Exercises to help riders hip flexors and ab muscles?

[RegentLion]

I had a really great lesson today where we worked hard on my position. I realize my hip flexors are quite tight. When I sit back on my seat bones I can feel the lack of stretch there.

Are there any exercises I can do between rides to increase flexibility?

also will crunches help my core strength or are there better ideas?

thanks!

[charismaryllis]

rowing machine!

[DancingArabian]

Pilates and yoga are of general benefit. I really like PiYo too. Bellydance is also superb for core, legs, and isolation of body parts.

[OveroHunter]

See if you can get a personal training session at a gym and let them know what you want to work on. Use the exercises they give you at home.

My personal trainer comes up with all sorts of great exercises that I couldn’t even begin to describe to you.

[ArabDiva]

Go on Youtube and search Yoga with Adrienne.
I never liked yoga until i started watching her vids.
She has a positive and light attitude.
I do 1 or 2 of her videos every day and it’s really started to help my core strength and flexibility.
Her 30 day challenge series is nice because it’s a progressive series that increases difficulty gradually.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

[QUOTE=charismaryllis;8261591]
rowing machine! :)[/QUOTE]

Oh dear, is the rowing machine seriously the best form of cardio for riding cross-training? Because I do CrossFit and of all the exercises, it’s probably what I’m worst at. Seriously. The worst. I always attributed it to being so short.

[islgrl]

Pilates is your friend. I had the TIGHTEST hip flexors until I began pilates. It has changed my riding for the better in every way.

[LesleyW]

There are several excellent exercises for hip flexors in yoga. Look up “pigeon pose”, it’s one of the best. You can even do variations of it while sitting at your desk.
I like to use a foam roller to add more stretch.

[riopony]

I do Pilates and yoga. My Pilates instructor is great and will split up the excercises so you aren’t overloading your hip flexors for too long (or other areas) she then will always throw in an excercise that will stretch the hip flexors while working another area (like doing a bridge or reverse table top- stretched the HF but works the glutes!)

Make sure you try and do opposing excercises, a lot of ab excercises constrict the HF and vice versa! My friend and I have seen tremendous benefits in our riding with going to Pilates once or twice a week!

[VTMorgan06]

[QUOTE=ArabDiva;8262167]
Go on Youtube and search Yoga with Adrienne.
I never liked yoga until i started watching her vids.
She has a positive and light attitude.
I do 1 or 2 of her videos every day and it’s really started to help my core strength and flexibility.
Her 30 day challenge series is nice because it’s a progressive series that increases difficulty gradually.[/QUOTE]

THIS!!! Yoga with Adrienne is amazing!

[Foxtrot_s]

^^^ if you are a motivated individual. People like me need a real whip cracker.

Using your core while riding and having an instructor who will work on it with you is a relative rarity.

BUT what I do in my everyday life is make a habit of doing small things well.
I put a whole stack of plates from the dishwasher to the shelf - not just one at a time.
I park further away, and walk my fastest to wherever I am going.
I jog all stairs - always - just a habit
mucking, brushing, etc. counts
I use my legs to get up from a chair, not my arms helping.
I do a sit up just to get up in the morning
AND
for a while there was a thread about the 30 day plank. It was great, but while I withered on the vine, will make a point of getting back to it. Check out Google.

There are abs under my little bit of pudge, but posture is a problem

[Mia_Sorella]

Switching out my office chair for a stability ball made a world of difference for me!

[quietann]

[QUOTE=ArabDiva;8262167]
Go on Youtube and search Yoga with Adrienne.
I never liked yoga until i started watching her vids.
She has a positive and light attitude.
I do 1 or 2 of her videos every day and it’s really started to help my core strength and flexibility.
Her 30 day challenge series is nice because it’s a progressive series that increases difficulty gradually.[/QUOTE]

I was interested in the 30 day challenge since I am going to be traveling a lot and not riding as much for the next 6 weeks or so … until I saw that it starts on Day 1, the very first thing, with a pose I cannot do and never have been able to do, even when I was a teen and doing a little yoga with my mom (who also could not do that pose. I inherited her non-disabling but sometimes troublesome hip condition.)

May be amazing and I do love her voice, but it seems like it’s really set up for people who are already pretty flexible.