Published July 20, 2026 11:37AM
Tight hips aren’t just an achy nuisance: they can tank your performance on hikes, bike rides, and trail runs. Poor hip mobility can trigger a cascade of not-so-great events that hamper athletic performance and set the stage for pain and injuries.
Unfortunately, it’s “very common” to have limited hip mobility, Kimberly Baptiste-Mbadiwe, a physical therapist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, New York, told Outside.
Baptiste-Mbadiwe defines hip mobility as your hip’s ability to move in different planes of motion to perform daily tasks, such as walking up stairs, and to participate in sports and recreational activities like walking, running, hiking, and cycling.
A big reason many people struggle with tight hips is that we sit for long stretches, especially those of us with office jobs. Sitting for long blocks of time tightens the hip flexors—the muscles at the front of the hip—while weakening the glutes, Baptiste-Mbadiwe told me.
This combo of tight hip flexors and weak glutes creates stiffness that prevents the muscles surrounding your hip joint—including the quads, hip flexors, glutes, inner thighs, hamstrings, and deep hip rotators—from working optimally. That can translate into reduced efficiency in pretty much any movement involving the hips.
How Poor Hip Mobility Impacts Performance
Limited hip mobility can also place more force onto your bones, which eventually can cause the space between your joints to narrow, Baptiste-Mbadiwe said. When left untreated, that reduced space can cause your bones to rub together, triggering increased stiffness and pain, and further worsening mobility.
Tight hips can also pull on nearby tendons. Over time, that tension can cause the tendons to degenerate (break down), Baptiste-Mbadiwe said. And when tendons are under stress, they can pull on nearby muscles, creating microtears that diminish their ability to contract well.
How to Improve Hip Mobility
The antidote to tight hips is simple: improve hip mobility by doing exercises that lengthen the muscles that surround your hip joint. Not only do those types of exercise allow you to recruit hip muscles more effectively, but it also prevents your muscles, tendons, and joints from taking on extra stress. Plus, incorporating hip mobility exercises after a long day of outdoor movement can boost recovery by shuttling nutrients to tired muscles.
Below are five exercises to boost overall hip mobility.
5 Exercises to Boost Hip Mobility for Outdoor Athletes
Do these moves as often as every day, or even multiple times a day, to increase hip mobility. They work especially well as part of a post-workout cooldown. Baptiste-Mbadiwe recommended doing three sets of each move, holding for 30 seconds per set.
Sets and Reps
Baptiste-Mbadiwe recommended the following:
- Sets: 3 sets
- Reps/Hold Time: Hold each move for 30 seconds
1. 90/90 Stretch
This stretch works your hips through both external and internal rotation. Boosting your hips’ rotational abilities helps stabilize your pelvic floor and prevents your knees from taking on extra stress. The 90-90 is a “bit of an extreme stretch,” Baptiste-Mbadiwe said, as it requires a lot of mobility to get into. So make sure to listen to your body and don’t force yourself into the full positioning if it’s too difficult for you; otherwise you risk injury.
How to Do It:
- Sit on the ground with feet wider than hip distance apart, knees bent to 90 degrees, heels on the ground and toes pointing up.
- Keeping your knees bent to 90 degrees, drop your right knee out to the side so it touches the ground (or comes as close to the ground as is comfortable). Turn your body towards your right leg so that your right calf is perpendicular to your body and the sole of your right foot faces left.
- Now drop your left knee to the ground (or as close to the ground as possible), keeping the knee bent to 90 degrees with your left foot facing behind you.
- Keep your posture as tall as possible.
- Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.
Make it easier by placing a prop, such as a block, blanket, or towel, under your front and/or back knee. You can also place both hands on the floor and shift your bodyweight back slightly and/or away from your back leg. As you improve your mobility, you can adopt a more upright posture. Start with just 5- to 10-second holds, then gradually build up to 30 seconds.
2. Half Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
This move targets your hip flexors, the muscles on the front of your upper thighs that often get especially tight after long periods of sitting. Loosening them up can improve your stride mechanics with running, hiking, and cycling.
How to Do It:
- Get into a half-kneeling position with your right knee and left foot on the ground. Both knees should be bent to 90 degrees, and the right should be extended directly behind the right knee. Optional: Place a pillow or exercise pad under your right knee for comfort.
- Shift your hips into a neutral position. To do this, slightly tuck your butt under your hips. You should start to feel a stretch in the front of your right hip.
- Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.
3. Figure Four
The Figure Four stretches your glutes, especially your glute medius and minimus (two small glute muscles that form the side of your butt), along with your piriformis (a deep hip rotator). Loosening up these muscles can help your hips move through a greater range of motion in rotational and side-to-side movements.
How to Do It:
- Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat on the floor.
- Keeping knees bent, cross the right ankle over the left thigh.
- You should feel a stretch in the side of your right glutes. (Optional: to intensify the stretch, lace your hands behind your left thigh and gently pull that leg towards your body, lifting your left leg off the floor so that your shin is parallel to the ground.)
- Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.
4. Hamstring Stretch
This move targets your hamstrings. Because the hamstrings attach to your ischial tuberosity, a bony prominence on the bottom of the pelvis (commonly called your “sit bone”), tightness in the hamstrings can limit how much you’re able to hinge your hips forward. The hip hinge is important for activities like running, hiking, and climbing stairs.
How to Do It:
- Stand tall in front of a step, chair, or low table. Prop the right foot up onto the step, with the heel resting on it and the toes pointing up. Fully straighten the right leg.
- Keeping your back flat, hinge your hips back as you bring your torso towards your right leg.
- Stop when you feel a stretch down the back of your right leg.
- Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.
5. Butterfly Stretch
This move stretches your inner thighs. Tightness in that muscle group can limit how far the hips can extend, rotate, and abduct (move outward). By improving inner-thigh flexibility, you can boost hip mobility across various planes of motion.
How to Do It:
- Sit down on the floor in a seated position. You can keep your hands at your sides or rest them lightly on your thighs.
- Bend your knees and bring your feet close together so the soles of your feet are touching one another.
- Let your knees fall to each side, keeping the heels pressed together. (Depending on your hip mobility, your knees may touch the ground or hover above it. You should feel a stretch in your inner thighs.)
- Hold for 30 seconds, breathing and trying to relax into the stretch.
Optional: if your knees don’t touch the ground, place a pillow, blanket, or block beneath them to make the stretch more comfortable.
Want more Outside health stories? Sign up for the Bodywork newsletter.
