5 Exercises for Training the Posterior Chain

The posterior chain is possibly the most important area of the human body when it comes to sports performance. The muscles in this area include the hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors. Without these muscles you could not run, jump or even stand. It is extremely important from a performance standpoint to have a strong posterior chain. If you are weak in this area your athletic performance will suffer. There’s no way around it. Yet far too many athletes and trainers focus on moves that do not emphasize this area of the body. They are far too concerned with how much they can bench press or how big their arms are rather than how strong their glutes, hamstrings and back muscles are. Outlined below are 5 exercises that I prefer for training the posterior chain. Add them to your routine and start training for maximum performance!

1) Weighted Bridges

Strong glutes are in my opinion the foundation of an athlete’s body. Without strong glutes they cannot possibly perform at their highest level. Weighted bridges will solve that problem very quickly! Lay on your back with a loaded barbell over your waist. Keep your heels close to your butt. Make sure to balance the bar with your hands and raise your hips up as high as you can, focusing on squeezing your glutes through the entire movement. Make sure to push through your heels. Lower the weight back down in a controlled manner. That is 1 rep. You can do these as heavy, low rep sets to build strength or as light, high rep sets. I suggest mixing it up from week to week. Also, do these 1^st in your routine as it is a great way to activate your posterior chain prior to squats or deadlifts.

2) Heavy Kettlebell Swings

This is easily one of the absolute best exercises for building posterior chain strength. Kettlebell swings recruit your hamstrings, glutes and spinal erectors in an explosive manner, which is great for athletic performance. However, doing light, high rep sets of swings is not going to strengthen your posterior chain. You need a heavy kettlebell for sets of 3-10 reps. If you don’t have a heavy enough kettlebell you can use 2 at the same time (as long as they are the same weight) or add a resistance band to the exercise (one of my preferred methods). To do the swings stand with your feet shoulder width apart, both hands on your kettlebell, and hinge your hips backward bending slightly at the knees. You should be in about the same position as the bottom portion of a RDL. From here fire your hips forward as hard as you can, squeezing your butt tight as you go through the motion. This will propel the kettlebell upward. You do not want to raise it up with your arms. Let your hips do the work. Let the kettlebell swing freely back down between your legs and fire your hips again to propel it back up. If you don’t feel somewhat of a “pump” in your glutes you aren’t doing this right.

3)  Reverse Hyperextensions

If you have access to a reverse hyperextension machine, use it! This may be the single best machine out there for training the posterior chain, yet sadly not many gyms have one. You can do a makeshift reverse hyper if you have access to the right equipment, but it’s not quite the same. Here is an example photo of what a reverse hyperextension looks like. Again, if you have access to this machine start using it!

4) Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian deadlift, or RDL, is an amazing exercise for training the posterior chain. One of the great things about this exercise is that you can do it bilaterally (2 feet) or unilaterally (1 foot), it’s up to you! I like to change it up with this one. If you need work on balance and flexibility do this as a unilateral exercise. If you are looking for raw strength then do this as a bilateral exercise. Either way you will be working that precious posterior chain. Just make sure to get full hip extension at the top of the lift. This is where most people fall short is not driving the hips forward and squeezing the glutes at the top of the move. To do this exercise bilaterally (on both feet) stand with a barbell in your hands, feet a little closer than shoulder width apart, shoulders back, chest out, and head straight forward. Hinge at the hips by pushing your butt back behind you, keep your weight on your heels, and keep pushing your chest out to keep your back straight. Only bend your knees a little bit through the eccentric part of this move. Once you begin to feel your hamstrings stretch begin to lift the weight back up by focusing on driving your hips forward. It is important to keep your back straight throughout this entire lift. As you push your hips forward your legs will straighten out. Be sure to fully extend your hips and squeeze your glutes at the top of each repetition. Do these for 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.

5) Depth Lunges

Last, but certainly not least, are depth lunges. These are reverse lunges with your front foot elevated on a small box or bosu ball if you have good enough stability. By having your front foot elevated during a reverse lunge you are fully stretching your gluteus muscles on every rep. When you go to step up you are forced to engage them through a true full range of motion. Believe me, if you have never tried this before you will be sore the next few days! To add a stability aspect to the exercise elevate your front foot on a bosu ball. Do not do this if you are not confident in your stabilization abilities! The goal is to get better, not injure yourself or your client. Also, I highly recommend doing this exercise with dumbbells rather than a barbell. Just as with every other exercise be sure to get full hip extension at the top of each rep and squeeze your butt tight!

These are only 5 exercises that I like to use to train the posterior chain, but they are 5 of my favorites and that is why I have chosen to share them with you. Work these into you or your clients’ routine and you will see and feel the effects within a few short weeks! Just remember that you or your athlete client are not bodybuilders and should not train like one. You have to think and train like an athlete. There is no group of muscles more important to athletic performance than the posterior chain!

