King Joes Barbell Club

by Cam Birtwell and Tyler Goodale, Strength and Conditioning Coaches, November 2007

Canadian Sport Centre Pacific

The posterior chain musculature includes the hamstring, gluteus and low back muscle groups. The muscles of the

posterior chain are known as the ?athletic? muscle groups and are responsible for the majority of high speed athletic

movements such as sprinting and jumping. These muscles typically have a high proportion of fast-twitch fibers making

them the power generating centre of the athlete.

Due to an over abundance of quadriceps-dominated lifting,

athletes tend to have an overdevelopment of anterior

musculature which leads to problems in recruiting the

muscles of the posterior chain. A common hip muscle

imbalance is caused by overactive hip flexor muscles

inhibiting the hip extensor musculature. This imbalance

can lead to suboptimal athletic performance due to

incorrect motor patterning (over-activation of the

posterior chain to compensate for dominant hip flexors).

This dysfunction can then predispose the athlete to lower

back/hamstring injuries and impaired power production.

As most athletes are anterior dominant, it is often

beneficial to weight their program more heavily on

posterior training in order to help correct the pre-existing

musculature imbalance.

Proper training of the posterior chain can lead to a

number of athletic benefits including:

1. Increased running speed

2. Improved jumping ability

3. Decrease in hamstring, hip flexor, knee and low

back injuries

4. Improved muscular balance around the hip and knee

Exercises that target and recruit posterior chain

musculature:

1. Snatch Deadlifts on podium

2. Box Squats

3. Trap Bar Deadlift

4. Romanian Deadlifts

5. Seated and Standing Good Mornings

6. Reverse Hypers

7. Glute Ham Raises

8. Cable Pull Throughs