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Exercises

Inner thigh exercises for men: adduction, sumo lifts and side-to-side work

Published October 29, 2026

The best inner thigh exercises for men train the adductors in three ways: squeezing the legs together against load (hip adduction machine, cable or band adduction, Copenhagen plank), lifting from a wide stance (sumo deadlift, sumo squat, wide-stance leg press), and moving side to side (Cossack squat, lateral lunge). The adductors are one of the largest muscle groups in the thigh, so they respond to heavy work. Train them twice a week, 8 to 12 hard sets a session, with 10 to 15 reps on machines, 4 to 10 on sumo lifts, and 15 to 30 second Copenhagen holds.

  1. Sumo Deadlift Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads
  2. Hip Adduction Machine Adductors
  3. Copenhagen Plank Adductors, Abs
  4. Cossack Squat Quads, Adductors
  5. Dumbbell Lateral Lunge Quads, Glutes, Adductors
  6. Sumo Squat Quads, Glutes, Adductors
  7. Wide-Stance Leg Press Glutes, Quads

Adduction: squeezing the legs together

This is the adductors' main job, and these exercises load it directly. They are easy to recover from, so you can take sets close to failure for 10 to 20 reps.

Adductors, seated machine

Hip Adduction Machine

Adductors

The most direct way to load the inner thigh, and simple to progress one plate at a time. Start with the pads at a comfortable width and widen them as you get used to the stretch.

How to do it

  1. Set the range lever so the pads start wide enough to give your inner thighs a stretch you can hold without strain, and pick the weight on the stack.
  2. Sit with your back and hips pressed into the back pad, put your feet on the footrests and place the inside of your knees against the pads.
  3. Hold the side handles and brace your stomach lightly so your hips stay planted.
  4. Squeeze your knees together in a smooth arc until the pads meet or nearly meet, and hold the squeeze for a moment.
  5. Let your legs open slowly back to the starting stretch, stopping just before the plates touch, then start the next rep.

Cues

  • Hips glued to the seat
  • Squeeze, pause, open slowly
  • Stop the stack from resting

Common mistakes

  • Setting the start too wide: if your hips lift or your groin pinches at the bottom, bring the range lever in a notch and add depth over a few weeks.
  • Slamming the pads together: close at a steady speed and pause, so the adductors do the work rather than momentum.
  • Letting the legs fly open: control the return for about two seconds; that stretch is where most of the work happens.

Swap for: Multi-Hip Adduction, Band Hip Adduction, Copenhagen Plank

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Adductors, standing one-leg machine

Multi-Hip Adduction

Adductors

Working one leg at a time from a standing position takes the adductors through a longer range than the seated machine. Useful when one side is weaker.

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.

Swap for: Hip Adduction Machine, Band Hip Adduction, Copenhagen Plank

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Adductors, band adduction

Band Hip Adduction

Adductors

A band anchored low gives you a home version of the adduction machine. Use a heavier band and slow reps rather than racing through 30.

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, then repeat. 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.

Swap for: Copenhagen Plank, Sumo Squat, Cossack Squat

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Wide-stance squats and deadlifts

A wide stance with the toes turned out puts the adductors to work extending the hip alongside the glutes. These are the inner thigh lifts you can load heaviest.

Adductors, glutes and hamstrings, heavy pull

Sumo Deadlift

Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads

The wide stance means the adductors help drive the bar off the floor, under the heaviest load on this page. Use it as the main lift on an inner thigh 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 grip the bar with your hands between your legs.
  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 again 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, which turns it into a stiff-leg pull: start with your hips lower and keep your chest up as you break the floor.
  • Bouncing the plates off the floor between reps: let the bar settle, re-brace and pull each rep from a dead stop.

Swap for: Trap Bar Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift, Rack Pull

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Adductors and hamstrings, wide-stance hinge

Sumo Romanian Deadlift

Hamstrings, Glutes

Lowering the bar from a wide stance stretches the inner thigh and hamstrings together. A lighter partner to the sumo deadlift, for 8 to 10 reps.

