It isn’t that hard…stop looking at yourself in the mirror! Just forget about what you see in the mirror and train what everyone sees when you’re in front of them in a race! Too many athletes will only work the front side and forget all about the back side – the posterior chain.
What Is The Posterior Chain?
The posterior chain makes you sprint faster and jump higher! Consisting of a group of muscles, tendons and ligaments on the posterior kinetic chain of the body – including the low back, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
Why Work The Posterior Chain?
Working the posterior chain not only gives you a nice looking backside and a pair of legs to go with it, but it helps prevent injury. We’ve already discussed the importance of lifting heavy, and if those chain muscles are strong, the heavier you can lift, the stronger you will become. It’s been proven that a strong back and strong hamstrings lead to huge strength gains in the squat and deadlift.
What If I Don’t Work The Posterior Chain?
First off, a couple things can go wrong: You can become a quad dominant athlete and lack hamstring flexibility, because all you do is work the front side of your body. You develop constant pains in the lower back, tight hamstrings and tight hip flexors. Lastly, of course is your back going out and you wondering why you are constantly injured. This is what happens when you forget to work the backside.
Posterior Chain Movement Patterns
There are two important movements involved in the posterior chain:
Hip-Dominant (deadlift, good mornings, pull throughs) & Knee Flexion Dominant (glute-ham raises, rev leg press)
It’s important to include exercises from both movement patterns to complete the posterior chain development.
Hip Dominant & Knee Dominant Exercises
These types of exercises mainly focus on a flat back and require movement by the hips. Both types work the hamstrings and gluteals. The glutes are the main muscle through the movement, especially at the end when you squeeze them as hard as you can
• Deadlifts,
• Pull Throughs,
• Romanian DL,
• Single Leg RDL,
• Good Mornings,
• Reverse Hip Extensions,
• Glute Hams,
• Ball Leg Curl
This is the key to becoming more athletic, faster, stronger, more healthy and less injury prone…all by training one commonly overlooked set of muscles — the posterior chain!
Next we’ll work on getting those glutes fired up and in the game!
