Inner Thigh Exercise On a Pulley System

Your inner thighs are made up of many muscles, but the adductor magnus comprises the bulk of this region. All your inner thigh muscles function as hip adductors to allow you to move your legs laterally toward your body's midline. You can't do this movement properly with dumbbells or barbells, so you'll need access to a pulley system and an ankle cuff. With these items you'll be able to do an exercise to strengthen and firm your inner thighs.

  1. Inner Thigh Muscles

    • The largest inner thigh muscle, your adductor magnus, is divided into front and back portions. Both divisions perform hip adduction, but the front part is a stronger adductor due to the insertion of the muscle. The other inner thigh muscles you need to be familiar with are the adductor longus, adductor brevis, pectineus and gracilis. The first three are located in your upper inner thigh region. The gracilis extends from the bottom of your hip bone down to your knees.

    Warm-up

    • Before you do any hip adduction exercise, execute a thorough warm-up for your entire body, especially your hips and legs. A 10-minute jog will suffice. To further warm up your hip adductors and legs, do three sets of 30 body weight sumo squats. Stand with your feet as wide as you comfortably can, point your toes out just a little and hold your arms out in front of your torso. Bend your hips and legs as much as you can to lower your body, then return to the starting position.

    Standing Hip Adduction

    • Put the ankle cuff around your right ankle and attach the cuff's hook to the low pulley. Turn your entire body so your left side is toward the pulley system. Stand with your legs straight and put your left hand against a fixed part of the pulley system to support your body. Bring your right leg away form the pulley by moving it laterally to the right. Move your leg out as far as you can, then return your right leg toward the midline of your body. Repeat for a total of 15 repetitions, using a weight that fatigues your muscles. Do the same with your left leg and complete four sets with each side.

    Cooldown

    • After you do all the weight-training exercises in your workout routine, end with a 10-minute cool-down. Do a light jog and then finish off with a hip adductor stretch, such as the seated butterfly. Sit with your legs bent and the soles of your feet together, then bend forward; you'll feel the stretch immediately. Hold it for 30 to 45 seconds and repeat two more times.