Hip flexor pain from ab workout - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

snuggle377 · 01-23-2006, 07:09 AM

I've noticed that when I do crunches and other ab exercises, my hip flexors are doing the brunt of the work and not my abs. I try to keep my lower back flat against the floor, but that doesn't seem to be enough since I'm now feeling some pain in my groin/hip area. Any suggestions as to what I can do to make sure that my ab muscles are being targeted?

gladestrekker · 01-23-2006, 01:15 PM

This is just a hunch (since I can't see your technique), but you may be straining your hip flexor muscles which are in fact doing the brunt of the work when you do a full sit up. What I mean by that is starting from the floor and raising your trunk all the way to a 90 degree angle. Beyond about 45 degrees, your hip flexors do the work, whereas your abs do the work at the beginning. So, the bottomline is to do crunches only to a 45 degree angle position. However, that does not mean you should never make your hip flexors work either! It just depends on what you are wanting at the time.

snuggle377 · 01-24-2006, 04:51 AM

Thanks for the suggestion! I did some ab exercises last night and made a conscience effort to relax the hip flexor muscles as I was crunching up. I think I may have been going beyond the 45 degrees.