Unfortunately the adductors get a bad name in powerlifting, but no one fully understands why this is. It is commonly coached "knees out" on everything, now I’m not to say this is wrong, but we go out of our way to beat this cue to death on our lifts; we are all guilty of excessive banded side steps at one stage of our training.
Adduction isn't really seen as a thing that we do in powerlifting. This can be said for other muscles/movements in the body, we don’t really "use it" in our powerlifts, but doesn’t mean it isn’t important to keep it working so we can keep things functioning correctly and "balanced" in the body.
Adduction isn't really seen as a thing that we do in powerlifting. This can be said for other muscles/movements in the body, we don’t really "use it" in our powerlifts, but doesn’t mean it isn’t important to keep it working so we can keep things functioning correctly and "balanced" in the body.
I’m always going on about lower traps... do they really lift anything for us in the 3 big lifts? No. Do they help us hold position, maintain stability, allowing our other big muscles to perform their tasks correctly?
100% they do.
Therefore, do we still need to train lower traps? I’ll leave you to stew on that.
Therefore, do we still need to train lower traps? I’ll leave you to stew on that.
why adductors aren’t just a muscle that pulls your knees in when you
squat.
Quick Anatomy 101 - Adductors are a group of muscles - adductor
magnus, adductor longus, adductor brevis, pectineus, gracilis,
Obturator externus. The adductors attach from your femur to your
hips, assisting in stabilising them. The primary role is obviously hip
adduction, which if you think of the hip adduction machine or "good
girl" machine in a commercial gym.
Some of the adductor muscles also lend a hand to hip flexion, and
the biggest of the adductor muscles; magnus - is a really powerful hip
extensor in certain positions which happens to be at the bottom of a
deep Squat. If you have ever done properly executed, high volume
squatting, especially with a slightly wider stance, you will know what I
mean and are familiar with the ever so painful task of getting off the
toilet.
Adductors, along with the glutes, and the quadratus lumborum (QLs),
play a large role in frontal plane hip stability. Or shifting side to side,
think lateral hip shifting when squatting. So you can start to see why training them in isolation, through one plane of movement on a machine is missing the big picture when our goal is to squat and deadlift heavy things.
If we are doing single leg work and squatting perfectly, they shouldn’t really need A LOT of attention...
However, if they aren't doing their job correctly and your technique isn’t perfect, we could still have issues. We want to train your adductors to work alongside the glutes, QLs, and all of the other "hip muscles". This is how we use them in our sport.... unless your job is squishing giant watermelons between your thighs of course.
So, going off topic (or totally on topic) now, BREATHING! Something I ramble on to all our clients about, and I’m sure they are totally sick of me. But until the point is made and things are understood and implemented correctly, my tangents are going to continue. #sorrynotsorry
