When it comes to pregnancy fitness, most people focus on their core, glutes, or pelvic floor — and for good reason. These areas play a big role in supporting a growing belly, maintaining posture, and preparing for labor and recovery.

But there’s one key muscle group that rarely gets the same attention even though it directly supports all three: your adductors, the inner thigh muscles.

The adductors are responsible for drawing your legs toward the midline, stabilizing your hips and pelvis, and maintaining balance during walking, climbing stairs, or standing on one leg. But beyond movement, they also provide an important stabilizing and sensory connection to your pelvic floor and deep core system.

As pregnancy progresses, your center of gravity shifts, your ligaments become more mobile due to hormonal changes, and your pelvis takes on new loads and angles to accommodate your growing baby. All of this puts more demand on your inner thighs.

When the adductors are strong and well coordinated, they act like anchors for your pelvis, helping to distribute load evenly between your hips, core, and legs. But when they’re weak (which is common), your body compensates often leading to pelvic pain, glute and core weakness, or instability that shows up during everyday movements.

And here’s the kicker: what often feels like tightness in the inner thighs is actually the body’s way of searching for stability it doesn’t have. That “tight” feeling is a sign of tension.

Understanding how the adductors support your pelvis and core gives you a roadmap for moving more efficiently, reducing discomfort, and feeling stronger throughout pregnancy. In this post, we’ll break down:

• What the adductors do and how they support your pelvic floor
• Why weakness can contribute to pelvic pain and instability
• How they connect to your glutes and core
• And why “tight” often means “weak” — and how to fix it

By the end, you’ll know why your inner thighs deserve just as much attention as your glutes or core — and how to train them safely during pregnancy for better movement, comfort, and long term strength.

How the Adductors Support the Pelvic Floor

Your adductors and pelvic floor are deeply connected both anatomically and functionally. The inner thigh muscles attach to the pubic bone, just like the pelvic floor muscles, and are linked through layers of fascia and connective tissue. When your adductors contract, they send a stabilizing signal through the pelvis, creating gentle co-activation in the pelvic floor and deep core.

This connection matters during pregnancy because the pelvic floor is under increasing pressure and load as your baby grows. Strengthening and coordinating the adductors provides extra support to this system, helping your pelvic floor maintain its shape and function more efficiently.

When the adductors are engaged correctly — especially through breath based or low load movements — they help distribute intra abdominal pressure, support alignment between the ribs, pelvis, and legs, and improve proprioception (your body’s sense of position).

In short: strong adductors help your pelvic floor do its job without being overworked. They create stability from the inside out.

Why Weak or Inactive Adductors Can Lead to Pelvic Pain

Pelvic pain during pregnancy — especially pubic symphysis dysfunction (SPD) or pain in the front of the pelvis — often comes down to imbalance. As your body adapts to pregnancy, hormones like relaxin soften ligaments and increase mobility through your pelvis. That mobility is necessary for childbirth, but it also means your muscles have to provide more active stability. It’s important to note that relaxin alone cannot be blamed for pain!

If the adductors aren’t doing their part, the load gets shifted unevenly between the left and right sides of the pelvis. This can cause the pubic symphysis joint (the small joint in the front of your pelvis) to shear or separate slightly, resulting in sharp pain when walking, rolling over in bed, or standing on one leg.

Strengthening the adductors helps balance tension across the pelvis, creating equal support between both sides. This improves pelvic alignment, hip control, and load sharing, reducing strain on the front of the pelvis.

The goal is to restore controlled movement and teaching your inner thighs and pelvic floor to work together through both tension and release. This dynamic stability is what keeps the pelvis supported and pain free.

The Adductor–Glute–Core Connection

Your inner thighs, glutes, and core don’t work in isolation — they’re part of an integrated system that stabilizes your entire lower body and trunk.

The adductors sit on the medial (inner) line of the leg, while the glutes control the lateral (outer) line. These two muscle groups create a balance of forces across the pelvis: the adductors pull inward, and the glutes pull outward. When this balance is right, your pelvis stays level, your hips move smoothly, and your core can transfer force efficiently.

During pregnancy, when the glutes are often underactive due to postural shifts (pelvis tipping forward, ribs flaring, etc.), the adductors can either overwork to compensate or lose their role entirely if not trained. This imbalance affects how well your core engages because if the hips aren’t stable, your deep core can’t manage pressure properly.

Training the adductors helps reconnect the entire kinetic chain — from feet to hips to core — improving load transfer and strength through functional movement. The result: more power, better balance, and less compensation through your lower back or pelvic floor.

