Adductor/Groin
A partner contract-relax stretch for the inner thigh. You lie on your back with legs pointing at the ceiling and spread apart, your partner holds your ankles, you squeeze your legs together against their resistance for 10 seconds, then relax while they widen the split. It reaches an adductor range that no solo stretch gets near.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Lie on your back with your hips near your partner's shins and both legs raised to vertical, knees straight but not locked hard.
- Your partner stands at your feet and takes one ankle in each hand, thumbs on the inside.
- Press your lower back toward the floor and hold your arms out to the sides, palms down, for a stable base.
- Let the legs spread until you feel firm tension — that is the starting position, not the finish.
- Agree a stop word before anyone applies pressure. You call the end range, not your partner.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Normal breathing through the isometric squeeze, then one long exhale to release — the partner starts widening on that exhale and holds while you breathe slowly. Never widen while you are inhaling or holding your breath.
Before you load it
- Agree a stop word before the first rep. The person on the floor decides the end range, and the partner stops immediately on the word.
- Do not do this with a current or recent groin strain. End-range adductor stretching with an external force is the classic way a healing strain gets torn again.
- The partner should bring both legs back together at the same time. Releasing one ankle first dumps the whole load onto one adductor.
How much, how often
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
No external load; the partner's hands are the load and you control them with your voice. Two to three cycles of a 10-15 second squeeze and a 20-30 second stretch, two or three times a week. Progress by adding a cycle before adding range, and never chase a new end range on a session where the groin already feels tight.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Three to four seconds to move into the new position, then hold still. Any bounce triggers a protective contraction in the adductors — the exact opposite of what the relax phase is for.
Half effort for 10-15 seconds is all that is needed. A maximal contraction at end range of an already stretched adductor is how partner stretching produces strains.
Press your lower back down and your palms into the floor. If the back keeps arching, the split has gone past your hips' honest range — narrow it until the back stays flat.
Say stop the moment the tension turns sharp. Use a word, not a wince — the person holding the ankles cannot feel your groin and has no way of knowing.
Why bother
Legs vertical takes the hamstrings out of the equation and puts the whole stretch into hip abduction, so the adductor group gets loaded through its full length instead of sharing the work with everything else. Gravity helps rather than fights you, which is why this position finds range that a seated butterfly or a standing side lunge never reaches.
The squeeze is the active ingredient. A 10-second isometric adduction against a partner who does not let you move fatigues the muscle's resistance to being stretched, so the following 20-30 seconds of passive widening goes further than a cold hold would. The gain is in accessible range on the day — it is not permanent lengthening, and it is not injury prevention on its own.
Where it fits
After training, or as a standalone session with a training partner two or three times a week. Two or three squeeze-relax cycles per session is the dose. Pair it with adductor strength work — Copenhagen planks, banded adduction — because range you cannot produce force in is range your groin will not use on the pitch.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Can I do this on my own against a wall?
Yes, and it is the sensible default. Lie with your backside close to a wall, legs up it, and let them slide apart under gravity for 60-90 seconds. What you lose is the isometric squeeze phase and the ability to go past where gravity takes you. It is safer and about 80 percent as useful.
How hard should my partner push?
Until you say stop, and no further. There is no correct amount of force, because they cannot feel what you feel. Firm tension in the inner thigh is the target; anything sharp, burning or near the pubic bone means the split has gone too wide.
Will this make me better at wide-stance squatting?
It will get you into the position more comfortably, which matters. It will not make you stronger there. Follow the stretching with loaded work in the new range — sumo deadlifts, cossack squats, banded adduction — or the range will not stick and you will be back doing the same stretch in three months.
Should I do this before a match or a training session?
No. Static holds at end range temporarily blunt force production, and the adductors are exactly the muscles a sprint or a change of direction leans on. Warm up with dynamic work — lateral lunges, carioca, leg swings — and save this for afterwards.