hip abductions

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2baninja
2baninja Posts: 511 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My gym has 2 hip abduction machines, 1 works the outer thigh, 1 works the inner thigh. I tend to do the same weight for both inner and outer, thinking it keeps sides even. Do you agree with that? I find if I wanted to I could move more on the inner then the outer, but chose not to.

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  • 2baninja
    2baninja Posts: 511 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    Actually you have one aBduction (outer thigh) and one aDduction (inner thigh) machine. Move the maximum you can on inner and outer separately, but the same right and left. The abductor and adductor muscles aren't necessarily the same size and same strength so there's no reason they have to use the same weight, anymore than biceps and triceps have to use the same weight.

    great, thanks
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
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    Those machines often don’t adjust. Be careful if you’re shorter that your knees are not taking the bulk of the weight when you use it. I’m 5’3 and with my back against the seat, my knees barely hit the middle of the pas, putting a lot of the pressure on my knees when I tried it. I don’t use it for that reason.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,529 Member
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    If you're using it to strengthen the muscle in your legs, then fine to do them (although doing plies and other leg exercises would be better). If you're doing them to "reduce" fat off your legs, exercising them won't do that directly.


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  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
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    No, you should not necessarily be equally strong at both - I do the full stack on the adduction (295lbs), but like 160 for abduction - they are completely different muscle groups and depending on how you sit/lean you can really feel and target them in different ways. as ninerbuff said above, if you are doing them to lose fat in your legs they don't do that!
  • 2baninja
    2baninja Posts: 511 Member
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    thank you all, I use them to gain muscle and get rid of the flab, (mostly inner), but I'm doing many other leg exercises also, this is just one I had a question on

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