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Exercises

Hip adduction alternatives: inner-thigh work without the machine

Published October 23, 2026

The closest hip adduction machine alternative is a standing adduction: on a multi-hip machine at the gym, or with a band anchored low at home. Both pull your leg in toward your midline against resistance, just like the machine. For heavier inner-thigh work, wide-stance lifts like the sumo deadlift, sumo squat and lateral lunges load your adductors in a deep stretch, and with no equipment at all the Cossack squat and Copenhagen plank do the job.

What a hip adduction machine alternative has to replace

The hip adduction machine trains your adductors, the inner-thigh muscles that pull your legs together. They work hardest at the start of each rep, when your knees are wide and the inner thighs are stretched, and again as you squeeze the pads shut.

A replacement has to load that same inward pull, or put your inner thighs under load in a wide, deep position.

How to do the hip adduction machine

Machines in the gym

When the adduction machine is taken, these load the same muscles with the same easy setup.

Closest machine swap

Multi-Hip Adduction

Adductors

The multi-hip machine moves the same way as the adduction machine, pulling your thigh in toward your midline, one leg at a time. Use the sets and reps you ran on the seated machine, counted per leg.

How to do it

  1. Set the multi-hip machine for adduction and line the pivot up with your hip joint.
  2. Stand on the platform side-on to the machine with the pad against the inside of your working thigh, and hold the handles.
  3. Stand tall and sweep the working leg down and across in front of your standing leg.
  4. Let the pad carry the leg back out slowly to a stretch you control, finish the set, then switch legs.

Cues

  • Stand tall, hips square
  • Sweep across, do not swing
  • Slow on the way out

Common mistakes

  • Leaning your torso to move more weight: lower the stack until only the leg moves.
  • Cutting the return short: let the leg open to a comfortable stretch every rep.
Build a session with Multi-Hip Adduction

Heavy machine swap

Wide-Stance Leg Press

Glutes, Quads

Feet wide and high on the platform puts your inner thighs and glutes into a deep stretch with heavy weight. It trains the adductors as part of a big leg lift rather than on their own.

How to do it

  1. Sit in the leg press and place your feet high on the platform, wider than shoulder width, toes pointing ahead.
  2. Release the safeties and lower the sled by bending your hips and knees together.
  3. Go as deep as you can while your lower back stays on the seat.
  4. Drive the platform away through your heels until your legs are straight but not locked.

Cues

  • Feet high and wide
  • Lower back stays down
  • Drive through the heels

Common mistakes

  • Letting your hips lift off the seat at the bottom: stop the rep just before that point.
  • Snapping your knees straight at the top: stop just short of locking out.
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Barbell, dumbbells and kettlebells

Wide stances and side lunges load your inner thighs in a deep stretch, and you can go heavier than on the machine.

Heaviest swap with a barbell

Sumo Deadlift

Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads

The wide stance makes your adductors help drive you out of the bottom, so they work under more load than any isolation exercise. Use it as the main lift of a leg day.

How to do it

  1. Stand with your feet well outside shoulder width, toes turned out, shins close to the bar.
  2. Push your knees out, sit your hips down and take an overhand grip between your knees.
  3. Pull the slack out of the bar, then drive your feet into the floor and stand up, pushing your knees out the whole way.
  4. Squeeze your glutes at the top, then lower the bar to the floor by pushing your hips back and bending your knees.

Cues

  • Knees out over your toes
  • Pull the slack out before you lift
  • Hips and chest rise together

Common mistakes

  • Letting your hips shoot up first: start with your hips lower and keep your chest up as the bar leaves the floor.
  • Bouncing the plates between reps: let the bar settle, re-brace and pull each rep from a dead stop.
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Side-to-side work in a rack corner

Landmine Lateral Lunge

Quads, Glutes

Holding the end of the bar at your chest keeps you upright as you sit into one hip, so the straight leg's inner thigh takes a long stretch. It suits lifters who find dumbbell side lunges hard to balance.

How to do it

  1. Set your feet in a wide stance, toes slightly out, and hold the end of the landmine bar at your chest with both hands.
  2. Shift your weight to one side and sit your hips back and down over that foot as the knee bends.
  3. Keep the other leg straight and both feet flat on the floor.
  4. Push off the bent leg to return to the middle, then sit to the other side or finish one side first.

Cues

  • Sit back over the working foot
  • Straight trailing leg
  • Chest tall

Common mistakes

  • Letting the working knee cave in: point it over your toes.
  • A stance too narrow to feel the inner-thigh stretch: widen your feet before adding weight.
Build a session with Landmine Lateral Lunge

Best swap with one dumbbell

Sumo Squat

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

A wide stance with the weight at your chest loads your inner thighs at the bottom of every rep. It is the simplest heavy adductor exercise you can do at home.

