Stability 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 muscle tissue (your hip adductors) and your outer hip muscle tissue (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 muscle tissue, stabilize the hip, but if you don't have adequate strength in each muscle mass or appropriate firing in the muscle mass, then you can develop issues.” And 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 beneath. As a refresher, you mainly work your outer thighs when you provide your legs away from your body (by abducting your hips), and you problem your inner thighs when you provide your legs in to the midline of your body (by adducting your hips).
In the inner thigh workout below, you’ll function your hip adductors with two supersets, both of which start with a compound move-an exercise that works large muscle groups-and finish line with an isolation move. 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 muscle tissue, 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 mass is lengthening, affirms Fagan. With the isolation moves, you’ll be operating your inner thigh muscle tissue with a concentric contraction, or when your muscle is shortening.
Ready to build plenty of balanced lower-leg strength? Get ready to give this inner thigh workout a try.
The 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.