The 15 Best Posterior Chain Exercises for Muscle & Strength

Your posterior chain gives you PPP: Power, Posture, and Protection from injuries, and these are the best exercises for the job.

What Is the Posterior Chain?

The posterior chain is the group of muscles on the back side of your body that extend your hips, stabilize your spine, generate power, and help you run, jump, hinge, and lift.

These muscles work together in exercises like deadlifts, hip thrusts, squats, and good mornings, and when you run, jump, and climb stairs.

The main posterior-chain muscles are:

In addition, many people include the upper back (lats, rhomboids, traps, and rear delts) because it’s also on the posterior side of the body and used for pulling, posture, bracing, scapular control, and deadlift/squat stability.

So, rows, face pulls, pull-ups, and trap work often get grouped under “posterior chain” in a general “train the backside of your body” way.

For example, the barbell row is absolutely a posterior-body exercise, and it helps your posterior-chain lifts by making your upper back and lats stronger. But it’s not a posterior-chain exercise in the same way that a deadlift, good morning, or hip thrust is.

In the biomechanical sense, we’re talking about muscles on your backside that contribute to hip extension, spinal extension, and lower-body force production.

Top 15 Posterior Chain Exercises

In my opinion, the 15 best posterior chain exercises are:

1. Romanian Deadlift

The Romanian deadlift (RDL) is one of the best all-around hamstring and glute builders.¹ You put a big stretch on the muscles under a heavy load, which is a recipe for hypertrophy.

It’s also great for training the hip hinge movement and carries over to regular deadlifts, squats, sprinting, and general back-of–your-body strength.

Plus, it’s easier to control than heavy regular deadlifts for many people, making it a top choice when your goal is hamstring/glute growth and hinge strength rather than lifting the most weight possible.

How to Do Romanian Deadlifts

1. Get into the starting position by deadlifting a barbell off the floor or by unracking it from a barbell rack.
2. Inhale, brace your core slightly, and lean forward by hinging in your hips. Keep your knees almost completely extended.
3. Lean forward as far as possible without rounding your back. You don’t have to touch the barbell to the floor, although it is OK if you do.
4. Reverse the movement and return to the starting position. Exhale on the way up.
5. Take another breath, and repeat for reps.

2. Deadlift

Pick up a heavy bar off the floor, stand up, and put it back down. The conventional deadlift is a classic for a reason. It lets you load hip extension very heavily and trains your glutes, hamstrings, spinal erectors, traps, lats, and grip, all at once.

It’s not the most isolated posterior-chain exercise, but it builds full-body pulling strength better than almost anything else. Some studies show that deadlifts are as effective as squats for maximal lower-body strength.²

How to Deadlift

1. Step up close to the bar so that it is about over the middle of your foot.
2. Inhale, lean forward, and grip the bar.
3. Hold your breath, brace your core slightly, and lift the bar.
4. Pull the bar close to your body, with a straight back, until you are standing straight.
5. Lower the bar back to the ground with control.
6. Take another breath, and repeat for reps.

3. Trap Bar Deadlift

Unless you’re a powerlifter or want to compare pure deadlift numbers, the trap bar deadlift can be a better choice than regular deadlifts. It’s definitely my favorite deadlift variation.

It involves the quads more but still trains the posterior chain hard, and it’s more back-friendly than the straight-bar deadlift for many people. Plus, standing between the handles makes it easier to learn and often easier to recover from.

Several studies show that you lift heavier weights (not surprising) and activate your spinal erectors, glutes, and quads more with a trap bar. Plus, it might also be more effective for building maximal force and power.^{3 4}

How to Do Trap Bar Deadlifts

1. Step into the bar’s opening and position yourself so that the handles are in line with the middle of your feet.
2. Inhale, bend down, and grip the handles.
3. Hold your breath, brace your core slightly, and lift the bar.
4. Lift the bar with a straight back until you are standing straight.
5. Lower the bar back to the ground with control.
6. Take another breath, and repeat for reps.

4. Rack Pull

Another deadlift variant? Yes, the rack pull definitely deserves a spot on any list of the best posterior chain exercises.

It’s a deadlift with a shorter range of motion where you start with the bar around (just above or below) your knees and eliminate the floor-to-knee portion of the lift.

