Side Lying Groin Stretch
Also works: Hamstrings
Lying on one side with the bottom knee bent for stability, you take hold of the top leg behind the knee or at the foot and draw it toward your shoulder while pressing it down toward the floor. Because gravity does the work and the floor blocks the pelvis from rolling, this reaches the adductors at a range a standing stretch cannot.
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 right side and bend the right knee up in front of you to roughly 90 degrees so your pelvis cannot roll backwards.
- Rest your head on your right arm or shoulder rather than propping up on the elbow, so your neck is not doing work.
- Reach across with the left hand and take the top leg behind the knee — the easier grip — or at the foot for more range.
- Stack your shoulders and hips vertically before you start. If your top shoulder has rolled back, the stretch drifts into the hip flexor instead.
- Keep the bottom leg heavy against the floor as an anchor throughout.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Slow, even breathing throughout the hold, roughly four seconds in and six out. Ease a fraction deeper on each exhale only; the inhale is where you hold your ground.
Before you load it
- Stop if the sensation turns sharp or electric near the pubic bone or travels below the knee. Firm inner-thigh tension is the target; anything nervy means back off the range.
How much, how often
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
No load beyond your own arm and the weight of the leg. Two holds of 30 seconds per side, three to five times a week. Progress in this order: bent knee behind the knee, then straighter leg, then the foot grip — never by pulling harder into an already sharp position. Being able to hold a straight top leg for 30 seconds without the top hip rolling back is the marker worth chasing.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Lie with your back against a wall so your shoulder blades and glutes both touch it. If the top shoulder leaves the wall, reduce the range until it stays put.
Think of two separate jobs and do them at once: hand pulls up and in, leg presses down and out. The downward press is where the adductors actually lengthen.
Start behind the knee with the leg bent for the first few weeks. Move the grip to the foot only when 30 seconds bent-knee feels like mild tension rather than a fight.
Bend the top knee more and drop the leg lower. Tension travelling below the knee is the sciatic nerve being loaded, not the adductors, and pushing into it makes things worse.
Why bother
The side-lying position solves the problem every standing groin stretch has: cheating with the pelvis. On your side with the bottom knee bent in front of you, the pelvis is pinned between the floor and the ribcage, so the movement of the top leg has to come from the hip joint rather than from tilting or rotating the pelvis to buy fake range.
The two directions load different tissue. Pulling the knee toward the shoulder biases the adductor magnus and, with the leg straightened, the hamstrings. Pressing the leg down toward the floor is what actually takes the short adductors into abduction. Combining them is why this hits a corner of the hip most groin stretches miss.
Where it fits
After training or on a rest day, three to five times a week — frequency does more for range than any single long hold. Two holds of 30 seconds per side is a sensible dose. If you sit for long stretches or you play a sport with lateral cutting, this is one of the more useful two minutes you can spend on the floor.
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
Should I hold the knee or the foot?
Behind the knee to start with. It shortens the lever, keeps the hamstring out of it and lets you concentrate on keeping the pelvis stacked. Move to the foot with a straighter leg once the bent-knee version stops giving you much — that change alone adds significant range without any extra pulling force.
Why do I feel this in the back of my thigh instead of my groin?
Your leg is too straight, or you are pulling it toward the shoulder without pressing it down. Bend the top knee more and put the emphasis on driving the leg toward the floor. With a straight leg the hamstrings share the load by design — the bent-knee version isolates the adductors better.
Will this help me squat deeper?
It can, if the adductors are genuinely what stops you. They resist the hip abduction and external rotation a deep squat needs, and they are the usual culprit when your knees want to cave. Do it after training, not before — a static hold immediately before a heavy squat can temporarily reduce the stability you want at the bottom.
How often before I see a change?
Three to five sessions a week, and expect two to four weeks before the resting range is noticeably different. Within a single session you will gain a few degrees that are largely gone by the next day; that is normal and is not a sign it is failing. Frequency is what makes it stick, not longer holds.