Exercise library

How to do the Thigh Abductor

A beginner isolation exercise using machine, working the abductors.

Primary musclesAbductors
Secondary musclesGlutes
EquipmentMachine
LevelBeginner
TypeIsolation
ForcePush

Steps

  1. To begin, sit down on the abductor machine and select a weight you are comfortable with. When your legs are positioned properly, grip the handles on each side. Your entire upper body (from the waist up) should be stationary. This is the starting position.
  2. Slowly press against the machine with your legs to move them away from each other while exhaling.
  3. Feel the contraction for a second and begin to move your legs back to the starting position while breathing in. Note: Remember to keep your upper body stationary to prevent any injuries from occurring.
  4. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the thigh abductor to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.