📖 Static demo — read-only snapshot

You’re browsing a static build of the Body IQ knowledge graph, so everything loads with no backend. A few things that need the live server are turned off here:

  • Global search (sidebar) is disabled — it queries the API.
  • The JSON API and the API “Try it” playgroundaren’t included.
  • The data is a snapshot — it refreshes only when the demo is rebuilt, not live from the database.

Everything else — the body map, progression ladders, coverage heatmap, exercise finder, and all anatomy/exercise/source pages — works fully. The full app (live search + API + database) runs from the source on GitHub.

Sidelying Hip Adduction

Draftstrength85%beginner⬤ limited evidence
View FHIR resourceFHIR R4 ActivityDefinition — the interoperable form of this exercise

Positions & Range of Motion

Start
sidelying with the top leg bent forward onto a support, bottom leg straight along the floor, hips stacked vertically
End
bottom leg lifted off the floor toward the ceiling into hip adduction, heel rising toward the top thigh, leg kept straight and slightly forward of the trunk
Range of Motion
hip adduction ~0–20–30° (floor to comfortable end range), controlled up and down

How to Perform

Lie on side with top leg forward on a support. Lift the bottom leg toward ceiling. Targets adductor group for medial thigh strengthening.

Watch on YouTube↗

Opens a YouTube search for “Sidelying Hip Adduction”

Starting position: sidelying

Coaching Cues

  1. 1

    Quiet pelvis, stacked hips — adductors lift the bottom leg

    (verbal)
  2. 2

    Lift the bottom heel toward the top thigh

    (verbal)
  3. 3

    Keep the lifted leg straight and slightly forward of the trunk

    (verbal)
  4. 4

    Top hip stays stacked over the bottom hip

    (tactile)

Evidence-Based Dosing & EMG Data

Recommended Dosing

3×15-20 reps per side

EMG Activation Data

14-48% MVIC sidelying; Copenhagen variation achieves 108% MVIC [Serner 2014]

Muscles Involved (3)

Primary Movers

Adductor Group (Longus/Brevis/Magnus)— 14-48% MVIC sidelying; Copenhagen variation achieves 108% [Serner 2014]

Stabilizers

Transversus Abdominis— Core activation for sidelying position stability

Lengthened / Stretched

Gluteus Medius— AUDIT: Lifting the bottom leg into adduction lengthens the abductor antagonist (glute med); adduction is the direct antagonist action.

Easier Variations ↓

1

Ball Squeeze

Squeeze a ball between the knees while supine. Isometric adduction with less balance demand.

Harder Variations ↑

1

Standing Cable Adduction

Stand and pull a cable inward across the body against resistance.

Target Movements (1)

Hip AdductionHip Joint (Coxofemoral)

Why This Exercise Matters

Everyday activities this exercise helps you do — essential means it directly trains the capacity the task needs:

WalkingDressing — Lower Body

Goals This Helps With

Rehab, performance, prevention, and mobility goals this exercise supports — essential means it's a cornerstone:

Groin Injury Preventionprevention

Research Notes

Limited evidence in isolation. For strong-evidence adductor training, see Copenhagen Adduction Exercise — long-lever variation produces 108% MVIC (highest of any adduction exercise) with RCT-validated 17.83% muscle-thickness gains over 8 weeks [Serner 2014 PMID 23511698; Alonso-Fernández 2022 PMID 35682148; Collings 2026 PMID 41931009]. Use sidelying as a regression or for populations who cannot tolerate the long-lever demand.

Evidence Sources (9)