To maximize posterior chain development, I recommend below-the-knee rack pulls. You get a heavy hip-hinge variation that trains your spinal erectors really hard, and lets you handle more weight than a full deadlift.

The above-the-knee rack pull is great for traps, upper back, grip, and lockout strength, but it doesn’t give you enough range of motion and the glute and hamstring stimulus to qualify as a top posterior chain exercise.

How to Do Rack Pulls

1. Set the bar at the desired height, using a rack or blocks.
2. Step up close to the bar so that it is over the middle of your foot.
3. Inhale, lean forward, bend your knees slightly, and grip the bar.
4. Hold your breath, brace your core, and lift the bar.
5. Pull the bar close to your body with a straight back, until you are standing straight.
6. Lower the bar back to the rack or blocks with control.

5. Hip Thrust

One of the best direct glute exercises, the hip thrust is a compound exercise that feels like an isolation movement because it loads hip extension at the top, where the glutes are very active. You’re basically sniping the glutes with a laser while the other muscles provide the tripod.

Hip thrusts are fantastic for building bigger glutes without involving your quads like a squat, and without the lower-back fatigue of a deadlift. Plus, they can make you a faster sprinter.⁵

For pure glute growth, the hip thrust machine is likely the best option. You get the pushing stability you want for hypertrophy training, plus you eliminate the hassle of loading and getting under and out of a heavy barbell.

How to Do Hip Thrusts

1. Sit on the floor with your back against a sturdy bench.
2. Roll the barbell up over your thighs until it rests on your hips.
3. Place your feet on the floor, about shoulder-width apart, with your knees bent.
4. Place your hands on the bar to stabilize it.
5. Push the bar towards the ceiling by extending your hips. Your knees should form a ~90-degree angle at the top.
6. Lower the weight and repeat for reps.

6. Glute Bridge

The glute bridge is similar to the hip thrust but easier to set up and a bit more beginner-friendly. It’s a glute-dominant movement rather than a full posterior-chain builder, so for complete development, you want to combine it with a hip-hinge movement like the RDL.

Glute bridges are great for learning how to activate and contract your glutes, learning the hip extension movement pattern, and training your posterior chain without loading your lower back.

If you do glute bridges with a barbell, it’s even better for activating the glutes than the hip thrust, according to a recent study.⁶

You can also do single-leg glute bridges, which makes the exercise much harder and introduces balance into the mix.

How to Do Glute Bridges

1. Lie down with your feet on the floor.
2. Tuck the pelvis in to activate the glutes properly.
3. Push your hips towards the ceiling by using your glutes, until your body forms a straight line from head to knees.
4. Squeeze your glutes at the top.
5. Reverse the movement, and repeat for reps.

7. Good Morning

The good morning is a standing hip hinge with the bar loaded on your back instead of in your hands like a deadlift. Because the weight is far away from the pivot point (your hips), it feels much heavier than it actually is.

It trains the spinal erectors, glutes, and hamstrings, and it’s also a top exercise for learning how to hinge.

I usually recommend good mornings for higher reps (8 up to 15) rather than heavy triples. They work great as a secondary movement after your heavy squats or deadlifts.

How to Do Good Mornings

1. Place the bar on your upper back. Inhale and brace your core slightly, and unrack the bar.
2. Take two steps back and place your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
3. Inhale and hold your breath, and lean forward by hinging your hips. Imagine that you are trying to push your butt back as far as possible.
4. Lean forward as far as you can with a straight back, and without the bar rolling forward.
5. Your knees will bend slightly, but most of the movement takes place in the hips.
6. With control, stop and reverse the movement, extending your hips again as you exhale.
7. At the top, inhale and repeat for reps.

8. Back Extension

The back extension is a very good posterior-chain exercise for the glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors.

Depending on how you perform it, you can hit your posterior chain muscles differently.

• If you round and extend mostly through your spine, it’s more of a lower back exercise.
• If you hinge more at the hips and squeeze your cheeks like you’re trying to hold a credit card between them, it becomes more of a glute and hamstring exercise.

Back extensions are easier to recover from than heavy deadlifts, so they work great as an accessory lift.

