Thigh width etc?

[deeepsouth_nz]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering what you do for adductor and abductor work and how much time you would dedicate to this compared to other parts of your legs?

I have heard Peter Hunt talking of doing abductor and adductor work to get his shredded glute tie-ins and development etc etc and I also note Mike D mentioning of doing a hammies, adductor, calves day....

Im wanting something to give my thighs a wider looking appearance when viewed from the front.

Thoughts please

ds

[1day]

have u rapidly grown from ur profile pic? if not i woudnt stress man cause if ur legs go much bigger theyl throw ur upper body outa preportion, IMO anyways

[musclenz]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering what you do for adductor and abductor work and how much time you would dedicate to this compared to other parts of your legs?

I have heard Peter Hunt talking of doing abductor and adductor work to get his shredded glute tie-ins and development etc etc and I also note Mike D mentioning of doing a hammies, adductor, calves day....

Im wanting something to give my thighs a wider looking appearance when viewed from the front.

Thoughts please

ds

ds I'm very interested in what comments you get to this as well. Its seems to be harder to get thigh width than depth. I normally do sumo squats & toe out work for this but mine lag as well. Also I would like to get that famed sartorius muscle clearly defined.

[HumanPerformance]

Hi deep, basically when trying to build your inner and outer thigh development you best bet is to go for the big compound movements but to change your foot placement and or direction they are facing. Basically the old adage of "in for outer and out for inner" applies here. So as musclenz stated performing adductor squats with your feet wide apart and facing on a 45 degree angle works more into the adductor longus and gracilis, as well as semimembranosus muscle. Yes the semimem is part of the hamstring but it is this part of the leg that is crucial for the appearence of "width" to the inside of the thigh. In fact alot of the size of the thigh when viewed from the front is due to your hamsrtings poking through from the back (when looking at the inside of the thigh). So all forms of squats, leg presses etc with your feet wide apart and on a 45 degree angle will hit your inner thigh.

There is alot to be said for sideways lunges as well in reguard to working these muscles. In fact a NZ competitor who had some of the best all round leg developement I have seen told me it was due to all the "lunges around the world" (let me know if you need these explained) he used to do.

Conversely when trying to add size to the outside of the thigh a very narrow stance should be employed i.e feet 12 inches apart or even almost touching on movements like leg press and hack squats. This foot placement hits the lateralis, tenser faciae late and abductor muscles alot harder than normal.

There is the consideration of employing abductor and adductor isolation movements with a cable or aductor machines (female gym favorites), and I rememeber Mark Rianbow used to swear by the womens adductor machine for his own leg developement. But over the years I have not been able to increase the size of any of my clients inner or outer thigh muscles using these types of movements. I think this is due to the load simply being to insufficient to stimulate any form of meaningfull growth. I have found heavy compounds to be much more productive.

[Optimass]

Good post HP ...

I use alternating reverse wide lunges. Using a barbell across the shoulder "Ronnie Style" - being able to ad weight on this exercise is the key as HP has stated - there are not many options for adding real load directly on this area of your legs. I find this type of lunge doesn't put any forward motion/presure on your knee which means once you can get your balance with these you can really load them up.

I like to sit around 100kg - 140kg on the bar for these. 12 reps each leg -

They were taught to me by a pro league player over a decade ago - his legs were crazy thick!

[musclenz]

Hi deep, basically when trying to build your inner and outer thigh development you best bet is to go for the big compound movements but to change your foot placement and or direction they are facing. Basically the old adage of "in for outer and out for inner" applies here. So as musclenz stated performing adductor squats with your feet wide apart and facing on a 45 degree angle works more into the adductor longus and gracilis, as well as semimembranosus muscle. Yes the semimem is part of the hamstring but it is this part of the leg that is crucial for the appearence of "width" to the inside of the thigh. In fact alot of the size of the thigh when viewed from the front is due to your hamsrtings poking through from the back (when looking at the inside of the thigh). So all forms of squats, leg presses etc with your feet wide apart and on a 45 degree angle will hit your inner thigh.

There is alot to be said for sideways lunges as well in reguard to working these muscles. In fact a NZ competitor who had some of the best all round leg developement I have seen told me it was due to all the "lunges around the world" (let me know if you need these explained) he used to do.

Conversely when trying to add size to the outside of the thigh a very narrow stance should be employed i.e feet 12 inches apart or even almost touching on movements like leg press and hack squats. This foot placement hits the lateralis, tenser faciae late and abductor muscles alot harder than normal.

There is the consideration of employing abductor and adductor isolation movements with a cable or aductor machines (female gym favorites), and I rememeber Mark Rianbow used to swear by the womens adductor machine for his own leg developement. But over the years I have not been able to increase the size of any of my clients inner or outer thigh muscles using these types of movements. I think this is due to the load simply being to insufficient to stimulate any form of meaningfull growth. I have found heavy compounds to be much more productive.

Nice post HP. I never really thought about the semi muscles & the hamstrings contributing to thigh width & thickness. Is it possible that well developed Semitendinosus & Semimembranosus push out the Abductor Magnus & Gracilis giving the appearance of the closed gap between the legs? So train hammies for overall thigh width?

[deeepsouth_nz]

Thanks for the constructive criticism guys! Wide / narrow stance was along my vein of thinking for increasing width etc.

My legs are an interesting one - out of comp upper body looks bigger, seems I dont have the width (as discussed), quad thickness ok but not as much ham and definately no arse.....in comp upper shrinks down and legs dont look too bad. Could always be better tho! :grin: