The Adductors and Beyond

Toning the Inner Thighs
How to Do Inner Thigh Exercises Effectively
-By Marguerite Ogle


Several of the inner thigh muscles people want to tone for appearances sake, the gracillus and the adductor magnus for example, are called adductors. That means they bring the leg in toward the midline of the body - it's easy to remember, they add the leg. Abductors, found more on the outside line of the leg, are muscles that take the leg away from the midline of the body - they abduct it, like a kidnapper. For many us, our abductors are stronger than our adductors, so our inner thighs are weak and inner leg reflects that with an un-toned look. Many inner thigh exercises focus on the adductors, these are exercises that squeeze the legs toward each other. Seated legs is an example. But not every muscle that we want to tone to improve the functionality and appearance of the inner thigh is an adductor. For example the quadriceps is a set of powerful muscles that extend the leg (open the knee joint) and muscles of the quadrecps, like the vastus medialus, are major players in inner thigh tone as well.

Poor leg alignment, and therefore unbalanced muscle use, is frequently to blame lack of muscle tone in the leg. That's why we are such sticklers in Pilates for correct leg alignment. We want balanced muscular development.

Know Parallel Legs
You can do much to further your cause of toning the inner thighs by knowing what parallel legs means, and training yourself to walk, run, sit and stand with an emphasis on the legs in parallel position with the weight falling through the center of the foot. Lots of us send our line of energy down the outside of the leg instead of the middle. Just this one correction will go a long way toward helping you create and maintain a well balanced leg - including the inner thigh.

But I hear you: My inner thighs need more work than that. Right. They need strengthening.

Hug the Midline
When you do exercises that ask you to have your legs together, really squeeze them together. Make those inner thighs work. Don't be lazy and just have them together at the top and loose as they go down. Make sure your legs are lined up straight and hold them together from the top to the ankle. And don't let your foot alignment be sloppy. It will make a difference. The foot should be in line with the knee.