Hello Everybody! I'm brand new here and a workout beginner.

On the road to killer thighs I'm getting lost and confused. Lateral lunges are giving me a nice curve on the outside of my leg but they aren't activating my adductors much. I tried sumo squats today and in my opinion the adductor activation on sumo squats is pretty weak too. So my question is: if you had no equipment, bodyweight only, what is your favorite move to burn up your adductors?

Are you doing pilates isolation lifts and ball squeezes?

What are all the men doing for inner thighs when you don't have access to the adductor machine? jump squats? step ups? lateral box jumps? or cossack squats?

Or am I overthinking this whole thing and reverse lunges are good enough?

I could really use some pro advice to save me from confusion and having to persoanlly try dozens of random moves to find the best one. I'm hoping for a bodyweight exercise that sets my adductors on fire. What's your best move?

It is my understanding adductors are very well used in basic squats. When I don't have access to weights I hit body squats mixed with jumping squats and it usually feels pretty damn good. Even one legged body squats can do the trick. Doing lunges also but I think they may not hit them as hard. Either way if you squating or lunging you are getting them. The adductor machine is just a way to isolate them but you can do that with the ball squeeze on the inners. Welcome to the forum btw and congrats on beginning your new journey!

I think you may be just a tad confused. The abductors are your inner thigh, and the adductors are your outer thigh. Doing squats with a some what wide stance (just outside shoulder width) will not only tear up your quads and glutes but they will also tear up your abductors. Even the leg press done with a wide stance will target the abductors. As far as targeting the adductors, the best machine for that is the hip adduction machine, but if you dont have access to that piece of equipment you can do side leg raises with an ankle weight strapped to your ankle. Do high reps and lots of sets (like 4-5 sets of 15 reps.) Regular lunges, reverse lunges, and lateral lunges will hit pretty much everything in your legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes, adductors, abductors, and calves so be sure to do them each week).

If you will closely examine the graphic I'm attaching I think you will see I am not confused at all. Adductor Magnus, Adductor Brevis and Adductor Longus orginate in the pubis and insert into the the femur. I believe that you Nate_Dawg & Adawg38 are absolutely correct that a legs program filled with lunges and squats will be pefectly adequate to exercise all the muscles in my thighs and I was just ovethinking the whole thing in the first place. Thank you both for your sound advice, I will put it to good use.

Deep lunges. Body weight, with weights, any kind - deep lunges will demolish your adductors.

She was correct bud Think of it this way with naming, the adductors ADD your legs back to your body (draw them back towards you). That's how I remembered everything back in my anatomy class grind.

Heres the answer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HEZx_jlAU8&feature=youtu.be

Squats and deadlifts alone will take care of the whole leg area including adductors. If you really want to target them I would add the multidimensional deep lunge. Stepping in front, stepping 45 degrees in front, stepping to the side..etc etc until you complete a circle.



P.S. Jonas Strikes Back with some valuable info! (trollface)

I saw a video of this move just this week! I haven't tried it yet but I definitely will.

Thank you for the video! I tried this move in my routine today and it was AMAZING, my adductors were BURNING. After my legs day with your move added in I felt a nice even burn across all the muscles in my legs. I am definitely adding it to my regular routine. Thanks for the help, this is the move I was looking for!

Did you by any chance watch Elliott Hulse's video on this? :D

You know it. I follow several trainers on YouTube, Scott Herman is my favorite of course but he's not the only one. I'm really enjoying Elliot's new [BE Strength] series and I got pretty motivated watching his "Train Angry" vid too. I can't perform a lot of his training moves obviously but he makes a great life coach. What could be better than a weightlifter/strongman philosopher? ;)

Amazing. I watched the push press video as well. Really motivating. As for the BE Strength series, I bookmarked it because I dont have much time to spend right now :D Elliott really helped me in the past to escape from the foul bodybuilding mentality and jump into powerlifting/strongman training. Too bad his Yo Elliott series was ended.