Easiest way to open and loosen hips

[blackstar212]

Lately my hips have been very tight and I cannot seem to get them loosened up. This is now affecting other parts of my legs such as calves and Achilles tendon etc.

 

What is the best routine for getting the hips to open up and relax?

[Teddy]

Learn a good yoga routine. Focus on poses like pigeon and frog.

[thelerner]

If you have access to a sauna, sitting and doing some stretches in the heat gives an instant increase. 

 

 

Lately for my stretching I'm using Wim Hof's advice- holding the breath for a 4 to 6 seconds, letting it go, relaxing and falling into the stretch, keep repeating, hold breath, then let it out reach a little further.  I've found it increases my flexibility in a nice relaxed way.   No bouncing or effort. 

[silent thunder]

My hips and ankles have always stored tension and were always the least flexible parts of my body.

These series of stretches have brought me great benefit, including full lotus.

http://zenmontpellier.net/eng/lotus/lotuseng.html

[dust]

Yes, some (if not all) of those yoga poses are excellent. I've had incredibly tight hips for a long time and am just starting to loosen them up to a useful point.

 

Also look into loaded stretching (adding extra weight to pull you deeper into difficult streches), and light ballistic stretching (very light pulsing at the end range of the stretch).

 

My favourite stretches for the hips that haven't been mentioned yet:

 

Cobbler pose with weight: Not sure if tailor's and cobbler's pose are the same thing?

Anyway, this stretches the adductors (inner thigh). Sit in cobbler's pose against the wall as seen in video below, but instead of pushing with your arms use weights. Put a weight on each knee (I use 20kg on each now, but started lighter with 10kg and have worked up) and gently lift weights up and down (keeping them in place on the knees with your hands). After 10 reps up-down, hold at the bottom position and breathe out, relaxing into the stretch.

 

 

 

Squats: deep squats, with or without weight. Look up Ido Portal's squat routine 2.0 on YouTube.

 

Weighted toe touches / Jefferson curls: basically you stand and bend forward to touch the ground, but with a weight in your hands. Focus on keeping a straight back and hinging at the hip, then when you have gone as far as you can with a straight back, start rounding the back and getting your hands as close as possible to the ground (or if you can get them easily to the ground, stand on something so you can go deeper). This is primarily a hamstring stretch but does affect various other muscles, plus flexible hams are important for all-round hip health.

 

Side and front splits: Basically, do the splits. Relax into it, hold for 30-60 secs, rest for 3-4 mins, repeat.

 

For side splits, use a chair or something stable to hold onto in front. Same with front splits: have a stable object on either side of you and gradually lower yourself forwards into the splits, hold, rest, repeat.

Edited December 20, 2016 by dust

[awaken]

Yoga is good

 

自發功 is good too

 

Jogging

 

Kung fu

 

......

[Peramadi]

As suggested by Teddy above, Pigeon is really good for opening hips.  Try variations of this pose also.

 

Another one, stand in mountain pose with legs a foot apart.  Now start tracing infinity (or figure 8) with your tail bone.  Always move from one feet to another from heel-to-toe.  When weight is one foot you make a semi-circle and another semi-circle on the other foot.  And as always, keep breathing in a rhythm to match the movement. Do it for 3-4 minutes and see if this helps. This always helped me loosen up. 

[Gerard]

Google He Jinghan YouTube channel. Also his baguaquanlessons blog (videos).

 

Great and huge training material. It will keep you busy the rest of your life.

 

Also: Asian Squat > Daniel Vitalis and some other useful videos. To be practiced daily.

 

Good luck!

[MooNiNite]

regular meditation in simple cross-legged will open the hips. After about 8 months I was able to do full lotus.