Creating a well-rounded workout routine that matches your body and fitness goals isn’t always easy. For those just starting out on their fitness journey, it can feel tricky to exercise all the muscle groups in a way that leads to real progress over weeks and months.

One important part of any workout is the legs - and within that, the thighs deserve special attention. In this article, we’ll explore inner thigh exercises for women that can help build strong, healthy thigh muscles and support your overall fitness goals.

Quick Summary

• Inner thighs work with glutes, quads, and hamstrings, so compound movements are most effective.
• Stretching before workouts, such as seated butterfly or side lunges, helps prevent injury and improve performance.
• A combination of exercises targeting the inner thighs from multiple angles yields the best results.
• Gradual progression - from bodyweight to added resistance - enhances strength safely.
• Consistency and proper form are more important than speed or intensity for lasting improvements.

What Are the Best Exercises for Inner Thighs?

The best exercises for inner thighs are those that actively engage the adductor muscles, which run along the inside of your legs. While there isn’t a single “best” move for everyone, certain exercises consistently target this area. 

Your inner thighs, or adductor muscles, rarely work in isolation - they function alongside your glutes, quads, and hamstrings. So instead of hunting for a single exercise, it’s better to focus on movements that consistently engage the inner thigh muscles, done with proper form and controlled motion.

Some of the most effective exercises for targeting the inner thighs include:

• Sumo Squats (Wide-Stance Squats): Taking a wider stance shifts more of the effort onto your inner thighs.
• Side Lunges: Stepping out to the side and pushing back engages the adductors while strengthening your overall legs.
• Inner Thigh Leg Lifts: Lying on your side and lifting the bottom leg isolates the inner thigh muscles directly.
• Plie Squat Pulses: Mini squats in a wide stance keep tension on the inner thighs for extended periods.
• Resistance Band or Cable Leg Adduction: Adding resistance forces your inner thighs to work harder.

The key isn’t which single exercise you choose - it’s consistent practice, proper form, and a combination of movements that challenge the muscles from multiple angles.

Even simple compound movements like squats and lunges, when done with attention to stance and control, can effectively strengthen and tone the inner thighs over time.

Inner Thigh Stretches to Warm Up Before Your Workout

Before you start any muscle workout, always take a moment to stretch! Research shows that properly stretching your inner thighs can boost overall muscle strength and support the hip flexion they help with.

A quick stretching session before your workout can reduce the risk of injury and make your exercises more effective. Here’s a simple stretch to try:

Seated Butterfly Stretch

1. Take a seat on the floor, on a padded surface if required.

2. Bring the soles of your feet together until your knees are pointing outwards. You should be sitting with your legs in a rough diamond shape.

3. Hold your feet with your hands and slowly pull your feet in towards your body until you feel a stretch beginning.

4. Gently lean forwards with your upper body, lowering your head towards your feet.

5. While lowering, use your elbows to push your knees down towards the floor as much as possible.

6. Continue lowering as much as you can before it becomes too painful.

7. Hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds.

8. Gently sit back up and slide your feet away from your body slowly.

Other notable inner thigh stretches to research include:

• Frog Stretch

• Standing Side Lunge

• Wall Splits

Best Exercises for Inner Thighs

To help you target and strengthen your inner thighs, here are some of the most effective exercises you can add to your routine.

Side Lunges

Side Lunges prove to be one of the easier inner leg workouts for inner thighs. They have the benefit of requiring no equipment, meaning they can easily be worked into a home or a gym workout.

That being said, side lunges are great for progression as they can be completed while holding weights to increase their difficulty and improve your overall gains.

As a beginner it isn’t recommended to incorporate weighted side lunges into your workout routine just yet, but this can be a goal to strive towards after several months of improvement.

If you do decide to use a weight, start with something small like a 2kg or 3kg weight.

How to Do Side Lunges:

1. Position your feet a shoulder width apart to begin. Your hands should not offer any assistance to the exercise, so they can be held out to your front to improve your balance or can be placed on your hips - either option works.

2. If you are beginning with your right leg, make sure your left leg stays straight during the full lunge. This is important to gain the most out of the exercise and to prevent any potential injuries.

3. Keeping your toes pointing forwards, step out to your right hand side and lengthen your stance to around two shoulder widths. Bend your right knee as you lunge to the side. Extend the lunge downwards as if you were sitting in a chair.

4. For this exercise keep the majority of your weight on the right heel as your lunge.

5. Step back to your original starting position and repeat for the left hand side to complete one set.

6. Conduct as many side lunge sets as are required for your fitness goals.

Top Tip: Avoid leaning too far to your lunging side when performing. This will prevent excessive strain on your muscle groups. Keeping your back straight will also help with balance while lunging.

If you’re planning to work out at home, check out our leg workout blog—it’s packed with tips to help you create a fantastic routine. Give it a read!

Sumo Squats

Sumo Squats are a variant of squatting that is designed to apply extra strain to your inner thighs, ultimately strengthening them. Much like ordinary squats, the best bit of sumo squats is that they can be incorporated into any exercise routine, be it at the gym or at home.

These kinds of exercises are great for beginners as they are low-impact exercises designed to help you improve using nothing but your own bodyweight. This lessens the chance of injury when starting out.

Top Tip: When progressing, using the specialised weights at your local Village Gym is a great way to improve the difficulty and effectiveness of your workout. However, when progressing, we wouldn’t recommend going higher than 3kg weighted sumo squats to begin with.

