Try Dante Trudel’s adductor exercise to explode hip mobility and strength.
Are you looking for an effective way to strengthen your inner thighs? If so, adductor exercises are just what you need to reach your fitness goals! Adductors are important in lower body mobility and strength, yet they’re often overlooked. Renowned personal trainer Dante Trudel has an adductor exercise worth trying that’ll explode your hip strength and mobility.
On March 22, 2023, Dante Trudel posted a clip of him performing a single-leg adductor exercise on his Instagram. Check it out below:
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Dante Trudel’s Adductor Exercise
In the video, Dante Trudel is seen on a hip adductor machine performing a unilateral hip abduction. Trudel stated, “My training partners love that I can take any piece of equipment, and I can find multiple ways to use it.” According to Trudel, well-built adductors can make any bodybuilder’s lagging legs stand out.
“You can have awful leg sweep but insane adductors and have standout legs. You can have incredible leg sweep and awful adductors, and your legs will always look [like they’re] lacking and shallow.”
Trudel went on to write that many taller bodybuilders struggle with this. But Trudel says it’s a simple fix since building massive adductors lend massive legs like bodybuilding legend Tom Platz.
Who Is Dante Trudel?
Dante Trudel is a personal trainer and co-owner of the supplement company Trueprotein.com. He stands 6’1″ and weighs a staggering 280 pounds of muscle. But he didn’t always hold this amount of muscle to his frame. When Trudel started bodybuilding, he was a scrawny 137 pounds. So how did he pack on so much muscle mass?
Trudel credits his precise training program he coined “Doggcrapp” for his ability to pack on muscle – which he’s best known for and has recently been making waves in the bodybuilding sphere. The goal for this training methodology is simple: Make muscle grow! Trudel’s DC system revolved around cutting out the high-volume “pump” training, including several random exercises. And instead, it focuses on a structured workout plan focusing on gaining strength.
Key Principles of Trudel’s Doggcrapp Training System
- Training with heavy weight
- Focus on strength progressions
- Low-volume workout, high workout frequency
- Include rest-pause sets
- Eat less carbs later in the day
- Cardio in morning
- High protein intake
- Extreme stretching
Dante Trudel’s DC training system can be used on all muscle groups, including adductor exercises. Below you’ll learn more about the adductors, why they’re beneficial to train, and other adductor exercises you can add to your training program.
Hip Strength and Mobility
Our hip strength and mobility are key, and certain adductor exercises can benefit us when looking to maximize everything we want out of all movements. When building strength and working on that prime mobility, looking at certain exercises to challenge and support us can prove worthwhile in the long run. Let’s look at some adductor exercises and see what these can do for our overall training and performance goals.
What Are The Adductor Muscles?
Your adductors are a group of muscles in your inner thigh responsible for movements such as pulling your legs together. Your adductor muscle group consists of individual muscles: the adductor magnus, the adductor longus, the adductor brevis, the adductor minimus, the pectineus, and the gracillis. Having strong and stable adductors will work wonders for sport-specific and functional movements (1).
Benefits Of Strong Adductors
With strong adductors, you work to tackle any movements or lifts you need with the comfort of knowing exactly how these muscles work and that they will be strong enough to handle them. The benefits of strong adductor muscles include:
- Improve functional movements: Use strong adductors to protect yourself against unwanted pain and strain with everyday movements.
- Prevent injuries: We all want to stay healthy and strong adductors will prevent injuries against themselves and the muscles around them (2).
- Promote hip mobility and extension: As pivotal movers, your ability to move your hips will be worthwhile in the long run, as well as focusing on extension (3).
- Strengthen hips and legs: With stronger stabilizer muscles, your overall strength will improve (4).
- Better athletic performance: For those sport-specific needs, strong adductors can aid in better sport-specific movements.
- Better rotational power: Rotate your hips better with these stronger muscles so they aren’t as weak.
Best Adductor Exercises
These top adductor exercises will offer variety to your workouts and can be used as either warm-up stretches or exercises in your workout. By focusing on these muscle groups, you challenge yourself to strengthen an oftentimes overlooked muscle.
1. Glute Bridge Squeeze
The glute bridge squeeze is a great exercise to strengthen all the muscles in this area and will work to care for your pelvis and back. The adductors are worked through the extension of the hip.
Using a foam roller, medicine ball, or something similar, place the object between your legs and lay on your back. Your knees will be bent. With your core engaged, squeeze the object as you lift your glutes off the ground. Pause at the top and gently lower back down.
2. Side Leg Raises
Side leg raises are great because they can be done with your bodyweight and primarily work your adductors. You can use weights or bands if you want, and maintaining proper alignment is key.
Laying on one side with your legs straight out, position yourself comfortably. Raise the top leg and pause at the top for a few seconds. Before switching to the other side, lower down and repeat for your desired reps.
3. Clamshells
Clamshells are generally similar to the side leg raises, although slightly different in positioning. This great inner thigh exercise can be done with weights or bands, or just bodyweight.
Lay on one side with your knees bent and lift the top leg as far as it will go. Hold for a brief pause and lower back to the starting position. Repeat for your desired number of reps.
4. Cossack Squat
The Cossack squat is one of those strength training exercises to give you more strong, stability and comfortable stability when working both your adductors and abductors. It will train your body a bit differently for that added challenge.
With your feet around hip width apart, shift your weight onto one leg. As you stay upright, hinge your hips back slightly but only as far as your range of motion will allow. Drive your foot through the floor and return to the starting position.
5. Foot Elevated Side Lunge
This exercise will elevate one foot as you dip into a lunge. It is a great exercise to strengthen the adductors while in a lengthened position to test the range of motion.
Place one foot on a bench or step stool and step your other a distance away to straighten the elevated foot. Lunge towards the foot planted on the ground, keeping your core engaged and back neutral. Return to the starting position and repeat for your desired number of reps.
How To Prevent Injury
Working these muscles, or any muscle for that matter, can lead to that unwanted pain and soreness. If you don’t take proper care, this can escalate into an injury you don’t want or need. Warming up will be key to getting those muscles primed and ready to go before any workout. A pre-workout supplement is something to consider for those seeking an extra boost. Any static or dynamic stretching will boost all the gains you want most.
Immediately after exercise, stretching and using tools like foam rollers can greatly alleviate your pain. A protein powder is a great post-workout supplement, for it can enhance growth and aid in the valuable recovery you want most. With muscles like your adductors, you want to ensure you give these the care they need to function and work for your benefit without pain.
Wrap Up
These adductor exercises will work wonders for building up those potentially overlooked and weak adductor muscles so you can get the most out of each and every workout. By strengthening these muscles, you alleviate any unwanted pain and strain that may come your way so you can thrive with sport-specific and more functional movements. Get the most out of your performance with these great exercises; the results won’t disappoint you.
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*Images courtesy of Envato
References
- Hrysomallis, Con (2009). “Hip Adductors’ Strength, Flexibility, and Injury Risk”.
- Crow, Justin F.; Pearce, Alan J.; Veale, James P.; VanderWesthuizen, Dan; et al. (2010). “Hip adductor muscle strength is reduced preceding and during the onset of groin pain in elite junior Australian football players”.
- Brooks, Toby; Cressey, Eric (2013). “Mobility Training for the Young Athlete”.
- Haroy, Joar; Clarsen, Benjamin; Wiger, Espen G.; Oyen, Mari G.; et al. (2019). “The Adductor Strenghening Programme prevents groin problems among male football players: a cluster-randomised controlled trial”.
