Most people are familiar with a few key muscles, like the abdominals, glutes, and biceps, but one less talked about muscle that plays a highly important role in movement in the psoas. At Nielsen Fitness, our in-home and virtual personal trainers believe that the more you understand your body, the better you can take care of it. Read on to learn the basics of the psoas muscle and how it supports your daily life.

LOCATION

The psoas is a long muscle in the lower back. “The muscle originates on both sides of the five lumbar vertebrae. It moves down toward the pelvis, combining itself with the iliacus muscle, the triangle-shaped muscle located in the pelvic bone” (Very Well Health, 2025), then connects with the top of the femur (thigh bone). You have one psoas muscle on either side of your spine.

FUNCTION

The psoas is one of the core muscles of your abdomen and one of five hip flexors: the iliacus, pectineus, rectus femoris, sartorius, and psoas. These muscles support hip flexion, which is any movement that brings a knee toward your nose or decreases the angle between your thigh and pelvis. 

“Like all muscles, the psoas is made of thousands of tiny fibers woven together. These fibers stretching and pressing together is what lets your psoas move your lower back, hips and legs” (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). It links your spine to your lower body, which helps you use your abdomen and legs at the same time. It also connects deeper muscles to those that are closer to the skin. Without your psoas, you wouldn’t be able to stabilize your lower back while seated, sit-up in bed or from the ground, or lift your legs to climb.

TRAINING

A weak psoas can increase your risk of pain and injury. Some of our favourite movements to strengthen the psoas include:

Lying Leg Raises: Begin in a prone position on a mat or soft surface with your palms flat by your sides. Now extend both legs directly above the hips, bracing your core and keeping your lower back still. Inhale as you drop the legs toward the ground, hover, then exhale as you lift them back up. While primarily used as a core exercise, leg raises also engage the hip flexors – including the psoas – effectively. To advance the exercise, try hanging leg raises. 

V-Sits: Another core exercise that also targets the psoas. Begin in a “boat” position, then extend your legs out long and your arms overhead to form a v. Inhale to lower the limbs, hover, then exhale to reach for your toes. 

Banded Climbers: Begin in a high plank position with a looped resistance band wrapped around the soles of your feet. Now execute a slow mountain climber, pausing for a second or two as the knees pull in to allow your hip flexors (and core) to brace against the resistance of the band.

Check out a video demo on our Instagram, here! 

RECOVERY

Having a tight psoas will also increase your risk of injury, so it’s important to effectively warm-up and cool-down your hip flexors before and after exercise. Some of our team’s favourite hip mobility exercises include:

Leg Swings: A fantastic hip warm-up for all levels. Balance on one leg or hold a stable surface for support as you swing the other leg forward and backward or right to left.

Hip CARS: Controlled articular rotations are great for muscles around ball and socket joints like the hips. Begin in a table top position, then kick one heel back towards the ceiling to create a right angle before opening the knee out to one side in a rotation to return to start. Practice the rotation in both directions.

Warrior Poses: Warrior poses stretch and strengthen the psoas at the same time. To execute a warrior one, begin in a high lunge position with your arms extended overhead. Now rotate your back foot open at a diagonal, pressing through the back edge of the foot while gently driving the hips forward.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s easy to stick to training the hot spots, but many smaller, harder to see muscles need your attention as well; your body is at its best when it works as one strong unit. To learn more about lesser-known muscles that may need your attention, consider talking to a personal trainer. Nielsen Fitness offers in-home personal training in Toronto, Collingwood, London, Hamilton, and Ottawa, with virtual personal training available everywhere.