Band Hip Adductions
A standing, single-leg groin exercise: a band anchored at ankle height pulls your working leg outward and you draw it back across the midline against that tension. Unlike the seated machine, you have to hold your pelvis level on the standing leg while you do it, so one set trains both hips at once for different reasons.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Anchor the band around a rack upright or heavy post at ankle height and check it cannot ride up.
- Stand with the working leg nearest the anchor and loop the band around that ankle, so the band pulls the leg outward, away from your midline.
- Step sideways until the band already has real tension with your feet together — no slack at the start of the rep.
- Rest a hand on the rack or a wall for balance only; do not hang your weight on it.
- Stand tall with the standing knee soft and hips square to the front, not rotated toward the anchor.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as the leg sweeps across, inhale as the band draws it back. Two seconds in, a one-second squeeze at the crossed position, three seconds out.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start with a light band and stand close enough to the anchor that the tension is obvious but the return is easy to control. Progress by stepping further from the anchor before you swap to a thicker band — distance gives you a smooth increase where band sizes jump in big steps. Aim to reach 20 controlled reps per side with a 3-second return before moving up.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Slow to a two-second sweep and a three-second return, and pause at the crossed position. If you cannot control the return, step closer to the anchor to reduce band tension.
Fix your gaze and both hip bones straight ahead and cut the range at the point they start to turn. Range that comes from the spine is not adductor range.
Use two fingertips on the support, or none. Half the point of doing this standing is the stabilising work on the other side — propping yourself up throws it away.
Check the direction of pull before the first rep: the band should be dragging the working leg away from the midline, so that bringing the legs together is the effort.
Why bother
The resistance profile is the opposite of a cable's. A band is slackest where your leg is nearest the anchor and tightest where it is furthest away, which means the hardest part of the rep is the fully adducted end — legs crossed past midline, adductors short. That is the position most groin work never loads at all.
Standing on one leg turns it into a two-for-one. The working adductors sweep the leg across; meanwhile the abductors and glute medius on the standing side are fighting the same band trying to pull your pelvis sideways. Do it barefoot on a hard floor and you will feel your standing-side hip long before your groin gets tired.
Where it fits
Warm-up before a lower-body session, or accessory work at the end of one. Sets of 12-20 per side, two or three times a week — the band's tension is low enough that this is high-rep territory, and there is no reason to make it heavy. It is also a good travel or home substitute when there is no adductor machine within a hundred kilometres.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
The instructions I have seen say to raise the leg out to the side. Which is it?
Adduction is bringing the leg toward and across the midline; abduction is taking it away. If the band pulls your leg outward and you drag it in, you are training adductors, which is what the name says. Set up with the working leg nearest the anchor. Flip sides and the same movement becomes an abduction exercise for the glute medius — also useful, just a different drill.
Is this as good as the adductor machine?
It loads the short, crossed-over position better and it makes the standing hip work. The machine loads the stretched position better and progresses in clean increments. If you have access to both, do the machine for size and this for control; if you only have a band, this covers most of it.
How heavy a band should I use?
Lighter than you think. The adductors act over a long lever here — a straight leg — so a band that feels trivial in your hands is plenty at the ankle. If your standing leg is fighting to keep you upright or your pelvis rotates, the band is too heavy or you are standing too far away.
Can I use this to rehab a groin strain?
Once isometric squeezes are pain-free, yes — it is a sensible next step because you control the tension by where you stand and there is no fixed start position forcing you into a stretch. Keep it pain-free rather than tolerable, and build reps before tension. Anything sharp means stop, not push through.