7 Top Hip Abduction Machine Alternatives

Hip abduction machines can help you work specific muscles but you may want alternatives. Find out what other option you have.

This machine is typically a seat with pads connected to resistance on the outsides of your hips. To do the exercise you push your upper legs outward.

Hip abduction machines work hip abductor muscles like your gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, and tensor fasciae latae.

In turn, that means that hip abduction machines can help you build muscle mass, burn calories, and offer other typical exercise benefits.

Whether you don’t enjoy using the hip abduction machines, you don’t have this machine available, or you want an alternative for any other reason, these hip abduction machine substitutes can offer you some or all of the same benefits.

1. Lying side leg raises

This first hip abduction machine alternative is easy to do at home without a machine. That being said, a soft surface like a yoga mat can make the exercise more comfortable.

Additionally, individuals more experienced with resistance training may need resistance bands or ankle weights to make the exercise more challenging.

Take the following steps to do a bodyweight side leg raise:

1. Lie down on your side with your body in more or less one straight line, and adjust for stability.
2. Raise one leg upward as far as comfortable or until it is at about a 45-degree angle with the ground. Make sure the movement comes from your thighs, not your hips or the rest of your body.
3. Lower this leg back into the position of step 1 in a controlled motion.
4. Repeat the same number of repetitions with the other leg.

Keep your movements slow and controlled to make your hip abductors really work hard. Also remember to keep your hips still. Your legs should do the moving.

To use ankle weights in this exercise you simply strap them on the upper leg.

In the case of resistance bands, you loop them around your upper legs. Try to choose a resistance band loop where you can still go through the full range of motion of the exercise.

2. Standing hip abductions

Similar to the previous exercise, standing hip abductions are relatively easy to do at home. Take the following steps to do standing leg abductions:

1. Stand up straight with your feet right next to each other.
2. Shift your weight to one leg so the other one hovers in the air.
3. Slowly move the foot in the air sideways toward its side as far as comfortable. Move your leg, not your hips.
4. Move the foot back into the position of step 2 in a controlled motion.
5. Repeat the same number of repetitions with the other leg.

You can do this exercise with just your body weight but you preferably want to add some kind of resistance. This is even more important than the lying version since gravity won’t challenge your hip abductor muscles that much in this alternative.

Some of the best ways to do this are resistance bands, ankle weights, or a cable machine with an ankle attachment. You can also hold some type of weight against your outer thighs but this is not as convenient.

The cable machine is especially great since you can precisely adjust the resistance. At home where you don’t have these types of thigh gym machines, resistance bands can work great too.

3. Resistance band crab walks

As the name of this next hip abduction machine alternative implies, you will need a resistance band to do the exercise.

Once you have that, take the following steps to do a resistance band crab walk:

1. Stand with your feet near each other, tilt your upper body slightly forward, bend your knees a bit, and loop a resistance band around your legs right above your knees.
2. Take a step sideways with one leg while keeping the other leg on the ground. At the widest, your feet will be at about shoulder-width apart. Keep your back straight and your knees pointing outward throughout the movement.
3. Step sideways with your other leg towards the leg that just moved so that you are back in the position from step 1 but at a different spot.
4. Do a few steps like this in the same direction.
5. Move back in the opposite direction until you are back where you started.

Resistance band crab walks are a standing way to target muscles similar to the hip abduction machine without having to use too much balance.

Additionally, you get a tiny amount of quadriceps, gluteus maximus, and lower back engagement by bending your knees and tilting your upper body forward.

4. Clamshells

Clamshells are another hip abduction machine substitute that takes place on the ground. Take the following steps to do a clamshell:

1. Lie down on your side with your knees at a 90-degree angle.
2. Slowly raise the upper knee as far as you comfortably can without moving your hips. Keep your feet together during the movement.
3. Lower this leg back into the position of step 1 in a controlled motion.
4. Repeat the same number of repetitions with the other leg.

This exercise is another example of a hip abductor exercise you can easily do at home without a machine.

Individuals more experienced with resistance training may need thigh workout equipment like resistance bands to make the exercise challenging enough for muscle growth and strengthening.

5. Resistance band squats

Squats are a classic resistance training exercise to strengthen your leg muscles. By implementing a resistance band in the right place, you can increase the amount of hip abductor muscle engagement.

Take the following steps to do a resistance band squat:

1. Stand up straight with your feet at more or less shoulder width. Loop a resistance band around your legs right above your knees.
2. Slowly lower your hips by bending your knees. How far depends on different factors like knee health but at your lowest point you want your hips to be at or lower than your knee height. You will likely have to bend forward for balance but keep your back in a straight line throughout the movement. Make sure you push your knees outward against the pressure of the resistance band during the exercise.
3. Push yourself up again into starting position by stretching your legs.

It is also possible to do a different type of resistance band squat where you put a resistance band under your feet and behind the back of your neck in a safe way. However, this is less of a hip abductor machine alternative.

Resistance band squats done this way are a nice way to combine hip abductor training with training your other leg muscles like your gluteus maximus, quadriceps, calves, and hamstrings.

Something to keep in mind is that to really train these non-hip-abductor muscles you will likely have to use additional resistance pushing down from above.

6. Side plank dips

This next exercise is again more of a compound alternative. You don’t need a machine so you can do side plank dips easily at home or in the gym.

Take the following steps to do a side plank dip:

1. Sit sideways on the ground leaning on one of your lower arms with the upper arm of that arm vertical to support your upper body.
2. Walk away from your upper body with your feet until you can put your body in a straight side plank. If you want, hold a weight on your hip with your free arm during the exercise.
3. Move your hips as far down as comfortable.
4. Move your hips as far up as comfortable.
5. Return your body into the position of step 2 in a controlled motion.
6. Repeat the same number of repetitions while leaning on your other arm.

The best ways to make side plank dips weighted are with weights that do not easily slide off your hip. Some examples include a dumbbell, a weight plate, or ankle weights strapped onto your thighs.

If the ground stops you from bending down further you can consider doing side plank dips with your arm on an elevated object like for example a weight bench.

7. Fire hydrant

Take the following steps to do a fire hydrant:

1. Start with your face facing the floor with your hands on the ground, your arms stretched, and your knees on the ground.
2. Slowly move one leg sideways as close to a 90-degree angle in your hips as you comfortably can. Keep your knees at about 90-degree angles during the movement. Try to keep your back straight and the rest of your body beside your legs still to focus the most on your glutes.
3. Lower this leg back into the position of step 1 in a controlled motion.
4. Repeat with your other leg.

Fire hydrants are one the hip abduction machine alternatives where it is the easiest to move your hips instead of only your legs. To train your hip abductor muscles this is something you generally want to avoid.

Similar to many of the other options on this list, the main ways to make fire hydrants more challenging are resistance bands and ankle weights.

You could also clamp a dumbbell or medicine ball between your upper and lower leg.