Clamshell | Illustrated Exercise Guide

Primary muscles: Hips, glutes
Secondary muscles: Inner and outer thighs
Equipment: No equipment

CLAMSHELL INSTRUCTIONS

1. Lie on your side with your knees slightly bent and with one leg on top of the other.
2. Keep your feet together and lift your top knee up until it’s parallel with your hip.
3. Lower your knee back to the initial position, repeat, and then switch sides.

PROPER FORM AND BREATHING PATTERN

When doing the clamshell exercise, keep your upper body static and maintain a neutral spine. Rotate your hip to lift the knee and breathe out. Keep your core tight to avoid rolling back and, as you breathe in, lower your leg back to the starting position.

EXERCISE BENEFITS

The clamshell is a great exercise to strengthen your hips, inner and outer thighs, tone your glutes and stabilize your pelvic muscles.

DEMONSTRATION

SETS AND REPS

Perform 1 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions on each side. If you want to increase the challenge you can place a resistance band around your thighs or hold a weight on the outside of your top hip.

CALORIES BURNED

To calculate the number of calories burned doing the clamshell exercise, enter your weight and the duration of the exercise:

RELATED LOWER BODY EXERCISES

Try these other lower body exercises to strengthen, sculpt and tone your thighs, hips, legs and glutes:
Step up with knee raise
Single leg deadlift
Back leg lifts
Calf Raises

WORKOUT ROUTINES