The Psoas Muscle

Posted by EasyFlexibility Team on Apr 12, 2017

Psoas - a lot has been said about this muscle. A deep hip flexor located in the center of the body. It is in close proximity to various organs. It is involved in various functions. (You can watch the two videos scrolling down for exercises on how to stretch it).

If you want a True (Squared) Front Split, you can't do it with tight psoas. Not going to happen. Many other techniques require a flexible Psoas. It's a rather tight and "hard to get to" muscle. But its flexibility is an absolute must.

But How do we stretch it?

Well... Ask a yoga or dance teacher how to stretch the psoas, and you may get something like this:

hip flexors lounge stretch yoga

This is a typical stretch that stretches the flexors of the hip. But is this a true Psoas Stretch? To answer that question we have to check with the science of Kinesiology.

The stretch shown above simply places the hip into extension. This means all the flexors of the hip are stretched indiscriminatorily. All 10 of them. Yep...

There are 10 muscles that flex the hip, 11 if you really want to get into it

If you are interested here they are, 6 Hip Flexors (they are called hip flexors, so they must flex the hip):

Rectus Femoris
Sartorius
Tensor Fascia Latae
Pectineus
Psoas
Iliacus
Adductors (Yes, adductors flex the hip):
Adductor Magnus
Adductor Brevis
Adductor Longus
Adductor Gracilis

And if we want to be very technical, the anterior fibers of Gluteus Medius.

So you are stretching 11 muscles in that stretch! If ANYONE of them is tigher than the Psoas in that position, You are NOT getting the Psoas.

You see the dillema? There are 11 doors. Psoas maybe door 3 or 5 or 10. And you can't even get past door 1 or 2.

Zaichik Stretching Techniques have an answer

You see, no two muscles do the same thing. Psoas does something no other muscle do:

It Flexes the hip
Adducts the hip
Laterally Rotates the Hip
Laterally flexes the lumbar spine.

No other muscle does that. Its close relative Iliacus does not even do that. It does everything Psoas Does, except for the lateral flexion of the spine. This allows us to separate the Psoas out.

Of course Zaichik Stretching Techniques is a lot more than just using the science of Kinesiology to target an individual muscle, as you see on the video. But that will be addressed in the upcoming articles.

If you want to see how Zaichik Stretching techniques are used to stretch each of the hip flexors, this program have helped many people:

Amazing results!

"Hip Flexors. I highly recommend this set of exercises as it targets the whole of the area of my 'stiff hips/legs'. The exercises are explained very well at the beginning of each set of movements. Having said this I haven't got through to the end yet as I progress slowly trying to ensure I am moving correctly. It is good to have two people showing the moves as sometimes a little difference can be seen in their flexibility. This helps me understand that my flexibility is going to be particular to my body. After a couple of weeks I am feeling a difference for the better. I look forward to completing all the exercises and continuing for greater flexibility. I also look forward to getting more of these sets of exercises as I believe the 'leverage' movement is the key to gaining the flexibility to our muscles. Thank you Easyflexibility/Elastic Steel for such a comprehensive range of dvd's to work my way through!" ~ Faye T.

This 45 minute video will target the six hip flexors muscles one by one as well as those muscles which restrict the full extension of the hip. This one also contains additional strengthening exercises making use of reciprocal inhibition techniques, strengthening antagonist muscles thus producing permanent flexibility and strength through the complete hip extension range.