Copenhagen adductor plank

Key points

In a modelling study of 15 injury-free people, which estimated forces with a model rather than measuring them, this exercise produced the highest forces across most of the adductors (inner thigh muscles) of eight exercises compared¹.
Resting the ankle rather than the knee on the support made the hip work harder in two studies, of 15 and 24 people^2,3.
A systematic review of five studies in male soccer players found it increased eccentric hip adduction strength, meaning inner thigh strength while the muscles lengthen, in the four studies that measured it⁴.
Trials of groin problems disagree. Two trials in football players found fewer groin problems, or a lower risk of groin pain, in groups doing it or a programme based on it^5,6. A trial of amateur players found no difference in new groin injuries between an adductor programme, in which this was one of several exercise options, and two other programmes, and more players with groin injury at a time in that group⁷. A 2026 systematic review of ten trials in male athletes and active individuals reported fewer groin symptoms, but did not pool their results⁸.
In a randomised trial of 30 male soccer players with groin pain linked to the adductors, an exercise programme that included this exercise gave more strength and less pain than the same kind of programme without it⁹.

Movement

What the body does

The exercise is done lying on one side, with the upper leg resting on a raised support^3,10. In the full version used with 25 professional footballers, a partner holds the upper leg at hip height, supporting the ankle and knee¹⁰. The player then lowers the pelvis toward the ground over 3 seconds¹⁰. The adductor longus, brevis and magnus mainly pull the thigh inward, toward the midline¹¹.

Long lever and short lever

One biomechanics study compared two versions, named by where the support sits³:

Long lever: the upper leg’s ankle rests on the support³.
Short lever: the upper leg’s knee rests on the support³.

Other versions hold the position still, as an isometric hold, where the muscles work but the joint does not move¹².

Graded programmes

One modified programme, used with 25 senior professional footballers, had six levels¹⁰. It started with a supported short-lever hold, lying on the side with the lower knee on the ground¹⁰. It ended with the full exercise¹⁰. A programme tested in 35 Norwegian men’s football teams used one exercise based on this movement, with three levels⁵.

Of 50 male football teams surveyed in Norway, Germany and Austria, 84% used the exercise and 65% had modified the original programme¹³. The changes were to sets, repetitions, progressions and how often it was done¹³.

What it loads

The inner thigh muscles

The adductor group is six muscles along the inner thigh¹⁴. They are the gracilis, the pectineus, the obturator externus, and the adductor longus, brevis and magnus¹⁴. They generally attach at the top to the front and underside of the pelvis¹⁴.

In the modelling study of 15 injury-free people, eight adductor exercises were ranked into force tiers¹. The long lever was in the top tier for each adductor muscle modelled¹. The short lever was in the top tier for two of them¹:

Muscle modelled	Long lever in top force tier	Short lever in top force tier
Adductor longus	Yes¹	Yes¹
Adductor brevis	Yes¹	Yes¹
Adductor magnus	Yes¹	—
Gracilis	Yes¹	—

How the lever changes the work

In 15 people, the long lever produced more peak and average hip torque, or turning force, than the short lever³. The hip moved through a smaller range with the long lever³.

Peak hip torque as the muscles lengthen, newton-metres per kilogram of body mass. Bars start at zero; the table below gives each value with its source.

Version	Peak hip torque as the muscles lengthen, newton-metres per kilogram of body mass
Long lever	1.7³
Short lever	1.1³

A second study, of 24 adults, tested support positions from the knee to the ankle². The hip adductor moment, the turning effect pulling the thigh in, was largest with the ankle support and smallest with the knee support²:

Hip adductor moment, newton-metres per kilogram of body mass. Bars start at zero; the table below gives each value with its source.

Support at	Hip adductor moment, newton-metres per kilogram of body mass
Ankle	1.54²
Knee	0.93²

In 15 people, both lever lengths gave lower peak eccentric hip torque than each exercise on a new eccentric hip adductor dynamometer, a force-measuring machine³.

In 44 male rugby union players, holding it with added weight produced more hip adduction torque than the body-weight hold¹⁵. At 150% of body mass it was up to 48.3% more¹⁵. The weighted hold also produced more force than a long-lever adductor squeeze, where the legs press inward against resistance without moving¹⁵.

The adductor longus and its tendon

The adductor longus starts at the front of the pubic bone¹¹. It attaches lower down on the linea aspera, a long ridge down the back of the femur (thigh bone)¹¹.