How to Do Sumo Squats:

1. Begin by standing with your feet roughly a one and a half shoulder widths apart. Your feet can be turned in or turned out, but ideally they should be facing directly forwards and be parallel to your shoulders/bodily centreline.

2. Hinge at your hip joint, and squat down as if sitting into a chair. Keep your back straight as you do so to prevent injury to your lower back. 

3. When squatting down, always bend your knees and ensure that your bodyweight is spread out across both legs equally. These are very crucial tips to heed when working sumo squats. 

4. If you are finding it hard to balance while sumo squatting, you can use your arms to help. As you squat down, raise your arms out directly in front of you.

5. Continue to squat, making sure your thighs are parallel to the floor at the bottom of the squat. Don’t worry if you can’t get them fully parallel to the floor, but do try to make them as parallel as you can.

6. Hold the squat at the bottom of the movement briefly for around a second.

7. Stand back up straight by pushing down through your heels and pushing your hips forward. This should straighten the bend in your legs.

8. Repeat as many times as desired.

For one set, you should repeat these squats for around 10 repetitions, taking a short break of up to 20 seconds, before repeating another 10 repetitions. Continue this process until you’ve accomplished 30 repetitions. This would be one set.

Usually, one set is enough for a workout routine, but this is highly dependent on your fitness goals and general level of fitness.

Check out our Weight Training Tips For Women for more insight into building up your bodily muscle groups.

Side Plank Leg Lifts

This exercise is designed to be a little bit more difficult than the first two exercises we’ve featured. The difficulty in side plank leg lifts is that you’ll need decent balance to perform them correctly. However, they are an excellent exercise to tone inner thighs.

It is worth noting that while this exercise does work the inner thigh, it isn’t exclusively an inner thigh workout. It will also help you work your body’s core muscles, making it a great addition to any workout routine.

Much like the sumo squats and the side lunges, this exercise can be performed anywhere - be it a gym or a home environment.

How to Do Side Plank Leg Lifts

1. Begin on the floor, in a side plank position. It may help to use a mat to reduce discomfort on the arms and elbows. A side plank position is accomplished by having your arm holding up your body weight, with your elbow directly under your shoulder, the front of your body facing the nearest wall, and with your feet stacked vertically on top of one another. If you are starting with your right hand side supporting your weight, your left shoulder should be pointing towards the ceiling.

2. In this position lift your top leg up towards the ceiling. Keep both legs straight as you do so. Ensure that your core and hips are engaged in the process of lifting your leg.

3. Lower your leg towards its starting position but don’t let it touch your other leg.

4. Repeat the process of raising the leg back up towards the ceiling.

5. Complete your desired repetitions and switch sides to do the other leg.

Top Tip: If you are struggling to balance this exercise while in the side plank position, use the arm that isn’t holding your weight to help. Raising this arm up or placing it on the floor near your belly or lower back can help. If you do place it on the floor, make sure it doesn’t support too much weight.

Hip Adduction

Hip adduction has already been featured on some of our exercise guides, such as our hip & waist workout guide for beginners, and for good reason. It is an excellent exercise for improving and strengthening your leg muscle groups.

While it isn’t regarded exclusively as an inner thigh machine, the hip adduction machine does a fantastic job of working the inner thighs.

Hip adduction will also workout your outer thigh muscle groups as well as improving hip joint flexibility. 

How to Do Hip Adduction:

1. Before starting, adjust the machine so that you can easily use the machine for your body size. This includes adjusting the seat and the pads. Ensure the pads are aligned with your inner thighs; just above the knee joints.

2. Sit on the machine with your legs bent at roughly 90 degrees. Always have your back straightened against the backrest as this will prevent you from getting lower back injuries from the strain.

3. Adjust the weights to your fitness goals. If you are arching your back too much during the adduction, lower the weight. To avoid injuries, don’t use a weight that is too heavy for you. You should be able to do multiple repetitions with a fair amount of ease before it starts getting difficult.

4. When ready, pull against the pads of the machine to bring them inwards towards your bodily centreline. Continue this movement until your legs are fully contracted as far as they can go, or until you feel your hips stretching. Hold this position briefly.

5. Now, gently and slowly bring your legs back to rest at your starting position.

6. Repeat this for your desired quantity of repetitions.

Top Tip: Always seek the help of the gym staff if you are struggling to adjust a machine to your body. Never workout on a machine that isn’t suited to you.

FAQs About Inner Thigh Exercises

How can I tone my inner thighs fast?

There’s no shortcut to having toned inner thighs. However, rapid progression can certainly be achieved through personal training, a healthy diet, and specifically tailored routines for working the inner thighs.

Does walking tighten my inner thighs?

Yes. Doing more walking is one of the easiest ways to improve your inner thighs as walking will use your hamstrings as well as the quadriceps. Going a lengthy walk every day is a great way to begin tightening or toning your thighs.

Can flabby inner thighs be toned?

While spot reduction of fat anywhere on the body isn’t possible, working out certain areas or regions of the body will help with the reduction of fat overall. Focusing on exercises designed to improve inner thigh strength is a great way to begin losing some weight.

Make Your Routine Flawless

Starting out? The inner thigh exercises above are a great way to build leg strength and improve overall fitness.

For those seeking expert guidance, your local Village Health + Wellness Club offers certified personal trainers and state-of-the-art equipment to support every fitness goal. Our membership options suit everyone - from dedicated fitness enthusiasts to those looking for a more casual experience.

Find your nearest gym and book a tour today!