How to do it

  1. Hold a barbell at your thighs with an overhand grip inside your legs, feet set wider than your shoulders and toes turned out.
  2. Unlock your knees a little and keep that bend for the whole set.
  3. Send your hips back and let the bar slide down your thighs and past your knees until your hamstrings and inner thighs are stretched.
  4. Keep your back flat at the bottom, then drive your hips forward to stand tall with your glutes squeezed.

Cues

  • Wide feet, hands inside
  • Knees bend once, then stay
  • Bar close to your legs

Common mistakes

  • Squatting the bar down by bending your knees more: the depth comes from your hips moving back.
  • Letting your knees cave in at the bottom: keep them pointed the same way as your toes.

Swap for: Sumo Deadlift, Kettlebell Sumo Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift

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Adductors, quads and glutes, wide squat

Sumo Squat

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

Holding a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest, a deep wide squat stretches the adductors under load. The main loaded inner thigh lift 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 together, as if dragging your feet toward each other.

Cues

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

Common mistakes

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

Swap for: Goblet Squat, Kettlebell Lateral Lunge, Dumbbell Front Squat

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Adductors and glutes, kettlebell pull

Kettlebell Sumo Deadlift

Glutes, Hamstrings

A kettlebell between wide feet teaches the sumo pull with a light load. Good for learning the stance before moving to a barbell.

How to do it

  1. Stand wide with toes turned out and a kettlebell between your feet.
  2. Push your knees out and sit your hips down to grip the handle with a flat back.
  3. Stand up by pushing the floor apart.

Cues

  • Knees out
  • Chest up

Common mistakes

  • Knees caving as you stand: push them out over the toes.

Swap for: Sumo Squat, Trap Bar Deadlift

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Adductors, glutes and quads, machine press

Wide-Stance Leg Press

Glutes, Quads

Placing your feet wide and high on the platform shifts the press toward the inner thigh and glutes, with your back supported and heavy loads possible.

How to do it

  1. Sit in the leg press and place your feet high on the platform, wider than shoulder-width, flat and parallel.
  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 the knees straight at the top: stop just short of locking out.

Swap for: Leg Press, Hack Squat, 45-Degree Leg Press

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Lateral lunges, Cossack squats and Copenhagen planks

Shifting your weight side to side stretches the adductors under load on the straight leg. The Copenhagen plank does the opposite: it holds them hard at a fixed length. Together they cover the range most leg training never reaches.

Adductors and quads, side-to-side squat

Cossack Squat

Quads, Adductors

Sinking to one side with the other leg straight stretches the adductors further than any other exercise here. Start with body weight; depth comes over a few weeks.

How to do it

  1. Take a very wide stance, about twice the width of your shoulders, with the toes turned out a little.
  2. Bend your right knee and sit your hips down toward your right heel, letting the left leg straighten with the toes pointing up.
  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 the 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.

Swap for: Dumbbell Lateral Lunge, Kettlebell Lateral Lunge, Balance Board Lateral Squat

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Adductors and quads, side lunge

Dumbbell Lateral Lunge

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

Stepping wide to the side loads the bent leg and stretches the inner thigh of the straight one. With dumbbells it is easier to load than a Cossack squat.

How to do it

  1. Stand with your feet together 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 trailing leg.
  • Letting the bent knee drift inward past your big toe: keep it in line with the foot.

Swap for: Kettlebell Lateral Lunge, Cossack Squat, Goblet Squat

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Adductors, side plank hold

Copenhagen Plank

Adductors, Abs

Holding a side plank with your top leg on a bench makes the top inner thigh carry your body weight. Few exercises load the adductors this hard with no equipment, so short holds are enough.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your side next to a flat bench or sturdy chair, propped on your bottom forearm with the elbow under your shoulder.
  2. Lay your straight top leg on the seat so the inside of your foot and ankle rest on it; tuck the bottom leg under it or let it rest on the floor.
  3. Press the top foot down into the seat and raise your hips until your body runs in one line from head to feet.
  4. Hold for the set's time or lower and raise your hips for reps, then turn over and do the other side.

Cues

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

Common mistakes

  • Starting with the foot on the seat before you can hold a side plank: rest your knee there instead until 30-second holds feel solid.
  • Hips drifting backward so the plank turns into a pike: keep your hips in line with your shoulders.

Swap for: Band Hip Adduction, Cossack Squat, Balance Board Lateral Squat

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Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in.

