The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #2 Abductions and Adductions
- The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #5, Lunges
- The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #4, deadlifts
- The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #3, push ups
- The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #2 Abductions and Adductions
I’ve had a few emails from readers lately, who provided me with a breakdown of their workouts. Most of them were relatively standard, but I did notice a few exercises that seemed to be missing. So I decided to write up a quick series of articles on some of the best exercises that most people are missing out on. Number 2 is a combo of abductions and adductions, two of the best leg exercises that most of you guys are missing.
The Basics
Adductions and abductions are both thigh workouts. They are essentially opposites of one another. One works the outer thigh and one works the inner thigh. They’re some of the simplest exercises to do and consist of lying down on your side and lifting your leg. Lying leg adductions consist of lifting up your inner leg, the one you’re lying on, as you can see in this video. Whereas with thigh abductions you lift the outer leg as you can see in this video. Neither one of these exercises uses weights, so if you want to increase the difficulty, simply do more of them or do them slower.
Proper Form
As usual, follow the 3 and 3 rule. 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down. This is especially important with the adductions. With the thigh abductions, you may want to limit your angle to no more than 45 degrees. Any more than that and you risk a very uncomfortable pulled muscle in the groin area.
Benefits
These two exercises are key to strengthening your thigh muscles. That may not seem like much, but remember that the muscles around your thighs and butt are part of the core group of muscles that stabilize your every move. Virtually every function of your body is in one way or another helped by the core muscle group. Strengthening these muscles will reduce the risk of injury from other exercises and give you better performance with your other workouts. Think of it as working on your foundation. No one will ever see your foundation, but without it, your entire house will crumble.
Warnings
Not too many warnings around these two exercises, they are relatively risk free.
Variations
Again, not too many variations here. There are some people who prefer to use a machine to work these muscles. That’s fine, you get just as good of a workout on a machine.
Who’s Missing Out?With this exercise, it’s mainly guys who are missing out. I’m not sure why, but say “thigh exercises” to a guy and he thinks “that’s for women.” I have no idea why this is? Men have thighs. We have the same muscle groups as women, so why would we not want to work them out? Just relax guys, no one will think any less of you for working on your thighs.
Summary
Two excellent exercises that work on your core muscles. both will strengthen your upper legs to reduce the risk of injury and increase your overall performance. Neither requires any gear and both can be done with virtually no risk injury. What else could you want?
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as a kid and teen I always thought these were female oriented exercises, now as an adult I know otherwise.