It is basically all of the muscles that run down the posterior (or rear) of your body and is also one of the most underdeveloped areas on the average gym goers body. If you don’t know what your posterior chain is, chances are that you don’t train it as hard as the anterior (or front – chest, biceps, quads) portion of your body.

What does it do?

The posterior chain acts just like that, a ‘chain’. All of the muscles contract together to straighten your hips and is one of the greatest forces your body can produce. Let’s go into a little more detail.

Gluteus Maximus

This muscle begins along the posterior of the illium, sacrum and coccyx and inserts onto the femur along the posterior and medial aspects. It is one of the key muscles in hip extension.

In English: It attaches the pelvis to your upper leg bone and causes an increase of angle in the hip joint.

Hamstrings

The hamstrings group is made up of three muscles: Biceps Femoris, Semitendinosus and Semimembranosus. These 3 muscles run along the postierior of the femur. They work together to cause hip extension and knee flexion.

In other words, the hamstrings group sit along the back of the thigh. Like Glute Max it causes your hip to straighten and your knee to bend.

Erector Spinae

The Erector Spinae serves the main purpose of control the movement of your spine. It is made of many muscles that attach all the way from the top of the spine down to your pelvis. It causes rotation of the spine, flexion, extension and lateral flexion. It is a key muscle in maintaining a strong spine and back.

Quadratus Lumborum

The Quadratus Lumborum sits on your posterior around you lower back. It starts at your 12th rib and L1-4 and attached along the posterior part of your illiac crest. It’s function is lateral flexion through ipsilateral contraction and extension of the lumbar spine through bilateral extension.

Best exercises to strengthen your posterior chain

The posterior chain is best strengthened by hip extension exercises. Most people have weak glutes so it’s important that you concentrate on contracting your glutes on the concentric (positive) movement.

• Deadlift (and it’s variations: Stiff Leg, Sumo)
• Reverse Hyperextensions
• Pull Throughs

If you are not feeling it in your glutes then you may need to do some glute activation exercises at the beginning of your workout. My favourite are glute bridges.

If you are feeling it only in your lower back, drop the weight back and really focus on squeezing your glutes to pull the weight up.

Improving your posterior chain will increase the overall stabilisation of your body. You will be able to squat deeper and heavier, bent-over row more weight and if you run, cycle or play sport you should notice a huge improvement in these areas. So stop neglecting these important muscles and get training today!