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You may think of your hips as bones or the focus of pop songs (cue: Shakira, Shakira), but they’re so much more than that. The hip joint is quite complex, including about 20 different muscles that work to move your legs in different directions, stabilize your pelvis, and help your body move as one synergistic unit.
Your hip adductors, a group of muscles often thought of as the inner thighs, typically don’t get much attention—but if they’re tight or weak, it can have cascading effects on how your body moves. Everything you need to know about training your adductors (including the five best hip adductor exercises to try), ahead.
What are your hip adductors?
Your hip adductors are a group of muscles on the inner thigh, sometimes referred to as the groin muscles or inner thighs. “The hip adductors help stabilize the pelvis, bring the leg toward the midline of the body, and perform actions such as crossing your legs,” says Schuyler Archambault, DPT, CSCS, physical therapist, strength coach, and owner of Arch Physical Therapy and Fitness. They act opposite the hip abductors, which are on the outside of your hip and move your leg away from your body, out to the side (abduction versus adduction is tricky, we know).
The primary muscles in the adductor group include the adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, gracilis, and pectineus. Each one stretches from the pelvis down to the inside of your femur (thigh bone)—or, in the case of the gracilis, all the way down to your tibia (shin bone). This group of muscles isn’t only responsible for hip adduction but also works to rotate your leg and extend or flex your hip, depending on the muscle and position you’re in.
Why is it important to strengthen your hip adductors?
If you were around for some of the early aughts’ toxic diet culture, you may think of the inner thighs as a vanity muscle, but they’re far from it—your hip adductors have an important job to do. The key reason people need to train their hip adductors is because of their role in stabilizing the pelvis, Archambault says. That’s essentially your pelvis’s ability to maintain a controlled and balanced position while you’re moving or bearing weight (think: not tilting to the side when you pick up one foot to take a step forward).
With that in mind, your hip adductors help you do things like maintain balance, execute lateral movements, and walk and run, says Stacy Orsborn, CPT, certified personal trainer and co-founder of Victress MVMT. They help you cut across the field or court when playing soccer or basketball, skate down an ice rink, and provide dynamic stability when you jump up to hit an overhead smash on the pickleball court.
“When these muscles are weak, it can lead to instability or overcompensation in other areas, like the hips or knees—which is not good, especially as you age,” Orsborn says. For example, having weak or tight adductors can contribute to knee or back pain.
That’s right, it’s not just enough to have strong hip adductors; they need to have an adequate range of motion, too. “Mobility and flexibility in the adductors are equally important because tightness can restrict how freely your hips move, increasing the risk of strain, injury, and discomfort in everyday activities and workouts,” Orsborn says. Luckily, many hip-adduction strengthening exercises (more on those below) help drill your mobility, too.
There’s an important caveat, though: More adductor strength isn’t always a good thing. Really, it’s key to have balanced strength and mobility in both your adductors and abductors to keep your pelvis stable and hips and knees aligned. If you have much more adductor strength, for example, it can cause your knees to collapse inward when squatting, running, or landing after a jump, which can potentially lead to issues like ACL tears.
Your hip adductors help you do things like maintain balance, execute lateral movements, and walk and run.
How to work your hip adductors
Archambault recommends starting with moves that truly isolate the adductors—for example, the seated hip adductor machine in the gym, a cable machine hip adduction, or the Copenhagen plank (shown below). “When I want to focus on a hip adductor exercise and a client hasn’t had exposure to these movements prior, I like to have them perform an exercise that isolates this muscle group rather than working with several other muscle groups,” Archambault says. This helps ensure the right muscles are kicking into gear.
Just because hip adductor strength is important doesn’t mean you need to go wild with adding targeted exercises to your routine; remember, balanced strength is the goal. Archambault recommends adding one or two hip adduction movements into your workout routine two to three times per week. “Twice a week is a good starting point,” Orsborn agrees.
Orsborn suggests incorporating both adductor mobility exercises (like the adductor rock back) or light activation work (for example, standing squeezes or side-lying movements) into your warmup, then adding compound, strength-focused movements into the main portion of your workout for the best results. “For flexibility, I’d recommend static stretches or mobility work during your cooldown, which helps with range of motion and safe recovery,” she says.
Best hip adduction exercises
These hip adduction exercises will help you tap into the mighty muscles in your inner thighs, so you can build pelvic stability and stay ready for whatever your daily life, workout, or favorite sport has in store. You may recognize some of them from barre or Pilates workouts, which tend to put a lot of emphasis on strengthening muscles all around the hip joint.
1. Standing adductor ball squeeze (isometric)
This is a simple yet effective way to engage your inner thighs while also activating the core, making it perfect for building stability there, too, Orsborn says. You can use a foam roller, small exercise ball, or a yoga block, depending on what’s available.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Place a small exercise ball or foam roller between your thighs, just above your knees.
- Squeeze the ball or roller firmly for 10-15 seconds, then release.
- That’s 1 rep. Do 3 sets.
2. Side-lying leg lift (adductor-focused)
“These are great if you’re working on hip mobility and strength,” Orsborn says. One small 2014 study published in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation tested a series of adductor moves on college students and found that the side-lying leg lift produced more peak and average activation than any of the other exercises, including ball squeezes, rotational squats, sumo squats, and standing adduction on a Swiss ball.
- Lie on your right side with the right leg extended straight and your torso propped up on your right elbow.
- Bend your left leg and place the foot in front of the right thigh so your toes face away from your right leg. Engage your core and think about lifting your right waist away from the floor rather than collapsing down into it.
- With your right leg extended and the foot flexed, lift your leg up a few inches, engaging the inner thigh.
- Lower your right leg with control.
- Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps on each side.
3. Copenhagen plank
A favorite of both Archambault and Orsborn, the Copenhagen plank is great for strengthening your core and adductors. This builds stability that translates into everyday movements, Orsborn says. It’s pretty tough, though. If the below variation is too difficult, try modifying by bending your bottom knee into a modified side plank and allowing it to remain on the floor and support some of your weight while you plank. To make it even harder, you can lift and lower your bottom leg, as shown in the video.
- Position yourself in a side plank on your right elbow with your left leg elevated on a box or bench.
- Engage your core and lift your hips and bottom leg, using your adductors to maintain the position. Try not to let yourself tilt backward or forward.
- Hold for 15-30 seconds, then repeat on the other side.
4. Sumo squat
Sumo squats allow you to hit both your inner thighs and glutes while promoting better hip mobility, Orsborn says. It’s a compound movement that should fit well into the strength section of your routine.
- Stand with your feet wide, toes pointed slightly outward.
- Bend your knees to lower into a squat, keeping your chest tall and knees aligned with your toes. (If your knees are going far past your toes, you should step your feet wider.)
- Pause when your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Press your feet into the floor to straighten your legs and return to standing while squeezing your inner thighs. That’s 1 rep.
- Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
5. Cossack squat
Cossack squats work both your adductors and abductors, making them a great pick for all-around strong and healthy hips. “These are best for working on both leg strength and flexibility,” Orsborn says. “They open up the hips and challenge your balance in a functional way.”
- Start standing with your feet wide, toes slightly turned out.
- Shift your weight to the right side, bending the right knee deeply while keeping the other leg extended.
- Sit your hips backward and lower as far as possible into a squat on your right leg, rolling onto your left heel and allowing your left toes to point up toward the ceiling.
- Push through the bent leg to return to standing, then repeat on the other side. That’s 1 rep.
- Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.