Gracilis

What it is

A long, slender strap on the innermost edge of the thigh — gracilis means slender. It runs from the pubis all the way down to the inner tibia, making it the most superficial adductor and the only one of the group to cross the knee.

At the knee it joins sartorius and semitendinosus in the pes anserinus, the three-tendon fan on the upper inner shin.

Because it is long, thin and expendable, it is commonly used as a donor muscle in reconstructive surgery — a piece of medical trivia that is nonetheless the reason it appears in a lot of textbooks.

What it does

Adducts the hip, flexes the knee, and rotates the flexed knee inward.

Its two-joint arrangement means, as always, that its length at one joint depends on the position of the other. It is a weak contributor to all three of its actions.

What loads it

Adduction against resistance, and knee flexion, both shared with much stronger muscles. Nothing loads it preferentially.

Nothing in the Repertoire loads it distinctively, and this record deliberately links to no movements as a result. A link here would imply a specificity that does not exist.

What is commonly got wrong about it

That it does much. It is thin, it is weak, and every action it performs is performed better by a neighbour. It is included in the Atlas because it is superficial, easily felt, and frequently named — not because training it is a project.

Inner-thigh "definition" as a training target. The visible line on the inner thigh is largely this muscle's edge and the fat over it, and the second of those is not something an exercise selects for. Working a muscle does not reduce the fat sitting on top of it — that is spot reduction, and it does not happen.