by Natalie I. Kelly

Created on: April 06, 2011   Last Updated: April 08, 2011

Core training and abdominal exercises have become synonymous in recent years.  Ask any fitness, healthcare, or medical professional and you are bound to get differing opinions on the definition and how to train. 

Consider the dictionary definition of core, “the central or most important part of something.”  Now apply that to the human anatomy and it would be reasonable to say it’s the trunk, muscles and structures that make up the center of the body.  When training a muscle group, proper posture and neutral spine/or pelvis is working your core.  Therefore, when considering core training for the hip flexors, it’s stabilizing or not moving the trunk and pelvis while performing the exercises.   

Hip Flexor Muscles

The next step in exercising your hip flexors is to know the muscles.  There are five hip flexors, as follows, Iliacus, Psoas Major, Psoas Minor, Rectus Femoris and Tensor Fasciae Latae.  Your head is probably spinning with these names, Ilia….what, Tensor Fasciae Latae, isn’t that a Starbuck’s drink?  It does sound like something you might order at Starbucks, but it’s not, so let’s breakdown the hip muscles and the attachments.

Muscles attach to bones, therefore the hip flexors come together at the spine (or backbone), pelvis (or hips), and femur (or thigh). 

Iliacus is a deep muscle that lines the inside of the hip bone and attaches to the thigh bone.  Place your hands on your hips, run your fingers along the bone toward the front and sink your fingers in to what may feel like your stomach.  The muscle is what you feel on the inside of the hip bone. Psoas Major and Minor are deep muscles that run from the mid-spine level and pass through the front of the hip joint, attaching to the thigh bone.  This muscle lies beneath the abdominal muscles and other organs and can be difficult to feel. Rectus Femoris is most familiar muscle, better known as the quadriceps.  These four muscles run from the knee along the front of the thigh to the hip bone. Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL) is located on the outer part of the hip and attaches to the thigh.  Again, place your hands at your hips and run your fingers down the side toward the thigh and that is the TFL.

You can see how these four muscles are responsible for flexing the hips and trunk.

Strengthening or Stretching the Hip Flexors 

Most people think of the hip flexors as being

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