Instability and the “Tight but Weak” Paradox

It’s common to feel tension in your inner thighs during pregnancy, especially as your body tries to adapt to new loads and changing posture. But that tension doesn’t always mean the muscles are strong. In fact, it’s often the opposite.

When a muscle feels “tight,” it’s often your body’s way of creating stability in the absence of true strength. The adductors might hold constant low level tension to keep your pelvis stable, but without the ability to lengthen and contract fully, they’re not actually contributing to movement.

This “tight but weak” pattern can limit hip range of motion, restrict walking mechanics, and increase pulling or discomfort through the pelvis. Training the adductors through controlled range — rather than stretching them aggressively — helps retrain them to generate and release tension efficiently.

Think: mobility through strength. The goal isn’t to loosen the adductors; it’s to help them work better so your body doesn’t need to grip or guard.

Why Training Adductors During Pregnancy Matters

Building adductor strength and control during pregnancy is one of the most effective ways to improve pelvic stability, core coordination, and long-term recovery.

Strong adductors help:

• Reduce pelvic pain and SPD symptoms by stabilizing the pubic joint
• Enhance pelvic floor and core synergy, supporting better pressure management
• Improve hip and pelvic alignment for smoother walking and lifting mechanics
• Support single leg balance and gait as your body weight shifts forward
• Set the foundation for postpartum recovery, where hip and pelvic stability are critical to rebuilding strength

Adductor training doesn’t need to be high intensity. The key is consistency and progression, starting with low load connection work and gradually building strength through full range and integrated movements.

Where to Start: 7 Prenatal-Safe Adductor Exercises

Here’s how each movement supports your body during pregnancy:

Seated 3-Way Adductor Squeeze

• Setup: Sit tall with a ball or pillow between your knees. Squeeze gently at three angles: knees together, slightly forward, slightly back.
• Benefits: Teaches the adductors to engage through different hip positions, improving coordination with the pelvic floor and breath. Excellent for early pregnancy or gentle daily activation and often tolerated well when pain is present.

Hip Thrust with Adductor Squeeze

• Setup: Place a small ball or yoga block between the knees while performing a hip thrust.
• Benefits: Strengthens glutes and adductors together, reinforcing pelvic stability and alignment. Builds connection between the front and back of the pelvis — a critical foundation for load bearing movements.

Dynamic Copenhagen Plank

• Setup: Support your top leg on a bench or step, lower and lift the hips through controlled range.
• Benefits: Targets eccentric and concentric strength in the adductors, builds stability through the frontal plane, and strengthens the deep core. Great for improving single-leg control and resilience against pelvic pain.

Dumbbell Lateral Lunge

• Setup: Step out to the side, keeping one leg straight as you bend the other knee, then push back to center.
• Benefits: Trains adductors through length and load, enhancing mobility and control in the frontal plane. Encourages full hip movement and reduces side-to-side imbalance common in pregnancy.

Side-Lying Adductor Lift Off

• Setup: Lie on your side with your bottom leg straight and top leg bent over for support. Lift and lower the bottom leg with control.
• Benefits: Isolates the adductors at low load, ideal for rebuilding connection and endurance. Helps correct asymmetries and supports pelvic balance.

Standing Band or Cable Adduction

• Setup: Anchor a band or cable at ankle height, draw your leg inward across midline against resistance.
• Benefits: Strengthens adductors in a functional, upright position. Challenges core stability and anti-rotation control while integrating the inner thighs into standing posture.

Wall Sit with Ball Squeeze and Reach

• Setup: Hold a wall sit with a ball between your knees. As you exhale, squeeze the ball and reach arms forward to engage your core and ribs.
• Benefits: Trains isometric strength, breath coordination, and rib-pelvis stacking — all essential for pressure management and pelvic support during pregnancy.

The Bottom Line

Your adductors might not get as much attention as your glutes or core but they’re the unsung heroes of pelvic stability, balance, and functional strength during pregnancy.
They help your body adapt to every change: a growing belly, shifting posture, and new movement patterns. When they’re strong and well coordinated, your pelvis feels supported, your core works more efficiently, and your entire system moves as one.

Learning how to connect, breathe, and load through your inner thighs during pregnancy can make a huge difference in how you move and feel, both now and postpartum.

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Ready to Put This Into Practice?

If you’re looking for a full body program that blends adductor strength, glute stability, and core connection through every trimester — my Strong in Pregnancy program was built for exactly that.

It includes:

• 36 weeks of progressive strength and mobility training
• Trimester specific modifications and guidance
• Workouts designed to support your core, pelvic floor, and full body function

Every phase builds toward feeling stronger, more stable, and better connected — not just for pregnancy, but for recovery and life after.

👉 Join the Strong in Pregnancy Program and start building the foundation your body deserves.