If you missed the first part of this series, check it out here: 3 Exercises To Bulletproof Your Legs. In that article, we briefly talked about some principles of injury and how to prevent them as well as Nordic hamstring curls, Bulgarian split squats, and hill sprints.
Today, we’re going to talk about how to roast the posterior chain, which is a junky term for the low back, glutes, and hamstrings unit. It’s generally agreed upon by coaches, doctors, and bro-scientists alike that the posterior chain is extremely important for not only sports performance but for longevity and overall joint health. There is a well-known study that correlated poor hamstring strength to the increased incidence of ACL injury in female soccer players.
Some schools of thought will even argue that the hips and hamstrings are infinitely more important than any other muscle group, especially geared powerlifters. However, for the rest of us, it is generally agreed upon that balance is key.
In my opinion, the hamstring to quad ratio in terms of strength should be as close to 1:1 as possible. I’ve never actually seen this happen in person, but it’s simply a goal to strive for but not necessarily expect to meet. An issue that people tend to run into is that the quads are much easier to target and strengthen than the hamstrings.
Here are some ideas to try.
Seated Good Mornings
If you need to get strong, you should be doing good mornings. Few exercises force you to use perfect technique lest the risk of injury skyrocket than the good morning. When done properly, the good morning is hard to beat in terms of low back, abdominal, hamstring, and glute development. Plus, it’s the simplest of exercises. Have a bar on your back, hinge forward at the hips, and come back up.
An awesome variation of the traditional good morning is the seated good morning. Since you’re sitting down on the box or bench, your knee position is locked and thus cannot compensate by bending further at the knee. It challenges isometric strength of the trunk while hitting the glutes and hamstrings in a very unique way.
Start in a squat rack with a box or bench behind you. Unrack the bar as you would in a back squat and sit on the box/bench. Your feet will be slightly farther forward than your knees. While maintaining the neutral position of your back, hinge forward at the hips and go down as low as your mobility will allow without letting the back round. Reverse the motion. Throughout the movement, maintain the tension in your hips and hamstrings. Do these for 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps after your main exercise.
Pull Throughs
Here’s another variation of the hip hinge that may make you look like a total dope. But fear not. While you may look like a dope, your gains will actually be dope.
Stand facing away from a low cable with rope attachment or anchored band. Grab the handles between your legs and pull them through. Take a step or two forward. Hinge from the hips, allowing the cable or band to pass backwards between your legs, then reverse the motion by pulling through (hence the name). Do these for 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps.
Forward Sled Pulls/Pushes
If you like productive misery, strap yourself to a sled and start walking. Or pushing. Either way, walk or run forward.
There are a number of purposes to the sled. For one, it forces you to use your entire posterior chain that sort of mimics athletic activities. When done heavily, it is a good way to strengthen the posterior chain. Done in any way, it is a very hard conditioning/GPP exercise. Programming for this takes a little bit of savvy.
Sled pushes/pulls should either be done at the end of a workout, during conditioning days, or during extra workouts where GPP/work capacity or cardio is emphasized. When done at the end of a normal strength training workout, use moderate to heavy loads and try multiple sets of 25-50 yards, depending on the space available.
When done for GPP/work capacity, use lighter loads and pull/push for extended periods of time. Some may pull or push for an entire lap around a track. For conditioning, use a load that still allows you to move quickly and sprint up to 20-40 yards.
The great advantage to pushing/pulling a sled is the elimination of the eccentric phase of muscle contraction, which is where most of the muscle damage/physiologic consequence to training comes from. This makes it easier to recover from. It also tends to be easy to do for injured populations.
So what do you think? What is your favorite posterior chain exercise?