Session 1

Stronger, bigger inner thighs in a gym

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets17 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Hip Adductor, Leg Press, Dumbbells

You train legs in a gym, your quads and glutes are developing, and the inner thighs lag or feel weak on wide-stance lifts.

One heavy wide-stance lift each day, then direct adduction and a stretch-focused move. Day 1 has 8 sets and Day 2 has 9, 17 sets a week in all, every one of them working the adductors.

Day 1: Sumo deadlift
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Sumo Deadlift3 warm-up sets first 3 × 4–6 2 3 min
Hip Adduction Machine 3 × 10–15 1 75 s
Copenhagen PlankSeconds per side. 2 × 15–30 2 1 min

Open Day 1: Sumo deadlift in the session builder

Day 2: Leg press
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Wide-Stance Leg Press1 warm-up set first 3 × 10–12 2 2 min
Dumbbell Lateral LungePer leg. 3 × 8–10 2 90 s
Multi-Hip AdductionPer leg. 3 × 10–15 1 1 min

Open Day 2: Leg press in the session builder

How to run it
Add both days to your existing leg sessions, or run them as short separate days with two days between.
How to progress
Add 10 lb to the sumo deadlift and leg press when every set reaches the top of its range at 2 reps in reserve. On the machines, add a plate when you reach 15 reps; on Copenhagen planks, add 5 seconds per set.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

You play soccer, hockey or another sport with cutting and kicking

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentBarbells

You play a field or ice sport, change direction often, and want inner thighs that hold up through a season.

Sports load the adductors at speed and at long lengths, so this plan uses holds and deep lateral work rather than machines. 9 sets per session, twice a week, is 18 sets that fit around practice.

Inner Thighs: Sport
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Copenhagen PlankSeconds per side. 3 × 15–30 2 1 min
Cossack SquatPer side. 3 × 6–10 2 90 s
Sumo Romanian Deadlift1 warm-up set first 3 × 8–10 2 2 min
How to run it
Twice a week on lighter practice days or after practice, never the day before a game.
How to progress
Add 5 seconds per Copenhagen hold up to 30, then move your support from the knee to the ankle. Add depth on Cossack squats first, then hold a light dumbbell; add 5 lb to the sumo Romanian deadlift at the top of its range.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

At home with a dumbbell and a band

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets24 a week
  • Per workout~30 min
  • EquipmentDumbbells, Resistance Bands

You train at home with a dumbbell or kettlebell and a resistance band, and no machines.

The sumo squat carries the load, the band replaces the adduction machine, and the Cossack squat and Copenhagen plank add stretch and hold. 12 sets per session, twice a week, keeps the work hard with light gear.

Inner Thighs: Home
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Sumo Squat 4 × 10–15 2 90 s
Cossack SquatPer side. 3 × 6–10 2 90 s
Band Hip AdductionPer leg. 3 × 12–20 1 1 min
Copenhagen PlankSeconds per side. 2 × 15–30 2 1 min
How to run it
Twice a week with at least two days between, on its own or after a home leg session.
How to progress
Add reps until you hit the top of every range, then use a heavier dumbbell or a stronger band. On the Cossack squat, hold a dumbbell at your chest once 10 reps per side are easy.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

How do I make my inner thighs stronger?

Train the adductors twice a week with one wide-stance lift such as the sumo deadlift, one direct adduction exercise, and a Copenhagen plank or Cossack squat, and add load or time each time you reach the top of the range.

What is the name of the inner thigh muscle?

The adductors, a group of five muscles: adductor magnus, adductor longus, adductor brevis, gracilis and pectineus. The magnus is the largest and also helps extend the hip in squats and deadlifts.

What is the best inner thigh exercise for men?

For heavy strength, the sumo deadlift. For direct work, the hip adduction machine. With no equipment, the Copenhagen plank.

Can these exercises get rid of fat on the inner thighs?

No exercise removes fat from one spot. Fat comes off through overall weight loss; the adductor muscle underneath is what these exercises build, so the area looks firmer as the fat goes.

Do squats work the inner thighs?

Yes, deep squats work the adductors, especially the adductor magnus. A wider stance with toes turned out works them more, and direct adduction work trains them through a range squats do not.