NIFS Healthy Living Blog

Everyone needs strong hips. Athletes need them to perform a wide variety of movements within a given sport. Aging adults need them to help reduce the risk of falls. When we think about the hip, most people think about the glutes and abductors. You can look in any gym and see a handful of people with a band around their knees performing a plethora of movements working the glutes and abductors. However, the most neglected muscle is the one on the inside of the thigh: the adductor.

Anatomy and Function of the Adductor

The adductor muscle is situated in both the medial and posterior compartments of the upper leg. It attaches to the hip bone and to the linea aspera of the femur. The primary role of the adductor is to adduct and internally rotate the thigh at the hip joint. It also plays an important role in hip extension and stabilizing the pelvis along with the glutes and hamstrings.

Why You Should Be Training the Adductors

The adductors are a secondary muscle group that assists the larger muscle groups during compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts. However, there are important benefits to focusing accessory movements on the adductors. As I mentioned, the adductor plays a role in hip extension and stabilization of the pelvis. Hip extension is one of, if not the most powerful movements of the body. It is how we jump, stand, walk, run, and sprint. If we neglect the adductor muscles, we are missing out on added stabilization of the pelvis during all these movements.

Groin strains are the most common among athletes who are sprinting, cutting, and changing directions. Throughout these movements, the adductors take on a large load of eccentric forces. This means that just like the hamstrings during a heel strike, these muscles are force absorbers. A muscle is more likely to tear or strain if it is not strong enough to absorb an increasing amount of force. Strengthening the adductors can reduce the likelihood of a groin strain.

The adductors not only stabilize the pelvis, but they also control pelvic rotation. This is highly important for sports such as baseball, softball, golf, hockey, or tennis. All of these sports rely highly on the rotational power of your hips for swinging and throwing. Weak adductors will not help you hit farther or throw harder.

Movements for the Adductors

• Adductor Machine: Not all gyms or facilities have one of these machines. However, if you do have access to one, it’s the simplest way to directly train the adductors.
• Adductor Foam Roller Hold: Although you do not get the same overloading stimulus as the adductor machine, the foam roll hold could be a substitute for the machine. For this variation, all you need is a foam roller, or an object similar in width and it needs to be solid. In a seated or lying position, bend your knees to 90* and place the foam roller between your knees and squeeze. This is an isometric movement that you can make harder by holding for a longer duration. 
• Banded Adduction: For this you will need a super band and a place to anchor the band close to the ground. To perform this movement, you will be in a standing position with your side to the band. Wrap the band around the inner foot and step out until you feel tension on the band. From your starting point, let the band pull your foot away. Stand tall and bring your foot back to the center.
• Lateral Lunge: This is a great movement for any skill level because it can be progressed and regressed. To perform a body-weight lateral lunge, start with both legs together. Step one foot out and begin to bend that knee and start to sit your hips back. Push off that leg and bring both feet together. To progress this movement, simply add weight.
• Copenhagen Plank: For this movement you will need a bench or a box. You will start in a side plank position with your top foot on the bench and your bottom leg either straight or bent. From this position, you will pick your hip up and hold.
• Medicine Ball Scoop Pass: For the rotational action of the adductors, we will perform a rotational throw. With a medicine ball in both hands, shift your weight to the outside foot. From this position, push off the outside foot and rotate the hips, and then the shoulders, and throw the ball at the wall.

This blog was written by Evan James, NIFS Exercise Physiologist EP-C, Health Fitness Instructor, and Personal Trainer. To learn more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

The fourth and final movement pattern of this blog series is the hip hinge. If you have not read it already, head to the original blog post, Optimal Movement Patterns for Building Muscle, which gives an overview of the four-movement patterns that everyone should be training. In this post, I go over the hip hinge movement pattern.

The Hip Hinge Pattern

The hip hinge movement pattern is a compound movement that works the muscles of the low back, glutes, and hamstrings. These muscles are also known as the “go” muscles. The hinge pattern is an essential movement for your activities of daily living such as bending over, getting up from the floor, and walking. It is also essential to train this pattern to strengthen the muscles of the lower back around the spine. These muscles, as well as the glutes and hamstrings, can become very weak if you work a desk job or are sedentary for most of your day.

