Login | April 03, 2025
Hip abduction/adduction
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: March 31, 2025
Over the last couple of months for some odd reason I’ve run into a slew of people, from seasoned athletes to everyday fitness buffs, who have displayed terribly weak hip abductors/adductors.
Now I’m not sure if I’m making this discovery as a consequence of my being so fanatical over the past year with my own hip musculature, or that this reoccurring discovery is purely happenstance.
Nonetheless, It’s becoming apparent to me that the hips are a glaring weakness for many people whether they’re highly athletic individuals or merely everyday fitness participants.
So let’s take a quick look at these two hip movements - abduction and adduction - and then discuss some really simple and effective exercises that can help one to strengthen the inner and outer hip musculature.
First of all, what the heck is hip abduction and adduction?
Okay so think of hip abduction as moving your leg horizontally away from your body’s midline, and then conversely think of hip adduction as moving your leg horizontally back towards your body’s midline.
The hip abductor muscles include the glute medius and minimus, the sartorious and the tensor fasciae latae, all of which are located on the outer side of the hip.
These muscles are very important with respect to balance and stability.
And you might not realize it but hip abductors actually play an important role in knee health because they enhance one’s pelvic stability and core strength when they’re strong.
What’s more, strong hip abductors reduce the likelihood of the knee moving inward (adducting) during walking and running.
On the other side, the inner hip musculature, are the hip adductor muscles.
These include the adductor magnus, adductor longus, adductor brevis, pectineus and gracilis muscles.
The hip adductors come into play during movements like crossing one leg over the other, changing direction and moving laterally.
Possessing strong hip abductors and adductors contribute to better balance, more stability, good biomechanics, enhanced sports performance, less injuries and improvements in functional movement.
What’s more, those inner and outer hips can affect the knees either positively, like when the hips are stronger, or negatively, like when the hips are weaker.
So as you can see there’s a ton of upside to strengthening the hips.
And all of that brings us to some simple but very effective hip strengthening exercises that can be done at home. Let’s begin with hip abduction.
1. Side-Lying Leg Lifts––Lie on your side with legs extended and stacked, lift the top leg as high as comfortably possible while keeping the leg straight, the hip pointing upward and the toes pointing forward. Repeat this up and down movement for 10-15 reps/side. You can use a band around the ankles to provide more resistance if need be.
2. Clamshells––Lie on your side with the legs and feet stacked, but bend the knees at a 90-degree angle. Now with feet touching, slowly open up the top knee as far as comfortably possible while still maintaining a stable pelvis. Repeat this up and down movement for 10-15 reps/side. Again, you can use a band around the both knees to provide more resistance.
Next up is hip adduction.
3. Seated Leg Adduction––Sit on a sturdy chair/bench with your back straight and feet flat on the floor. Place a small squishy ball between both knees. Squeeze the knees together, squishing the ball as much as possible. Release and repeat for 15-20 reps
4. Glute Bridge with Leg Abduction––Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lift butt and hips up into the bridge position. While holding the bridge, lift one leg out to the side while keeping the hips level with the planted leg. Lower the leg and then repeat on the other side. Do 10-15 reps/leg.
These are four time-efficient hip exercises that require the bare minimum of equipment, and all told they probably take about five to eight minutes to complete.
So we’re not talking about a ton of time invested here.
Yet I can tell you without a doubt that the incorporation of these simple exercises into my daily stretching routine has really made a noticeable difference in my cycling, squatting and hiking…and I’m totally hip to that.