Many believe the plank to be one of the best core exercises out there, but it’s has also become very overrated.
The plank has now become an overrated core exercise because most people use it incorrectly.
So maybe it isn’t the plank so much as people’s interpretation of the plank that is overrated…Either way…if you’re going to do them incorrectly, they are highly overrated!
How do people use the plank incorrectly?
Have you ever heard someone say, “I want to be able to touch my toes?” As if that was a very important thing to show their fitness and health.
It is such an arbitrary sign of “flexibility” and isn’t necessarily meaningful when it comes to preventing injuries or moving well. (Ready to address a specific ache or pain? Click here and check out our best injury prevention articles)
The inner thighs, or adductors, are a very interesting muscle group.
They are an area of the body that almost every woman complains about. That most men don’t care about (but they should!).
But they are also an area of the body that anyone with knee, hip, low back or even ankle pain needs to work and pay attention to…Especially if you have knee pain!
It is one of those few areas where we can kill two birds with one stone and not only work on those aesthetic complaints but also alleviate and prevent injury at the same time!
Another area like this is the glutes…Glute activation moves not only activate the glutes to prevent and alleviate injury but can also make those butt cheeks strong and perky! (Plus, it is important to activate those glutes while you work your adductors to help maintain balance and stability around the hip joint and prevent and alleviate knee and ankle pain.)
But the inner thighs aren’t only interesting because most people want to tone them and because they can be responsible for pain, especially knee pain.
The adductors are also an interesting area to work because they can be both tight AND weak. And both issues can create and perpetuate pain.
So including adductor or inner thigh exercises in your workout routine isn’t as simple as just doing some lunges.
To properly strengthen and tone your adductors to prevent and alleviate pain, you’ve got to not only strengthen them, but also stretch them and improve your mobility as you strengthen. That is why many of these moves can be both stretches and strengthening moves. It is important that you not only strengthen, but strengthen through a full range of motion.
Many of these moves may help you also improve your range of motion and then maintain that range of motion by strengthening through it. All too often we spend time stretching to then only lift through a limited range of motion, which in turn only tightens everything back up.
It is very important that we strengthen through a full range of motion to prevent and alleviate pain and truly strengthen and tone those inner thighs. That is why moves like the Cossack Squat are so important to include because they stretch and strengthen at the same time.
To improve our adductor strength and mobility at the same time, it is also important that we include adductor foam rolling moves and even some Jane Fonda-esque moves in our inner thigh routine as well as the stretching and strengthening exercises.
Check out these 21 Inner Thigh Exercises to strength and tone your adductors. Then try out some of the Inner Thigh Workouts using some of these 21 moves!
Below are a few different inner thigh workouts you can do to strengthen your adductors and even improve your mobility.
A few of them also include glute activation exercises because it is important to balance adductor work with glute activation work so that you don’t end up causing an imbalance and contributing to knee, hip or low back pain. Working your glutes, abduction muscles and adductors can create balance around your hip joint so it is important that you don’t ONLY strengthen your adductors.
This is a great workout to work your core using Sliders! It will toast your abs, glutes and adductors!
WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Quads
Groin
Hamstring
Hips/Glutes
Back/Chest
Shoulders/Forearms
WORKOUT
Set a timer for 25 minutes and complete as many rounds of the following circuit as you can! Record and try to beat it next time.
CIRCUIT:
8-12 reps per side Slider Skater Lunges
10-15 reps Slider Plank Jacks
8-12 reps Slider Kneeling Adduction
10-15 reps Slider Glute Bridge and Curl
COOL DOWN
Stretch and Roll Out:
Calves
Quads
Groin
Hamstring
Hips/Glutes
Back/Chest
Shoulders/Forearms
NOTES: This is a great workout using sliders. If you don’t have sliders, glyders or valslides, use towels or even paper plates!
This is a great workout to stretch out tight adductors while strengthening them and your glutes!
WARM UP
Stretch and Roll Out:
Quads
Groin (see the video for an adductor foam rolling move!)
Hamstring
Hips/Glutes
WORKOUT
Set a timer for 30 second intervals. Complete 1 round of the first circuit of stretches and then 2-3 rounds of the second activation circuit.
CIRCUIT #1:
30 seconds Prayer Squat
30 seconds Side to Side Lunge
30 seconds Frog Stretch
30 seconds each side Pigeon Pose
30 seconds each side Half Kneeling Hip and Quad Stretch
30 seconds each side Seated Hamstring, Glute and Spinal Twist Complex
CIRCUIT #2:
30 seconds each side Warrior II
30 seconds Boat to Bridge Squeeze
30 seconds each side Side Plank with Adductor Lift
30 seconds Lower Ab Criss Cross
COOL DOWN
Stretch and Roll Out:
Quads
Groin (see the video for an adductor foam rolling move!)
Hamstring
Hips/Glutes
NOTES: This is a great extended warm up before a lower body workout and a great recovery day program. If you are doing this as a warm up, probably only do one round of the activation.
Working your core doesn’t have to mean getting down on the ground and doing planks, crunches or sit ups.
There are actually a number of great core-intensive exercises you can do standing. And these Standing Core Exercises can be a great way to work your core in every plane of motion and get in a great full-body workout.
They are some of the best ways to work your core because they work your core in a compound movement instead of simply isolating your abs. That means you can burn more calories in less time and you also strengthen your core in a functional way that helps you lift more and move better in everyday life.
If you are looking to add some variety to your workouts and challenge your core in a new way, try these 20 Standing Core Exercises.
I’m always looking for new tools and instruments to not only improve my personal health and wellness, but also improve the quality of training that I can provide for my clients.
And if those tools come in a nice kit that clients can even get for their homes so that they are doing more things throughout the day to move and feel better, that makes me even happier.
So of course I was super excited when I found RAD Roller at the LA Fit Expo. After seeing their great product, the RAD Roller, which was a nicer variation of the Peanut I teach everyone how to make, I went to their site and ordered my own RAD Kit. I wanted to test out their complete line so I got the RAD All-In Kit.
It was $140, which some may think is expensive but it came with, what I felt, were the tools to roll out EVERYTHING. It wasn’t just a big roller for $70 bucks (although I do love my full-sized Rumble Rollers as well).
I got the entire kit, and here are all the moves and ways I felt you could truly use it to roll out everything from head to toe. And the best part, if you are a messy person like me, it is easy to store everything in one place because the balls have spots in the blocks! WOO HOO! No more random balls all around the apartment!
SIDE NOTE: I have fallen in love with the RAD Roller so much that I’ve become an affiliate of their products. So of course I think you should get their stuff to do the movements below. HOWEVER, if you have other variations of these tools, you still need to do these moves as I’ve found these are some of the BEST to help prevent pain and injury especially if you sit at a desk all day!
