Research supports the value of the effort, noting that adductors and other hip-centric muscles (like your abductors, or outer hips) play crucial roles in positioning and stabilizing your pelvis, which, in turn, helps to keep your low back happy.
To target your adductors, add these simple exercises to any workout a few times a week. They are incredibly effective and take very little time.
This is a terrific exercise for beginners, but it’s also good for more experienced exercisers’ easy days or when they’re not feeling well.
Keep your trunk, shoulders, and neck stationary while you lift your lower leg up to touch the chair seat, hold for a beat, then set it down.
Try to lift on your exhale and lower on your inhale. Do 10 reps and switch legs. Build from there as you get stronger.
Lie on your left side with a small or medium-sized squishy ball between your ankles and your upper body weight resting on your left forearm. Keeping the ball squeezed between your ankles, lift your legs several inches and hold for 2 to 10 seconds, then bring them down.
The ball between your ankles gives you proprioception, or a chance to feel where your legs are in space, relative to one another. The ball also produces a little more adductor muscle contraction.
Remember to breathe steadily while your legs are in the air. Perform 3-10 reps (depending on your fitness level, and, of course, your pain level), then switch sides and repeat.
