The isotonic version of the Abduction hold, the Abduction Chop is a good way to develop greater capacity in the lateral (outside) of the hip, primarily the hip abductors like gluteus medius. This exercise has been vilified previously due to it's lack of shear loading however for specifically targeting the gluteus medius muscle, and developing the muscles capacity there are not many exercises that are better.
Other cues
Hips perpendicular to the floot
Toes point to the knee
Use the hand for stability but not to create force
Support the head
keep your pelvis away from your arm pit
Targeted muscles trained
Gluteus Medius
Gluteus Maximus
Tensor Fasciae Late
Key movements trained
Hip abduction
Pelvic anti-lateral tilt
Considerations
Although there are exercises with higher activity levels for the muscles the abductor chop targets, they are usually utilising the muscles in an isometric manner to create stability around the hip. The Abduction Chop, however, targets the muscles through their range and can allow you to increase their capacity and strength potentials. These traits can carry over in to the stability jobs the muscles have to do during function
Using the technical tweaks described will ensure that the target muscles are emphasised and hopefully reduce the amount of contribution other muscles have over this movement. This includes tensor fasciae latae and quadrates lumborum which tend to come in and help when specific hip muscles become weak or in the presence of pain
If you have a hip region bursitis or gluteus medius tendinopthy then this may not be a great choice closed kinetic chain exercises as more effective especially when pain is present
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