Anterior Hip Flexor Adductor Loading With Hip Shift
Adds the groin into the job. It loads the adductors and hip flexors in a lengthened position while you shift across them.
That is exactly where the groin usually cannot produce force, which is why strains keep happening at speed and on direction changes.
The cue: Feet wider than the hips, arms straight, shift toward the working side to load it.
What It Is For
Loads the adductors and hip flexors in a lengthened position while you shift across them, which is exactly where the groin usually cannot produce force.
Why It Works
This loads the front of the hip and the inner thigh in positions where they usually struggle to produce force. Setting the foot wider than the hip makes the adductors lengthen and contribute to the movement at the same time.
Nothing here is isolated. These muscles have to work with the rest of the system, and the shift asks them to control movement in more than one direction at once, which is what they do in real life.
How To Do It
- Position your foot on an elevated surface, a box, chair or sofa.
- Place the laces of your shoe, the midfoot area, on the surface.
- Set that foot wider than hip width to create an adductor stretch.
- Hands under your shoulders, elbows locked.
- Push through the laces to engage your shin muscles.
- Raise your hips toward the ceiling.
- Lower your knee toward the floor.
- Bring your hip toward your wrists.
- Push through the laces again to return to the raised position.
- Shift your hips toward the supporting leg, which adds adductor stretch.
- Repeat the sequence. Knee down, hip down, then push up.
- Do 6 to 12 reps per side.
Get It Right
Common mistakes
- Bending your elbows to take load off the legs. Keep the arms straight throughout.
- Not creating enough adductor stretch in the setup.
- Not shifting the hips, so the adductor never gets challenged.
- Using your upper body instead of driving with the leg.
- Letting the hips sag through the movement.
- Rushing it instead of controlling it.
- Starting too extreme. Begin with the version on both legs if you need to.
You have got it when
- You feel your adductors and hip flexors working hard.
- The shift noticeably increases both the stretch and the work.
- You can keep your arms straight throughout.
- You can control the way down and the way up without collapsing.
- You feel your shin muscles switch on as you push through your laces.
- You feel the hip flexors and adductors producing force as you push up.
- It feels challenging but controllable.
Make It Easier
This is a high level drill built on standard anterior hip loading. If it is too much at first, start with the version on both legs, or go back to anterior hip loading until you have built the coordination and tension tolerance.