Weak adductors (groin muscles) can predispose athletes to a variety of injuries due to their vital role in stabilising the hips with groin strains being a very common injury in many field-based sports. So, how can we best strengthen the hip adductors and prevent groin strains from occurring? This post will discuss the Copenhagen Adductor Exercise and provide advice into how to optimally introduce it into your training program to prevent adductor weakness and injury.
Low eccentric hip adduction strength has been shown to increase the risk of hip adductor injuries in sports such as football and ice hockey (Ishoi and Thorborg, 2021). The Copenhagen exercise has been shown to be an effective and easily accessible hip adduction exercise which results in large eccentric hip adduction strength gains (Ishoi et al, 2016). Improvements in eccentric hip adduction strength can reduce the risk of groin strain injuries, with a study by Haroy et al (2020) demonstrating that the implementation of Copenhagen’s into a preseason football schedule, reduced the prevalence of groin issues by 41%.
How to do the exercise:
To perform this exercise you will need a chair or bench.
• Start by laying on your side with the bench or chair near your feet.
• Place the top leg at the ankle on to the bench.
• Keeping the hips and core aligned, prop yourself up on your elbow of the lower arm.
• Engaging your glutes lift yourself off the floor. This will look like a side plank with your upper leg on the bench.
• Bring your lower leg up to the bottom of the chair or bench. Adducting and squeezing the bottom leg close to the bench.
• From here you can either keep your lower leg stationary or slowly move it up and down.
Important Considerations:
The nature of eccentric movements (lengthening the muscle under tension), can lead to high levels of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). This muscle soreness can negatively impact athlete training and decrease performance. Therefore, it’s important that the correct volume and intensity is selected when adding Copenhagen’s into an exercise program.
Ishoi and Thorborg (2021) analysed the results of various studies examining the effect of the Copenhagen exercise on hip adduction strength and found a dose-response relationship between Copenhagen training volume and strength gains (i.e., the more you do, the greater your strength increase). As stated earlier, due to the development of DOMS post exercise its important that we prescribe the optimum number of repetitions which will enhance hip adduction strength whilst minimising muscle soreness post exercise.
Ishoi and Thorborg’s study found that a minimum total training volume of 250reps per leg during an 8 week period could effectively facilitate eccentric hip adduction strength and reduce groin injury risk. This equates to performing around 64 total reps per week which could be split up into 2 sets of 8 reps per leg, twice per week or 4 sets of 4 reps, twice per week. Scheduling Copenhagens twice per week so they are performed prior to rest/lighter days will provide sufficient recovery time between sessions and allow for recovery and prevent muscle soreness from interfering with other training sessions/performance.
If you are finding the exercise too difficult, it can be regressed by performing the movement with legs bent to 90 degrees or by performing the isometric portion of the movement only and holding for 10-30s. On the other hand, if the exercise becomes too easy, rather than increasing the volume and running the risk of developing further DOMS, increase the exercises intensity by adding resistance in the form of bands, chains, or weighted vests.
Key Points: