How to Unlock Your Hip Flexors Review

“Unlock Your Hip Flexors” is a comprehensive program designed to strengthen and loosen your hip flexors.  Hip flexors are a group of muscles that work together to lift your leg or knee towards your torso or allow your body to bend forward at the hip.  These muscles include psoas major, iliacus, rectus femoris, pectineus, and the sartorius muscles.  The psoas muscle is a deep muscle that connects the spine to the leg and is the only muscle that does so. It runs from your lower back through the pelvis, passing to the front of the hip where it attaches to the top of your thigh bone.  The other muscles support the main stabilizing activity of the psoas helping us to maintain good posture.  When the hip flexors become tight the balance between anterior and posterior muscles is disrupted causing the pelvis to no longer be properly aligned.

Typically an anterior tilt of the pelvis is created when the psoas major muscle becomes tight.  This tightening can be the cause of many aches and pains in our body.  The psoas major is the only muscle that connects the upper and lower body.  It attaches to the diaphragm which connects it to your breathing.  In addition your major internal organs sit upon it.  Extended periods of sitting or standing in a flexed position cause the hip flexors to shorten and become overactive inhibiting the glutes from firing.  When the glutes are not firing properly they weaken and lose their functionality.  This causes a dysfunction where the surrounding muscles take over compromising extension and rotation of the hips, stabilization of the pelvis, and movements of the thigh away from and toward the body.  The body’s kinesiology is negatively impacted when the range of motion in various joints becomes restricted.  Over time the body will compensate and shift its structure.  In severe cases this will lead to what is known as Janda’s Upper and Lower cross syndromes.  See article on the Janda Approach.

How Can Tight Hips Hold You Back?

I learned first hand the impact the hips have on the whole body when it was discovered that I had a stage 3 spondylolisthesis after a terrible car accident in 2012.  This is a spinal disorder in which a bone (vertebra) slips forward onto the bone below it.  The spondy was an old injury however it had taken its toll on my posture causing an extreme anterior pelvic tilt.  I suffered from many of the common symptoms of tight hip flexors.

• Nagging joint pain in the legs, lower back and hips
• Walking with discomfort
• Bad posture
• Poor digestion
• Trouble sleeping

Other tight hip flexor symptoms identified in the Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program are:

Bulging belly syndrome – Studies/Experts agree that the psoas functions as a stabilizer and helps keep good posture.  It’s a common myth that bulging belly is due to weak abdominal muscles. The real cause is likely to be tight psoas muscles, which cause the lower back to curve, pushing out the stomach. When the psoas works properly, it pulls the abdomen back, tucking the tummy in, adding to the appearance of a strong, flat stomach.

Fat Loss Inhibitor – As the body’s “fight or flight” muscle, your psoas is deeply connected to our natural survival instinct. It instantly tightens in moments of danger to either protect you (in a fetal position) or help you run, fueled by the release of adrenaline. However, with your psoas constantly tight, it’s as though you are in constant danger. When your body is stressed, it often switches into fat storing mode in anticipation of danger. [34-36] So, if fat loss is an issue for you, tight hips might be to blame.

Uncomfortable Sleep – Sitting all day causes your hips to become stuck in a forward thrust position. This leads to pulling on the lower back and decreased blood flow and circulation through the hips. This tightness results in physical discomfort, making it more difficult to fall asleep and more likely to wake up throughout the night. [30]

What to Expect from the Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program

This program goes beyond the simple static stretching so often recommended to solve tight hip flexors and introduces the reader to additional techniques including PNF stretching, dynamic stretching, fascial stretching, 3 dimensional core stability exercises, mobility exercises and muscle activation movements.

• PNF stretching – PNF is an acronym for proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. This is a technique used to activate a specific muscle in order to relax the muscles around a joint so you can decrease the stiffness around a joint.
• Dynamic stretching – This is a technique used to activate the muscle around a joint and then moving that joint through its full range of motion in a progressive manner.
• Fascial stretching –  This is a technique used to stretch the fascia which is the connective tissue that surrounds muscles, bones, and joints.
• 3 dimensional core stability exercises – These exercises target the muscle in all planes of movement so the core and abdominal muscles have good activation, endurance and strength.  This leads to a decrease in unnecessary damaging stress on joints
• Mobility exercises – These exercises target movements and that help the joint function optimally. This allows a joint to move more freely.
• Muscle activation movements – Due to all of our sitting and daily technology use, many of our muscles are not working properly. These techniques target those muscles that have turned off and reactivate them to help the body move more efficiently.

The key to success with these techniques is the sequencing.  Excerpt from Manual: “Done effectively the sequential flow works with your body to help relieve chronic pain, improve flexibility and increase strength and vitality. [38-45]”  The time-compressed simplicity of the 10 step program makes daily adherence easy.  In 63 pages Rick Kaselj and Mike Westerdal provide a comprehensive explanation of how the psoas functions and why it is considered one of the most important muscles in the body.

Creators of the Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program

I chose the Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program based on the two very well credentialed professionals who created it.  Rick Kaselj is a certified specialist in sports injuries and Mike Westerdal is a sports nutrition specialist, personal trainer and the founder of the popular strength training site, CriticalBench.com.  See Ricks bio below.

Rick Kaselj, M.S. (Exercise Science), B.Sc. (Kinesiology), PK, CPT, CEP, CES

Rick Kaselj specializes in exercise rehabilitation and fitness. He works in one-on-one and group rehabilitation settings, educating and training people who have been injured at work, in car accidents, and during sport activities.  He has combined his rehabilitation experience and passion for research to develop a variety of courses and presentations for fitness professionals, Kinesiologists, and healthcare providers. Rick has given over 302 presentations to 5897 fitness professionals across Canada and USA.

Where to Begin?

Have you answered “yes” to any of the symptoms above?  If so, then the Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program might be for you.  This revolutionary program can change how you feel about your body by increasing your range of motion and improving your posture.  This provides a synergy to combat inflammation and increase energy levels.

What’s Included?

The Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program includes a 63-page guide in pdf format and two videos. The combination of materials both educate the reader on why hip flexors are important and gives expert instruction on how to perform the recommended loosening and strengthening exercises.  The videos are very helpful.  The first one is instructional with the second video containing routines that you can follow on your own. Two bonus offers are included but optional:  “Unlock Your Tight Hamstrings” and “The Ultimate 7 Day Anti-Inflammatory Diet.”

Where to Purchase?

You can purchase the materials discussed above and make a real change in your health and body for just $10.  This program usually sells for $50, which means that you will receive almost an 80% discount. This promotion is only for a limited time. The good news is that this program comes with a 60-day money back guarantee.  If for any reason these resources don’t work for you, you can ask for a full refund, no questions asked. This risk-free warranty allows you to return the product within 60 days if you don’t see any change to your well-being.  Consider also purchasing the two bonus offers “Unlock Your Tight Hamstrings” and “The Ultimate 7 Day Anti-Inflammatory Diet” to amp your results.  Check out this link for “Unlock Your Hip Flexors.”

Program Rating

I would give the Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program a rating of 4 stars. It’s a good solid program that will guarantee results for people who actually perform the movements, it’s also relatively cheap and comes with a full 60 day money back guarantee.  I would not give it 5 stars because of the pushing of the add-on items after purchase (these could be all made into one more broad book). There are also too many unproven claims about the benefits of a well-stretched psoas.  However, this does not take anything away of the effectiveness of the actual program.

If you found this blog informative, check out another recent post on the benefits of doing squats everyday!  It gives step-by-step instructions on the key components of a proper squat and is a great adjunct to the Unlock Your Hip Flexors Program.