An Inner Thigh Workout to Strengthen Your Lower Body

 

An Inner Thigh Workout to Strengthen Your Lower Body

Get ready to build balanced strength.

Balance is important in any workout routine, and it’s especially vital in lower-body programming. For instance, fitting in an inner thigh workout is key because it helps create balanced strength between your inner thigh muscles (your hip adductors) and your outer hip muscles (your hip abductors).

“You need to have a balance between the inner thigh muscles and the outer thigh muscles to help stabilize your pelvis,” ACE-certified personal trainer Sivan Fagan, owner of Strong With Sivan in Baltimore, tells SELF. “Your hip adductors, along with some other muscles, stabilize the hip, but if you don’t have sufficient strength in each muscle or proper firing in the muscle, then you can develop issues.” That instability, she says, can have a domino effect throughout your body, possibly leading to issues like lower-back pain.

Ideally, you’d be including workouts in your routine that challenge your outer thighs (like this hip abductor workout) and your inner thighs, like the inner thigh workout Fagan created below.

As a refresher, you primarily work your outer thighs when you bring your legs away from your body (by abducting your hips), and you challenge your inner thighs when you bring your legs in toward the midline or center of your body (by adducting your hips). The muscles that work when you bring your legs in toward your body are known as the hip adductors. There are five main hip adductor muscles are: adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus, gracilis, and pectineus.

In the inner thigh workout below, you’ll work your hip adductors with two supersets. Both begin with a compound exercise, which is a move that works multiple large muscle groups at once, and end with an isolation move, which is a move that targets one specific muscle. Compound moves are important because they give you the biggest bang for your buck, challenging a whole host of muscles including your glutes, quads, and hamstrings, as well as your inner thigh muscles, Fagan says.

With these compound moves—the sumo squat and the lateral lunge—you’ll be working your hip adductors with an eccentric contraction, or the portion of a move when your muscle is lengthening, says Fagan. With the isolation moves—the inner thigh raise and inverted thigh opener—you’ll be working your inner thigh muscles with a concentric contraction, or when your muscle is shortening.

Ready to build some balanced lower-leg strength? Get ready to give this inner thigh workout a try.

Inner Thigh Workout

What you’ll need: A moderate-to-heavy dumbbell and an exercise mat for comfort.

The Exercises

Superset 1:

• Sumo Squat
• Side-Lying Inner Thigh Raise

Superset 2:

• Lateral Lunge
• Inverted Thigh Opener

Directions

• For superset 1, perform 10–12 reps of the sumo squat and 15–20 reps per side of the side-lying inner thigh raise. Rest 1–2 minutes after both exercises are done. Do 3 rounds total.
• For superset 2, perform 12–15 reps per side of the lateral lunge. Then do AMRAP (as many reps as possible) per side of the inverted thigh opener. Rest 1–2 minutes after both exercises are done. Do 3 rounds total.

1

Sumo Squat

• Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned out about 45 degrees. Hold one weight with both hands on one end so it’s hanging vertically. (To achieve greater depth with your squat, you can also hold the dumbbell by both ends horizontally.) This is the starting position.
• Bend your knees and push your hips back as you lower down into a squat.
• Drive through your heels to return to standing and squeeze your glutes at the top. That’s 1 rep.
• Complete 10–12 reps.

The sumo squat works the glutes, quads, and inner thigh muscles (hip adductors). Think about pressing the knees out slightly to prevent them from caving in.

2

Side-Lying Inner Thigh Raise

• Lie on one side with your legs out straight and stacked on top of each other and your torso flat on the mat or propped up on your forearm.
• Cross your top leg over your bottom leg, bending at the knee so that your top foot is in front of your bottom knee.
• Lift your bottom leg toward the ceiling in a slow and controlled movement. Keep your torso stable throughout. Return to start. This is 1 rep.
• Complete 15–20 reps, then switch sides.

The inner thigh raise targets the muscles of the inner thigh, known as the hip adductors. You also want to make sure you’re engaging your core and keeping your back straight throughout the entire movement.

3

Lateral Lunge

• Stand with your feet together, hands at your sides. (For a greater challenge, you can hold a dumbbell horizontally at your chest.) This is the starting position.
• Take a big step (about 2 feet) out to the left. When your foot hits the floor, hinge forward at your hips, push your butt back, and bend your left knee to lower into a lunge.
• Pause for a second, and then push off your left leg to return to the starting position. That’s 1 rep.
• Complete 12–15 reps on one side, then repeat with the other leg.

The lateral lunge is a compound exercise that works the quads, glutes, and inner thigh (hip adductor) muscles. As a single-leg exercise, it’s also a good core and balance challenge.

4

Inverted Thigh Opener

• Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift your right leg up, keeping your thighs touching, and extend your leg up toward the ceiling.
• Slowly lower your right leg out to the right side as far as you can while keeping your hips and lower back glued to the floor.
• Bring your leg back to start. That’s 1 rep. Do as many reps as possible on that side, stopping before your form begins to falter. Then switch sides.

The inverted thigh opener targets the inner thighs, but also works the outer thigh muscles when you’re moving the leg away from the body. Keep your abdominals engaged, low back flat on the floor, and hips square to the ceiling throughout the movement.

Recommended:

Beginner To Pro Full Body Workout & Diet Plan – The All in One