Ive heard many conflicting things about these machines. That they are not functional. That compound movements, especially unilateral movements will work these muscles in a superior way. And that the abductor machine actually works the IT band mostly which causes knee problems by creating a muscle imbalance where your glute medius is weaker than your IT band.
But others have said that these machines are useful for strengthening your hip muscles. What are your thoughts on whether these machines are helpful, a waste of time, or useful?
I also think theyāre amazing. Iāll add, as with anything, the benefits will be based on your needs. For instance, I get much more out of the addiction, because thatās a weakness for me, than the abduction, because Iāve got an awesome booty. Others may be in the opposite camp.
The IT Band is not a muscle and can not contract, so you donāt need to worry about āworking itā with any exercise. It would be like worrying about an exercise working your patella tendon instead of your quads.
Ah, I got you. You should be able to tell what itās working when you do it. If you feel it in the crease of your hip, itās probably your TFL. If you feel it on the side of your butt, itās probably your glute med and min. If youāre not sure, feel the side of your hip and find the edge of your pelvis. If you feel muscles working behind that, youāre probably good. In front of that: probably not good
Our adductors work as hip extensors so feel that those are covered with things like deep squats. If I had to isolate Iād go with copenhagen planks instead
Abductors I prefer closed chain exercises like Z axis rotation or anything that you spend prolonged time in single leg stance. Generally donāt see a lot of value in open chain exercises for this group.
Adductor magnus is the only hip extensor, and it has 3 divisions which of which only one contributes to extension, so I donāt think hip extension is enough to train the full adductor group
I really like good girls, because Copenhagens are difficult to overload through full ROM, whereas good girl machines can create a fantastic stretch
Completely agree with @loganator that bad girls (seated abduction) is pretty redundant
I read through most of your post history, and I am getting the impression that, as a beginner, you are āmajoring in the minorsā, so to speak. And youāre looking at reasons not to do exercises, rather than reasons to do them.
A common problem Iāve seen, over and over again, with beginners is overanalyzing and overcomplicating things. Beginners also try to create their own programs far too often, and it sounds like youāre doing that, based on the questions youāve asked.
Your questions are fine, in general, but I would highly recommend keeping things as simple as possible for awhile. Run programs that you didnāt create yourself, for a couple years, and then at that point you can start tweaking things figuring out how to address weaknesses through exercises like this, and the others youāve previously brought up.