FSs/SE22 & FSs/SE23 Quads before hip flexors?

Hey everyone, 

First of all, this is an amazing series and I can see progress already although I'm only in week 5. I can feel that front split getting closer and closer. :-)

I have a query about the two lunge positions with a vertical shin. At the moment, I'm not feeling it in my hip flexors very much but I have a theory why that is...

I am very tight in my quads, I didn't realize how tight tbh, and I'm wondering if I will have to work through this before I can really get deep enough to really feel these postures in my hip flexors. There's a little bit of a stretch in them at the moment but not the same deep stretch that I'm experiencing in my quads.

Can anyone confirm or deny this theory? I'm trying to keep my pelvis posterior to get the maximum stretch but not much changes when I tuck my tail, except in the quads.

Thank you so much for your time, jx

You put your leg on the wall exactly to add the stretch to the quads, so don't worry if you don't feel your hip flexors, it will come when quads get more mobile. If you still want to stretch your hip flexors a bit after you're done, get off the wall and have your rear leg on the floor so you are like this:

Pretty much the same stretch, but the flat leg puts less emphasis on the quads.

Pretty much. Any stretch will be limited by the tightest link, so its not as if you are losing out by having to go through your quads to get to hips

You are feeling it in your hip flexors: mainly Rectus Femoris and Sartorius.

Sounds like you are on the right track :-)

Ryan Bailey said:

You are feeling it in your hip flexors: mainly Rectus Femoris and Sartorius.

Sounds like you are on the right track :-)

250px-Rectus_femoris.png

that's the answer, you can find that quad is a problem if you cannot fold completely the heel on the butt, but if you can do that and you are experimenting pain with partial fold on the posterior leg the problem is what is stated before from Ryan.

Well true, these are technically hip flexors, but most people see the thigh part as quads anyway. I know I did for a long time.

Thank you all so much for these fantastic helpful responses. I'll keep on with these positions patiently and add in some shin down lunge positions to reach the hip flexors for now. Thanks everyone!

Rectus Femoris is one of the 4 muscles which make up the Quadriceps complex, so it is part of the Quadriceps. Rectus Femoris is both a knee extensor and hip flexor, so it is going to generally be the most stretched/limiting muscle when you extend the hips with the knee flexed/bent like in the vertical shin stretches.

The more the hips come away from the wall (and thus the less the knee is bent) the more the stretch should shift to the Iliopsoas and away from the Rectus Femoris (though you will probably always feel it some in the quads).

Thanks, Keegan. 

Like Coach said during the follow along video, I was one of those people who had a really tight hip flexor that their glutes were glued to the wall when I first did the stretch. First session I didn't get much stretch but I started fidling and found that BEING SQUARE gives you a really good stretch even if your hip flexors are tight.

I've made great progress after I focused on being square.

That's very encouraging, thanks YC.