Training the hip hinge movement pattern to a full range of motion can also improve the flexibility in your hips and hamstrings. Learning how to hinge properly should be an essential aspect of your training from the beginning. Within your training plan, you can break this movement down into bilateral and unilateral patterns, just like the squat pattern. Bilateral means both legs working at the same time, and unilateral means one leg at a time. Utilizing both bilateral and unilateral will ensure you are not creating any imbalances between your legs. You can also isolate the muscles utilized in the hip hinge pattern, the hamstrings, and the glutes.

Hip Hinge Variations

Bilateral

• Barbell Deadlift
• Kettlebell Deadlift
• Hex Bar Deadlift
• Barbell Romanian Deadlift
• Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift
• Barbell Goodmornings
• Seated Goodmornings
• Hip Thrusts
• Glute Bridges
• Kettlebell Swings

Unilateral

• Kickstand Deadlift
• Single-leg Romanian Deadlift

Hamstring Isolation Movements

• Prone Leg Curl
• Seated Leg Curl
• Banded Leg Curl

Glute Isolation Movements

• Glute Kick Backs
• Hip Abduction (band or machine)
• Glute Ham Raises
• Glute Focus Back Extensions

Get Help with Your Training Program

For more information on how to properly progress and structure a training program, visit our staff at the track desk to schedule a private session. We are more than happy to help at any time, and as part of your membership here at NIFS, you receive complimentary workout programs. Our Health Fitness professionals tailor all programs to your fitness goals.

This blog was written by Evan James, NIFS Exercise Physiologist EP-C, Health Fitness Instructor, and Personal Trainer. To learn more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.

Chances are if you are like me, you have been told your whole life, “Make sure you’re stretching, it’s important!” But to many, the first thought that pops into their head when they think about stretching is, “Why?” And that is a very understandable response because stretching can involve a lot of discomfort (in the beginning) and to some, it might even cause a bit of pain. But there certainly is a method to the madness, and a reason why stretching is a vital component of your fitness program and, ultimately, your lifestyle.

What Is Stretching?

For starters, I’ll briefly describe what stretching is. Stretching can be somewhat of an umbrella term in that a lot of day-to-day activities do in fact involve some sort of stretching to some degree. In fact, every time your muscles contract there is a stretching and a shortening occurring inside the muscle to produce force. But the type of stretching I am talking about today is more deliberate and the kind of stretching most people think of when they hear the word “stretching”; think bending over and touching your toes, for example.

Stretching is important because it is all about increasing your range of motion and flexibility in the hope that doing this can lower your risk for muscle and joint injury or strains. The better our bodies are able to move, the lower the chance is for a muscle strain or getting injured when caught in an awkward position. Stretching both statically and dynamically is known to reduce injury risk.

Types of Stretching

The main types of stretching are active, passive, dynamic, and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching.

• Active stretching is the main one people think of when they are told to stretch, and this type of stretching can be really good for isolating certain muscle groups. A big part of active stretching is the fact that you yourself are the one stretching out your muscles; there is no outside intervention. 
• Passive stretching is similar to active stretching in that it can be isolated to certain muscle groups, but this type normally has a partner assisting in the stretch to perhaps reach a little bit more range of motion. For example, as you can see in this picture, the person on the ground is relaxed and her partner is the one actively applying stretching force to her leg, ideally achieving more range of motion.
• Dynamic stretching is the next variation. In this type you have more of a momentum-based approach. What I mean by that is that a big part of it is using body movement and motion of the limbs themselves to achieve a change in range of motion. For example a foundational dynamic movement is high knees. This explosive movement of having knees come up as high as they can go will create range of motion throughout the legs. The foundational piece of this type of stretching is an idea of the stretch shortening cycle, which is a concept that as muscles contract and lengthen, they then shorten, and as a result are ready for activity.
• Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, or PNF for short, is last but not least. PNF stretching is essentially the technique of contracting and relaxing the muscle in order to increase range of motion. The rationale behind it is that after contracting a specific muscle, the signals that lead to a muscle resisting stretching are used up, and by following up the contraction immediately with a stretch, the muscle is more likely to achieve a higher range of motion. 

Incorporate Stretching into Your Workout

After seeing these different types of stretching in more detail, the last thing to consider is, “Is this something I should incorporate into my exercise routine?” The answer is a resounding YES! Stretching has been researched and studied and has been shown to decrease the chance of injury and increase performance. So the next time you throw on your running shoes and get ready to hit the ground running (literally), take a second to do a light stretching warmup. Your body will thank you down the road (also literally)!

This blog was written by Ricky Rocha, Health Fitness Specialist. To learn more about the NIFS bloggers, click here.