If you’re dealing with pain from tight hip flexors, chances are you know what’s causing it: too much SoulCycle or too much time sitting at your desk, to name two likely culprits. What’s less clear is which exercises you should be doing to stretch tight hip flexors and ease the pain.

Maybe you’ve tried going for a walk or doing stretches after your workout class, but those probably haven’t helped ease the ache very much. That’s because the problem isn’t actually in your hip flexors — it’s in your glutes, according to Allison Heffron, D.C., chiropractor and owner of Adjust Your Performance in Springfield, New Jersey. And you don’t need to stretch — you need to strengthen. Luckily, that’s easy enough with the right exercises for tight hip flexors. (