Basic Nutrition: Part 1 – Water, Vitamins and Minerals

I decided to do this Basic Nutrition series to educate everyone on the basic aspects of nutrition. Please keep in mind when reading this that I could go into much greater detail and outline the specifics of nutrition, but that is not the goal. The goal here is to give readers a general understanding of nutrition in terms of what the basic nutritional elements are and how they work with the human body. I intend to break things down in this series as simple as possible. At the end of this series, which will be 5 parts long, you will have a basic understanding of nutrition. Not so basic that you still won’t know much, but basic in a sense that you could give a general explanation of how nutrition works to somebody who has no clue. So here we go. Read, take notes and learn as much as you can because these articles are going to help you understand how your body works and how nutrition is a key factor in achieving your desired fitness goals.

Let’s begin with H2O. Water is the most basic and most important aspect of nutrition. It has zero calories so you cannot consume too much and gain permanent weight from it. Actually, 70% of the human body is composed of water. Water is a part of every single cell in the body, which is why it is so important to drink plenty of it on a daily basis. I personally strive for a gallon a day. Granted I am a 6 foot tall, 200 pound man who works out daily, but that really doesn’t matter. Half of my water consumption is usually during my workouts. Keep in mind that water consumption counts when it comes from fruits and vegetables as well. Some people just cannot consume a lot of water. Eating green vegetables and plenty of fruits will help keep your body hydrated throughout the day. Ultimately I recommend a minimum daily water consumption of 60% of your body weight in ounces of water. To figure that out take your weight x 0.60 and the answer is how many ounces you should be drinking daily at a minimum.

In knowing that 70% of our bodies are made up of water, let’s take a look at some of the health benefits that water has for us. Take a look at this picture below by Seth Larson.

Water is a pretty amazing thing huh? I think so. Without it we cannot survive. You can literally go weeks without food but only days without water. Whether you are at work, at the gym or on the go you should always have a bottle of water with you. In fact, before you drink your coffee in the morning you should take your vitamins with a tall glass of water to help hydrate your cells and flush the toxins from your body that have built up during the night. That brings me to the next topic: vitamins and minerals.

Vitamins and minerals are another very basic and key aspect of nutrition. Many foods contain vitamins and minerals. However, not all foods do. Processed foods contain little to no vitamins or minerals. This is why items like cookies, crackers, candy and soda pop are often referred to as empty calories. The calories are there, but the vitamins and minerals are not, which means there is no nutritional value. Fruits, vegetables and different types of meat on the other hand are high in vitamins and minerals and should be your primary source of calories. Be aware though that when you cook these foods they lose some of their nutritional value. I do not recommend eating raw meat or sea food, but your fruits and vegetable should be eaten raw as often as possible in order to receive their full nutritional value.

Since we are on the topic of raw and cooked fruits and vegetables I want to clear up a common myth. Microwaving your food does not affect the nutritional content of food any more than cooking on a stove top or oven. Also, it does not mutate the cellular structure of the food. If it did you would see your food mutate into something else. A microwave heats food just the same as anything else, by causing the water molecules within the food to move faster, causing friction within the food itself, therefore it heats up. In fact, with some foods cooking in the microwave actually preserves more of the nutritional value than cooking on the stove. Take broccoli for example. When broccoli is boiled on the stove the surrounding water actually absorbs a large portion of the nutrients from the broccoli. However, if you were to cook it in the microwave this would not happen. So the next time somebody tries to tell you that microwaving your food is bad you can tell them it’s not any worse than cooking on the stove and you now know why.

So back to vitamins and minerals. You cannot actually consume all of the vitamins and minerals that your body needs for the day just by eating. For this reason I highly recommend taking a daily multi-vitamin. I have been taking them for years and if there is one nutritional supplement that I recommend to all of my clients, family and friends it is a multi-vitamin. Vitamins and minerals are critical for the proper function of your body. Iron for example plays a key role in oxygen delivery to cells and liver metabolism while many vitamins help support immune function and proper function of organs. Along with the increase in vitamin and mineral nutrients you will experience an increase in energy. This is because the body is now getting the required amount of vitamins and minerals that it needs to be able to function properly and does not have to work as hard to maintain energy levels. I actually notice a difference in energy if I go too long without taking multi-vitamins. I feel sluggish and tired whereas with my vitamins I feel more energized and healthy. Again, this is because when I am taking my vitamins my body is receiving all of the necessary nutrients for it to fully function the way it is supposed too rather than fighting to stay energized because the required nutrients are not there. Also, vitamins and nutrients play key roles in immune function, digestion, cell production, recovery from workouts and much more. Without vitamins and minerals our bodies could not perform all of the necessary functions to keep up healthy.

This wraps up part 1 of my Basic Nutrition series. I hope that you have learned about the importance of water and vitamins and minerals. The key takeaways here are that water is a part of every cell in the body and makes up about 70% of our structure, therefore it is crucial to keep your water intake up. Plus it plays a key role in metabolism which can help with weight and fat loss. I would recommend a minimum of 60% of your body weight in ounces of water each day. For a 150lb person that would be 90oz of water daily. Also, vitamins and minerals are key players in many bodily functions to include organ function, blood cell production, maintaining energy levels and much more. Without vitamins and minerals your body will not function properly and you will lack energy. So remember to drink your water, take a daily multivitamin and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and you will be well on your way to a healthier, better functioning body! Check back soon for part 2 of this series: Amino Acids and Protein!