Posterior Chain Deficiency

Sitting, standing, lunging, and reaching all involve this complex group of muscles. But what muscles are included in the posterior chain and why do we rarely hear about this group? The posterior chain is composed of lower back, gluteus, hamstrings, and calves. It is often ignored because too often than not we are quadriceps dominate from sitting all day as well as they are the out of sight out of mind muscles. How many people have you seen who are physically fit but still have saggy jeans or the unfortunate pancake butt. This could be a result of lack of engagement in the glutei muscles as well as hamstrings.

If so many people ignore them and function semi normally why should we pay more attention to them?

Our gluteus combined with our hamstrings becomes the most powerful stabilizing muscles in our body. As well a lack of development in these muscles also can lead to an anterior tilt in the pelvis as well as an accentuated lordotic curve at the lumbar spine. In terms we can all understand, it leads to low back pain! This can be fixed with hip mobility and strengthening exercises fortunately, but the reason our low back hurts is that our body will take the flexibility from the lumbar spine when our hips do not want to flex to 90 degrees. This causes a lot of unnecessary stress to the spine eventually resulting in pain.

Here are a few exercises to help with strengthening of the posterior chain, be sure to consult a physician before performing exercises:

*Kettlebell swings

*Deadlifts

*Stability bridging

*Cook hip lifts

*Stability ball leg curls

*TRX Hamstring Curls