Reduce injury risk, pain, and postpartum discomfort by strengthening the posterior chain! Posterior chain exercises target the muscles of the back of the body- think upper and lower back, glutes, and hamstrings and are a great way to improve posture. Plus, having a strong posterior chain is what will give you the most performance benefits while reducing injuries.
What Are Posterior Chain Exercises?
The posterior chain is just the anatomical way of saying "back of the body". The front of the body is called the anterior chain.
This means that any exercise that targets muscles along the back of the body are under the umbrella of "posterior chain exercises". Most commonly, these muscles are:
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
- Upper back (traps and rear delts)
- Lower back (Lats, QL)
Benefits Of A Strong Posterior Chain
Training the posterior chain exercises is one of the best things moms can work on.
As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, when I write my SMASH workout programs, they include three exercises for the back of the body for every one exercise we do for the front of the body.
Posterior chain exercises can help with the following:
- help hold you upright (properly!)
- they help reduce back pain (learn more about the cause of back pain and what to do)
- having a strong posterior chain helps you carry kids easier
- they help you do the things you want to do, easier.
- reduce the risk of injury
The Best Posterior Chain Exercises At Home
The exercises below are geared toward strengthening the posterior chain musclescan mostly be done at home. Each exercise can be done with multiple variations (think changing your grip, stance, or tool) and pieces of home workout equipment.
Know that before you begin training the back of the body, you need to learn how to hip hinge. This movement alone is the utter basics for training the back of the body.
Exercise #1: Glute Bridges
Glute bridges help teach engagement and without engagement, you'll accomplish little.
You cannot progress if you don't understand how to lift your hips into hyperextension with your bum muscles and not your low back. These can be done bodyweight, with dumbbells, barbells, bands or unilaterally. Learn how to do a glute bridge correctly, and then check out more glute bridge variations.
Bridges (and glute training in general) are one of the best hip exercises for pregnancy and postpartum.
Exercise 2: Hip Thrust
Like the bridge, the hip thrust can be done with just bodyweight, a band, barbell, dumbbell, a single leg.. the list goes on. Learn the basics of how to perform a hip thrust and then move on to variations like the single leg bridge.
This posterior chain exercise allows your glutes a bit more range of motion and thus you can hit them slightly harder. Whenever you're hoping to target the glute muscles (which should be always!) I find that mini bands + weights work insanely well.
Exercise #3 Bentover Row
A great exercise to work the upper or mid-back posterior chain muscles (depending on your grip). Having a strong upper body (specifically a strong back) will help you stand more upright and remove some of the tension from your low back. These upper body stretches help too.
Learning to use your back muscles takes much of this strain off other areas. This is one of the best exercises you can do for better posture (all rows really).
Here are the best exercises to strengthen your back you can do at home. Performing a dumbbell row, or a supported row is great too. Literally ANY kind of row is good.
Exercise #4 Romanian Deadlift
This exercise truly helps protect your back once you've mastered the hip hinge. Learn more about the benefits of deadlifts.
It puts your hamstrings into a lengthened position to target them (which is something we do a lot to pick up). It's why these hamstring exercises are so important.
Here is a video demo of a dumbbell romanian deadlift but obviously it can be done with bands or even just your bodyweight too. By strengthening this exercise, your day-to-day tasks will be easier.
Exercise #5 Band Pull Aparts
A low-impact exercise I recommend to everyone as a full-on exercise or at least in their warm up. This posterior chain exercise can be done at home (or anywhere) and is great for your upper back and shoulder mobility.
Know that you can switch the grip (underhand, overhand, neutral) to change the impact slightly.
Exercise #6 Hamstring Bridges
The hamstrings are a big part of the posterior chain and often we complain about them being tight. But the truth is, they're commonly weak.
Performing hamstring bridges at home is a great way to strengthen them without any impact or weight. It's a wonderful exercise for beginners.
Exercise 7 Deficit Lunges
All lunge variations can help strengthen the posterior chain. However, deficit lunges are geared more towards the back of the legs and glutes.
Adding a step provides a great range of motion to target them even more. And don't think that you need the dumbbell, just your body can have a huge impact.
Other Fitness Tips To Help Your Goals
Want to make glute training a priority in your posterior chain workouts? Grab the Glute Training E-book. A no-nonsense home workout plan with the exact workouts I use with clients to build stronger perkier glutes and reduce niggles.
- Glute training 101: everything you need to know
- Low back exercises with dumbbells
- The best glute isolation exercises
- Glute training for busy moms: 5 week program
- Exercises to target the gluteus maximus
- Glute activation exercises
- Best exercises for back muscles
- Fitness tips
Having a strong posterior chain helps prevent injuries, makes day-to-day tasks easier, and helps correct posture.
They are the exercises you can do at home for better posture and when strong, will help us, moms, be able to do the things we love- like keep up with kids!
Stronger glutes = less back pain, better posture, more power.
This no-gym workout plan builds serious strength in just minutes a day.
Frequently Asked Questions About Posterior Chain Exercises
Any posterior chain exercise will help improve posture. While there's a bit more at play than simply strengthening these muscles (you need hip mobility, a strong anterior core, and flexibility in the hip flexors), this is where you start. Strengthening the back of the body is the first step in fixing postural issues and making the demands of motherhood easier.
Begin by learning how to hip hinge and glute bridge properly, as those are the basics and most low-impact options. From there, work in some posterior chain exercises like rows, hip thrusts, and deadlifts into your training program in some variation.
The posterior chain refers to the back of the body. When training, this means exercises that target the upper, mid, and lower back muscles, the glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
When it comes to the upper body you want to focus on the upper, mid, and lower back muscles like the lats, rhomboid, the erector spinae, serratus muscles, and the rear deltoids. These are just some of the upper body muscles included.
Pregnancy aside, we spend so much of our time in a forward position. Think of sitting in cars, on the couch, carrying a kid. We even stand with our hips forward! With this lifestyle comes a lot of back pain. In part because we're constantly rounded forward, and in part because the back of our bodies is weak.
Throughout pregnant,y especially, our center of gravity shifts drastically to accommodate our ever-growing bellies.
Couple that with how we compensate to hold our babies, and how we breastfeed, and it's no wonder new moms are stiff and sore.
Unfortunately, post-pregnancy, we do a lot of squatting and push-ups. We think that's where we start (along with our core muscles) to "get fit". Those exercises are very much anterior exercise,s and thus, we make the problem worse without knowing it.
Fiona @ Get Fit Fiona says
Deadlifts and glute bridges are two of my favorite exercises to use with clients. Like you said, with so much time spent sitting throughout the day, it's important to make sure you're working the posterior chain to balance it out.
fitasamamabear says
Yes! I adore deadlifts- they make me feel like a bada** haha but the same with my clients- it's so so necessary to focus on the back of the body muscles. It makes a huge difference in daily life.