How to do it

  1. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest and set your feet well outside your shoulders, toes turned out.
  2. Push your knees out in line with your toes and lower your hips straight down.
  3. Go until your thighs are about level with the floor, or as deep as your hips allow with a flat back.
  4. Stand back up by pushing your knees out and squeezing your inner thighs, as if dragging your feet toward each other.

Cues

  • Knees follow the toes
  • Straight down, straight up
  • Pull the floor together

Common mistakes

  • Letting your knees collapse inward at the bottom: lighten the load and push them out.
  • A stance so wide your knees cannot track over your toes: bring your feet in until they can.
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Dumbbells, one side at a time

Dumbbell Lateral Lunge

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

Stepping out to the side stretches the inner thigh of the straight leg while the bent leg does most of the lifting. It also trains your glutes and quads.

How to do it

  1. Stand with your feet about shoulder width and a dumbbell hanging at each side.
  2. Take a wide step to the right and sit your hips back over the right foot, left leg straight.
  3. Lower until the right thigh is near level with the floor, dumbbells on either side of the bent knee.
  4. Push hard off the right foot to step back to the start, then step out to the left.

Cues

  • Step wide, sit back
  • Trailing leg stays long
  • Both feet point forward

Common mistakes

  • Stepping too short, which turns the lunge into a squat with no stretch on the straight leg: step wider.
  • Letting the bent knee drift inward past your big toe: keep it in line with your foot.
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Two kettlebells, same side lunge

Kettlebell Lateral Lunge

Quads, Glutes

The same side lunge with a kettlebell hanging in each hand, so the load sits low and close to your working leg. Pick it when kettlebells are what you have.

How to do it

  1. Stand tall with your feet together and a kettlebell in each hand, arms straight at your sides.
  2. Take a wide step to one side and push your hips back as that knee bends, keeping the other leg straight.
  3. Sink until the bells hang on either side of your bent knee, with that heel flat.
  4. Drive back to standing, then repeat on the same side or alternate.

Cues

  • Arms hang straight
  • Hips back as you land
  • Heel down

Common mistakes

  • Rounding your back to lower the bells: sink with your hips and keep your chest up.
  • Turning the toes of the straight leg forward: point them slightly up and out so the stretch stays in the inner thigh.
Build a session with Kettlebell Lateral Lunge

Bands and bodyweight

No weights: a band copies the machine, and bodyweight side squats and planks make your inner thighs carry you.

RIRLift's swap with a band

Band Hip Adduction

Adductors

A band anchored low gives you the machine's exact motion, pulling one leg across your body. This is what RIRLift puts in the machine's place with a home gym.

How to do it

  1. Anchor a band low on a door or table leg and loop it around the ankle nearest the anchor.
  2. Step away until the band pulls your leg out to the side, and stand tall with a hand on a wall or chair.
  3. Sweep the banded leg across the front of your standing leg, keeping the knee straight and toes forward.
  4. Let the band draw the leg back out slowly, stopping before the band goes slack. Finish the set, then switch sides.

Cues

  • Sweep, do not swing
  • Torso stays upright
  • Slow return

Common mistakes

  • Leaning your whole body away from the band to finish the rep: only the leg moves.
  • Standing so close to the anchor that the band has no tension at the start: step out until it pulls from the first inch.
Build a session with Band Hip Adduction

Best swap with no equipment

Cossack Squat

Quads, Adductors

Sitting deep into one hip while the other leg stays straight puts a long, loaded stretch on that inner thigh. It needs nothing but floor space, so it is the pick with no equipment.

How to do it

  1. Take a very wide stance, about twice the width of your shoulders, with your toes turned out a little.
  2. Bend your right knee and sit your hips down toward your right heel, letting the left leg straighten.
  3. Sink as deep as you can with the right foot flat and your chest lifted.
  4. Press the floor away with the right foot to return to the middle, then sit to the left.

Cues

  • Sit down, not forward
  • Flat foot on the bent side
  • Long leg stays straight

Common mistakes

  • Folding your chest down to the knee to get lower: hold a light weight out in front as a counterbalance instead.
  • Rushing from side to side: stop in the middle for a breath between reps.
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Hardest bodyweight swap

Copenhagen Plank

Adductors, Abs

Your top leg's inner thigh holds your body up off the floor, so even a short hold is hard. If you cannot hold it with your foot on the bench, rest your knee on the bench instead; that shorter lever is much easier.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your side next to a flat bench, propped on your bottom forearm with the elbow under your shoulder.
  2. Rest the inside of your top foot and ankle on the bench, top leg straight, and let the bottom leg sit under the bench.
  3. Press the top leg down into the bench and lift your hips until your body forms one straight line from head to feet.
  4. Hold that line for the set's time, lower your hips, then turn over and do the other side.