In 40 elite male soccer players, peak adductor longus activity across eight hip adduction exercises ranged from 14% to 108% of a maximal isometric contraction¹⁶. That study used electromyography, which reads a muscle’s electrical signals¹⁶. Its authors classed this exercise as a dynamic, high-intensity exercise for the adductor longus¹⁶.

Other joints and muscles

In 24 adults, it took muscle effort at the hip and knee both sideways and front to back². This effort grew as the support moved further down the leg².

Most of these adults had a hip extensor moment, a turning effect that swings the thigh back². It was larger with the support further down the leg².
Turning the thigh inward went with a hip flexor moment, one that bends the hip, and turning it outward with a hip extensor moment².
A support below the knee produced knee adductor and knee flexor moments².

In 31 healthy young men, semitendinosus (inner hamstring) activity differed between the standard first stage and a modified one¹⁷. The authors put this down to the changed position of the non-dominant leg unlocking the hip, so the hamstrings worked less¹⁷. Adductor longus activity and adductor force did not differ significantly between the two positions¹⁷. Nor did activity in the rectus femoris, the quadriceps muscle at the front of the thigh that also bends the hip¹⁷.

How the body adapts

Strength

A systematic review found five studies, each in male soccer players⁴. The exercise increased eccentric hip adduction strength in the four studies that measured it⁴. It raised eccentric hip abduction strength (moving the thigh out) and the ratio between the two in the three that measured them⁴. Single studies in football players found:

35.7% more eccentric adduction strength after an 8-week programme, in a randomised trial of 24 sub-elite under-19 players, with no significant change in controls¹⁸.
24% and 25% more eccentric adduction strength, left and right, after an 8-week modified programme in 25 senior professionals¹⁰.
8.9% more eccentric adduction strength than the standard FIFA 11+ warm-up, in 45 elite under-19 male players, when it replaced the Nordic hamstring exercise¹⁹. The standard FIFA 11+ produced no change¹⁹.

In 31 male amateur rugby union players, an 8-week low-dose programme of holds without added weight gave no significant change in hip strength¹². The weighted version raised hip adduction strength by 10%¹². In a randomised trial of 57 male football players, average age 16.7, this exercise and an isometric adductor squeeze matched for volume were compared²⁰. After 8 weeks, eccentric and isometric adductor torque did not differ significantly between the groups²⁰.

Doing it more often, at higher volume, gave more strength in one trial²¹. In 30 high-level rink hockey (roller hockey) players aged 14, a twice-weekly, higher-volume protocol raised adductor squeeze strength 24% more than a once-weekly, low-volume one²¹. It was 34% more than controls²¹. In 42 young male football players, this exercise and sliding hip training both raised eccentric adduction and abduction strength compared with controls²².

Muscle size and balance

Muscle thickness results differed between two trials^23,24. In a randomised trial of 45 active adults, 8 weeks of it thickened adductors by about 18% and raised hip abduction range by about 7%²³. Both returned to baseline after 4 weeks without training²³. In a randomised trial of 12 male under-17 soccer players, 8 weeks of the exercise did not thicken the adductors more than regular training did²⁴.

A randomised trial included 200 male athletes, and 177 of them completed it²⁵. After 6 weeks of the exercise, a dynamic balance measure improved by 44.5%²⁵. Controls improved by 28.3%²⁵.

Groin problems: mixed evidence

Two trials found fewer problems. In a cluster-randomised trial, 35 semiprofessional Norwegian men’s football teams were assigned to groups by chance, team by team⁵. On average during the season, 13.5% of players in teams doing the programme had groin problems, against 21.3% in controls⁵. That was a 41% lower risk⁵.

The second trial followed 202 high school soccer players in a Japanese under-18 league for 16 weeks⁶. It compared groin pain with a usual-training group, using the risk ratio: how many times as often it happens in one group as another⁶:

Group	Risk of groin pain compared with usual training
This exercise alone	0.42⁶
This exercise with the Nordic hamstring exercise	0.19⁶

A statement paper systematically searched and graded the evidence²⁶. It found that the Copenhagen adductor strengthening programme and the FIFA 11+ both reduced groin injury risk compared with usual care²⁶. It rated the effect as medium and the evidence as low to moderate quality²⁶.

