For the last few years, my hip flexors and groins/adductors are cooked. As a kid, I used to sit a lot from gaming. Then into college, even though I gradually stopped gaming, I still had many long sessions of sitting on a chair, when we had virtual classes. And now I've been working from home the last few years. So all this sitting adds up a ton and it has greatly affected my overall flexibility, especially on the lower body.
For the last few months, I've changed my sitting habits and actually did some stretches. I would limit the amount of time spent sitting at once to 30 mins before a quick get-up and walk around or stretch. This helped solve a bit of my lower back pain at least but my outer side glutes or hamstrings on both sides would be really painful. I don't know much about muscle groups so my description may not be accurate.
I can do basic daily activities and run with no issue. But I can't do weight lifting when I need to exert energy on lower body. I would get excruciating knee pain from doing basic (no weight) squats, holding a pose even for just 3 seconds.
Here are stretches I've tried, based on common suggestions:
90/90 Stretch: My back is nowhere close to upright and straight. I would feel a lot of rear hamstring pain on my foot with the toe pointing forward, which should be normal?
Butterfly Stretch: I can't even sit in this position with my back straight. When I form a straight line with my feet, my knees can't get below nipple height.
Lying Knee to Chest: When I attempt to bring my knee to my chest, my knee ends up swaying away from my body and off to the side. When I try to bring it back into alignment, the knee then repels the chest. Same result for both knees. I would feel a ton of groin/adductor resistance.
Cossack Stretch: When putting weight on one knee, I can't bend that knee below 120 degrees, while many in those videos can at least get a ~75 degree bend. I would also feel knee pain with that weight on me. Additionally, the supposedly straight knee would struggle to straighten and I would have a ton of adductor pain. I don't know if there's any point in this stretch if I can't even get down halfway.
Standing Side Leg Raises: The highest I can get is around 45 degrees and even then, sometimes my body would tilt to the opposite side.
Sitting on Knees: I would struggle to sit on my knees as I can't get my heel to touch the glute.
I should see physio but I don't have the money to so I'll see what non-physio advice I can get if anyone's been in this situation. From the looks of the videos that demonstrate those stretches, they have a ton of flexibility to the point. It feels like a chicken and egg problem where if I can't do the proper form, I won't get flexible enough to do the proper form.