Build Guide)

So I was taking a ride the other day and my hips were not firing correctly. Even worse, it felt like when I was at the down stroke of my pedal, my legs were unable to fully extend. The only reason I was able to get around the bend comfortably was because of my upstroke keeping the pedals in motion (thank God for clip-ins). So I took a moment and went to my trainer, my physical therapist and my orthopedic doctor of an uncle and asked them a couple of things about my hip flexors. The main things that I wanted answered was is cycling good for hip flexors or bad? Amongst the three of them, they all said yes – for differing reasons of course given the different work that they do.

In this post we will go over how and why cycling is good for the hip flexors. Following we will also go over what different ways that the hip flexors can be rested and stretched after cycling for best effect. Finally, we will go over the best bikes for hip flexor injury. At the end of this post you should have a well rounded knowledge about hip flexors and their relationship to cycling.

Is cycling good for hip flexors?

Yes, cycling is good for hip flexors if your bike fit is good. In particular, when your leg is at the bottom of the down stroke, the angle in your knee should be as close as comfortable to 180 degrees as possible. On a road bike, the top half of your body is leaned over the drop bars. For this reason, it is important to have the legs extended fully outward to give the hip flexors, ligaments and muscles in the area the largest flexion possible to avoid tightening the hips. It also is great to warm up the area beforehand.

How is cycling good for hip flexors?

Cycling unlike other sports, allows you to work the muscles, ligaments and tendons without any impact to the area. Therefore you are circulating blood, oxygen and de-stagnating this specific part of the body without any direct impact to the muscle. This means that there will be some extremely minor inflammation from the exercise, though the overall decrease in swelling that would occur will be a net-negative. Adding on stretching and icing will be a further bonus.

What is the best bike for hip flexors injury?

The best bike for a hip flexor injury is the recumbent bike. There are almost too many recumbent bicycles available if you are looking for a hip flexor. The standard recumbent bike that we recommend is the Schwinn Recumbent bike. The reason being is that the pull back seat extends far enough that you are able to both rest your hips due to the comfortable flat seat, and this model also goes far enough back for me (6’2”) to straighten out my legs. When my hips or any other muscle is tightening up and I’m looking for a break from riding outside, this is an excellent reprieve from being outside for my hips.

What exercises strengthen hip flexors?

It is important to stretch and strengthen the hip flexors. Many people focus on doing the exercise correctly, the details and making sure they look like they are in the right shape. While this is reasonable and important, what is the utmost importance is to do these exercises consistently over time.

This means to do the suggested number of repetitions and sets over 2-3 weeks. After that amount of time and consistency, then your body will begin to change and become stronger in the long run. 

However, that is only the beginning, and continuing to do these exercises will stave off future injury from occurring.

For stretching you should focus on:

Stretches

• Cow Legs (20 seconds, 2-3 sets.)
  • Try doing this alone while taking your hands into one or two of your feet. It’s very relaxing once you get the hang of it.

• Crescent pose
  • The person looks very fancy by being able to grab their back leg. If that is not in your body, you can leave your back leg on the ground and focus on the forward mobility of the front knee. You will get an equally effective stretch in this fashion in the back hip flexor. Of course, if you can grab the back leg, you should and focus on the upward mobility of the body. This will further bring the hip flexor up and out of its original position.

Exercises

• Leg Lifts (10, 2-3 sets)

• Forward Lunges (5-10 Lunges, 2-3 Sets)

Conclusion

Is cycling good for hip flexors? Yes, cycling is good for hip flexors. When paired with a winning group of stretches and exercises, your hip flexors will be strong and feeling very healthy. These suggestions above, when worked through with consistency will help you achieve very valuable levels of performance and muscle strengthening to your body.