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Strengthen And Tone Your Inner Thighs With These Workouts – 21 Inner Thigh Exercises

Strengthen And Tone Your Inner Thighs With These Workouts – 21 Inner Thigh Exercises

by | May 25, 2016 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief, Stretches, Workouts

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!

Inner Thigh Workouts – Strengthen Those Adductors

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.

Abs, Adductors and Glutes!

The Glute And Inner Thigh Workout

Quick Stretch and Activation Series

Abs, Adductors and Glutes! Workout

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!

Quick Stretch and Activation Series

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.

Strengthen Your Core With Standing Core Exercises – 20 Standing Core Exercises

Strengthen Your Core With Standing Core Exercises – 20 Standing Core Exercises

by | Apr 30, 2016 | Blog, Core, Exercises

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.

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Perfecting The Plank and a Core Burn Out Workout

Perfecting The Plank and a Core Burn Out Workout

by | Jan 27, 2016 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Workouts

Planks are always a popular exercise. And with good reason. They are a great core exercise!

The problem is…it has become a competition to hold a plank the longest. When how long you can hold a plank isn’t near as important as your ability to properly engage and contract the muscles of your core intensely.

It is a much better test of core strength to challenge yourself to engage the muscles of your core so intensely that you create “shakeage” within seconds of starting the plank rather than compensating just to hold longer. If you can engage your muscles so intensely that they are shaking, you will be able to use your core and recruit the muscles of your core more efficiently during other movements.

Developing proper core strength and learning how to properly engage the muscles of your core is why you should truly be including planks in your workout routine. You want to use them to strengthen your mind-body connection!

Below are some tips to help you get the most out of the Basic Plank as well as a few basic variations and a great core burn out workout.

 

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Learning To Use The Power Wheel – 11 Power Wheel Exercises

Learning To Use The Power Wheel – 11 Power Wheel Exercises

by | Jan 20, 2016 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Functional Fitness

The Power Wheel is a great advanced core training tool. It creates instability and really forces your core to engage and work during compound movements. It can take plank, crawls and glute bridges to the next level.

However, you must make sure that your core activates and engages correctly before using the Power Wheel or you could end up engaging your low back instead of your abs and glutes.

But once you are ready, or using some of the beginner movements below to build up, you can use the Power Wheel to test your core strength and learn how to engage properly during more challenging, unstable and compound movements. (Plus the Power Wheel can be a great home gym tool if you are looking to focus on core strength and stability!)

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Why You Should Do Crunches and Sit Ups – 20 Ab Exercises

Why You Should Do Crunches and Sit Ups – 20 Ab Exercises

by | Dec 2, 2015 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises

TheCrunches and Sit Ups have gotten a bad rap in the last few years. They are said to be worthless and even put you at risk for injury.

And when designing many of my workouts, I often even opt for other “core moves” over Crunches and Sit Ups because they give you more”bang for your buck,” aka they work more, and bigger, muscle groups all at once to not only strengthen your entire core, but also burn more calories.

HOWEVER, there is a time and a place for Crunches and Sit Ups.

They really aren’t dangerous when you do them correctly and integrate them into your workout routine correctly.

And while they won’t give you six-pack abs, especially if your diet isn’t on point, they do have value when used correctly.

Plus, they sometimes are just freaking fun! There is just something about the ab and core burn that is produced by Crunches and Sit Ups that makes you feel good. (And sometimes working out should simply make you feel good!)

So here’s why you should do Crunches and Sit Ups and when you should include them. Plus 20 fun Crunches and Sit Up Variations!

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15 Unconventional Core Exercises

15 Unconventional Core Exercises

by | Sep 18, 2015 | Blog, Core, Exercises, Functional Fitness

Often we don’t realize how much our core actually works when we do our basic exercises. We instead think we need to do more crunches or sit ups to specifically target our cores instead of focusing on movements that work more muscle groups at once.

And while including exercises to really target our core is important, there are more moves out there to work our core from every angle than we realize.

Many of them we may even be doing without realizing how much they are already building and improving our core strength and stability.

These moves will target and work your entire core – everything from your shoulders to your knees – in a functional way to strengthen, not only other exercises, but also how well you move in everyday life.

These 15 Unconventional Core Exercises are functional movements because they target your core while making you move or engage muscles in a way you might during everyday life and during exercises that require you to use other muscles.

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