More meat leg demystified!
What movements happen at this joint?
So abduction at the hip is when you move your leg away from the midline of your body, and adduction is when you move it back to midline of your body, and hyperadduction is when you move it past the midline of the body.
What muscles make these movements happen?
Your hip abductors are gluteus maximus, below that gluteus medius, and below that gluteus miniums, and also tensor fascia latae and the big hamstring biceps femoris. These muscles contract and pull the top of your leg in, so the rest of your leg swings out; the glutes are the primary abductors, with the tensor fascia latae assisting.
Your hip adductors basically your inner thigh muscles starting with pectineus, then adductor brevis, adductor longus, adductor magnus, and gracilis. These muscles, obviously, contract and pull your leg back in.
What exercises make these muscles work?
Same exercises for the abductors for abduction as for extension. Side leg raises work gluteus medius and minimus, and so does walking and running.
Side bottom leg raises work the adductors, and so does resisted adduction with a band. But what you can already tell from the picture is, your adductors are what you use to pull under your inside leg for crossovers.