Other studies did not. One trial followed 502 male and female amateur football players aged 14 to 46, in three groups, two of them assigned by chance⁷. One group did an adductor strength programme, with one exercise chosen from Copenhagen versions, side-lying adduction or adductor squeezes⁷. The others did an extended Knee Control programme or an exercise programme of their own choice⁷. How often new groin injuries occurred did not differ between the three groups⁷.

The adductor group had a higher weekly prevalence of groin injury, how many players had one at a time, than both others⁷. In 162 rink hockey players followed for a season, the number of sessions a month was not associated with how often groin problems occurred²⁷.

A 2026 systematic review looked at this exercise and groin pain across ten randomised trials, with 1,099 participants, in male athletes and active individuals⁸. It reported that the exercise reduced groin-related symptoms⁸. The trials scored 5 to 9 out of 10 on the PEDro scale, and the authors judged them of moderate to high quality⁸.

Outcomes and designs differed, so it did not pool results into one answer, a meta-analysis⁸. Its authors wrote that this limits its conclusions⁸.

In players who already had groin pain

One trial randomised 30 male soccer players with adductor-related groin pain, meaning groin pain linked to the inner thigh muscles⁹. Both groups did an exercise programme twice a week for 8 weeks, and one group’s programme also included this exercise⁹. That group gained more eccentric hip adduction strength, by 0.49 newton-metres per kilogram, than the group without it⁹. Its pain also fell further⁹.

Soreness and other reports

Earlier studies in football players recorded median (middle value) soreness scores of 0 to 2 out of 10¹⁰. Some athletes in them reported delayed-onset muscle soreness, soreness that starts hours to days after exercise, of 7 or 8 out of 10¹⁰. In the trial of 57 players, this group had more delayed soreness than the adductor squeeze group from the third to the sixteenth session²⁰.

Group studied	What was reported
25 senior professional footballers	Soreness 24 hours after sessions averaged 2.2 out of 10; no adverse effects¹⁰
24 under-19 sub-elite football players	Compliance 91.25%; median soreness 0 to 2¹⁸
30 high-level youth rink hockey players	One case of delayed soreness across 208 sessions²¹
44 elite male academy soccer players, West Africa	95–96% of sessions completed; no adverse events from the exercises²⁸

In a biomechanics study of 16 recreationally active people, one person stopped because of low back pain that began during the long lever³. The authors of the six-level programme raised a concern that a support at hip height could stress the inner side of the knee¹⁰. No participant in that study reported this¹⁰.

Progressive overload

A 2026 position stand describes progressive overload as the need to increase the stimulus placed on the muscle throughout a training programme²⁹.

Harder levels

In senior professional footballers, the modified programme ran twice weekly for 8 weeks, with 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 repetitions by level¹⁰. Its first five levels were holds, made harder by lifting the supporting leg, using a long lever, then raising the box to hip height¹⁰. Players moved up after doing a level to a researcher’s satisfaction¹⁰. A soreness score below 5 out of 10, 24 hours after a session, was a key criterion too¹⁰.

More repetitions

In 45 active adults, weekly repetitions per side rose from 10 in the first two weeks to 30 in the last two²³.
In 44 elite male academy players in West Africa, volume rose every two weeks, from 2 sets of 6 to 2 sets of 12²⁸.

More volume, more gain?

In a trial of 52 female football players, a high-volume Adductor Strengthening Programme did not raise isometric hip adduction strength more than a low-volume one³⁰. Over 8 weeks, the groups did 394 and 220 repetitions per side, and both got stronger³⁰. In an earlier trial in men’s teams, that programme was a single exercise based on this one⁵.

The 2026 review covered trials in male athletes and active individuals⁸. It found that the three trials with no significant changes had shorter programmes, fewer weekly sessions or lower total volume⁸. Trials of about 8 weeks or more, with over about 200 repetitions in total, tended to report more consistent gains⁸. Its authors urged caution, because no trial compared volumes directly⁸.

Connections

The tendon it loads

The exercise loads the adductor longus¹. Both lever lengths were in the top force tier for this muscle in one modelling study¹.

The muscles it works

Adductor longus, adductor brevis, adductor magnus and gracilis, each in the top force tier with the long lever¹.
The hamstrings, whose semitendinosus activity differed in a modified first stage, which the authors put down to the position of the non-dominant leg¹⁷.

In 44 academy players, one study ran twice-weekly programmes of this exercise and of the Nordic hamstring exercise, in separate periods²⁸.