Cues

  • Push the bench away with your top leg
  • Hips stacked, not rolled back
  • Breathe while you hold

Common mistakes

  • Starting with the foot on the bench when you cannot hold a straight line: rest your knee on it and build up first.
  • Hips drifting backward into a pike: keep your hips in line with your shoulders.
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Example sessions without the hip adduction machine

Session 1

Gym, adduction machine taken or missing

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets24 a week
  • Per workout~40 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Leg Press, Hip Adductor, Landmine

You train in a gym with a barbell and machines, but the adduction machine is busy or not there.

The sumo deadlift loads your inner thighs heavy, the wide-stance leg press adds volume in a deep stretch, and the multi-hip adduction takes the machine's place to finish them on their own. The landmine lateral lunge adds side-to-side work. 12 working sets.

Legs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Sumo Deadlift2 warm-up sets first 3 × 5–8 2 3 min
Wide-Stance Leg Press 3 × 10–15 2 2 min
Multi-Hip AdductionSets are per leg. 3 × 12–15 1 1 min
Landmine Lateral LungeSets are per side. 3 × 8–12 2 75 s
How to run it
Use it as your leg day once or twice a week, or do the last two exercises after your usual squats.
How to progress
When every set reaches the top of its rep range at the RIR shown, add the smallest weight jump next session and start again at the bottom of the range.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Home, dumbbells and a band

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets20 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Resistance Bands

You train at home with a pair of dumbbells and one long band.

Dumbbells are lighter than a gym's machines, so the sumo squat and lateral lunge use moderate reps for the heavy work, and the band adduction finishes your inner thighs with high reps close to failure. 10 working sets.

Legs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Sumo Squat1 warm-up set firstKnees out over your toes. 4 × 10–15 2 90 s
Dumbbell Lateral LungeSets are per side. 3 × 10–12 2 75 s
Band Hip AdductionSets are per leg. 3 × 15–25 1 45 s
How to run it
Twice a week on non-consecutive days. Hold the deepest point of each sumo squat for a second.
How to progress
Add reps until every set reaches the top of the range, then move up a dumbbell or step farther from the band's anchor.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

No equipment, or one band

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets30 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentResistance Bands

You train at home with your bodyweight, a sturdy chair or bench, and maybe a band.

Bodyweight is enough here because each exercise loads one inner thigh at a time: deep Cossack squats for the stretch, Copenhagen plank holds for the squeeze, and band adductions for high reps. 10 working sets.

Legs
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Cossack SquatSets are per side. 4 × 6–10 1 75 s
Copenhagen PlankSeconds per side. Knee on the bench. 3 × 15–30 2 45 s
Band Hip AdductionSets are per leg. 3 × 20–30 1 45 s
How to run it
Two or three times a week; stop each set one rep short of failure.
How to progress
Add reps, or seconds on the plank, until you hit the top of each range. Then sink deeper on the Cossack squat, move from your knee to your foot on the plank's bench, or use a thicker band.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

How can I train hip adduction without a machine?

Use a band anchored low and sweep one leg across your body, or do Cossack squats, sumo squats and Copenhagen planks. All of them load your inner thighs without the machine.

What exercises work hip adduction?

The adduction machine, multi-hip and band adductions train it directly. Sumo deadlifts, sumo squats, wide-stance leg presses and lateral lunges train it as part of bigger leg lifts.

Is the hip adductor machine necessary?

No. Wide-stance squats, deadlifts and lunges already train your adductors hard, and a band or Copenhagen plank covers the direct work. The machine is simply the easiest way to train them on their own.

Do hip adductions grow your glutes?

Not much. Adduction trains your inner thighs; for glutes, use hip thrusts, squats and lunges. Sumo squats and lateral lunges train both.

What is the difference between hip adduction and abduction?

Adduction pulls your legs together and trains your inner thighs. Abduction pushes them apart and trains the sides of your hips; for that, use the hip abduction machine, a lateral band walk or a fire hydrant.

Do lateral lunges work your inner thighs?

Yes. The straight leg's inner thigh stretches under load as you sit into the other hip, and the bent leg's adductors help push you back up. Step wide enough to feel that stretch.