How to Do Back Extensions

1. Adjust the machine so that the top pad is positioned against the top of your thighs.
2. Step onto the machine and position yourself with your feet shoulder-width apart and your upper thighs against the top pad.
3. Your upper body should be hanging off the edge of the machine, with your arms crossed over your chest or your hands behind your head.
4. Hold a weight plate against your chest or a barbell across your shoulders if you want to use additional weight.
5. Prepare to lift: Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, engage your lower back muscles to lift your upper body until your body forms a straight line.
6. Hold this position for a second, then inhale as you slowly lower your upper body back down to the starting position. Keep your movements slow and controlled, and don’t use momentum to swing your body up or down.

9. Reverse Hyperextension

The reverse hyperextension was created and popularized by powerlifting icon Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell, originally to allow him to train his posterior chain while he was injured and couldn’t deadlift.

It can indeed be more back-friendly than deadlifts because you can move your hips and lower back through a good range of motion without loading the spine.⁷ Just treat it as controlled hip extension, not a momentum swing.

Reverse hypers are also a decent accessory for glute and hamstring hypertrophy, but exercises like Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, and leg curls are easier to progressively overload. Plus, if you use a lot of weight, you’ll likely find that they become increasingly uncomfortable as they compress your stomach.

How to Do Reverse Hyperextensions

1. Position yourself on a reverse hyperextension machine, lying face down with your hips at the edge of the pad and your legs hanging down. Hold on to the handles or sides for stability.
2. Keep your legs hanging down towards the floor, straight and relaxed. Your feet should be together.
3. Brace your core and maintain a neutral back throughout the movement.
4. Lift your legs upward until they are in line with your body or slightly above by using your glutes and lower back muscles. Do the movement slowly and with control.
5. At the top of the movement, squeeze your glutes and hold for a moment.
6. Slowly reverse the movement back to the starting position while maintaining control and keeping tension in your muscles.
7. Repeat for reps.

10. Nordic Hamstring Curl

The Nordic hamstring curl is one of the best hamstring and posterior chain exercises you can do, especially if you’re working with your bodyweight only.

It’s particularly awesome for injury prevention. A number of studies show that including nordics in your workout routine can cut hamstring injuries in half.⁸

That’s more relevant in team sports, where hamstring injuries are common, rather than for pure strength training, where they aren’t. But having hard-to-injure hamstrings is always a net positive.

For the majority of lifters, the full hamstring curl is too hard to begin with (I faceplanted when I tried it the first time). The eccentric-only variant gives you most of the benefits and is much easier because you can use your arms to push yourself back up again.

How to Do Nordic Hamstring Curls

1. Start off standing on your knees with a straight hip. Feet wedged under something immovable, like a heavily loaded barbell, or a strong training partner.
2. Lean your torso forward by extending your knees with no hip movement. In other words, do not push your butt backward.
3. Control the eccentric movement by fighting the gravitational forces with all your hamstring strength. If possible, try keeping the eccentric phase to two seconds.
4. When your chest reaches the floor, pull yourself up using your hamstrings and start over.
5. Repeat for reps.

11. Glute Ham Raise

The glute ham raise is a top-tier hamstring and glute exercise. In studies, it activates the hamstrings maximally, as much as Romanian deadlifts.⁹

Plus, it trains your hamstrings through both knee flexion and hip extension, which makes it more complete than, say, a leg curl.

The potential downside of glute ham raises is that they are hard, and your body weight is what it is. But if you can’t do enough full reps, you can spot yourself by pushing off the handles with your hands to get through the sticking point.

How to Do Glute Ham Raises

1. Position yourself in a glute ham raise machine with your knees on the support pad and feet secured under the footplate.
2. Keep your body straight from knees to head, engaging your core, and place your hands by your sides or across your chest.
3. Lower yourself slowly forward by bending at the knees, controlling the movement until your body is almost parallel to the floor.
4. Once you reach the bottom position, pull your body back to the starting position by engaging your hamstrings and glutes.
5. Repeat for reps.

12. Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing is a ballistic posterior chain exercise that gives you many of the athletic benefits of Olympic lifts but with a fraction of the learning curve.

Swings are great for power, conditioning, and explosive hip extension. It’s also superb for prehab and rehab, with many people giving it credit for restoring their back health after an injury.¹⁰

They can even help you get stronger in the squat.¹¹ However, it’s not your number one option for maximum posterior chain muscle growth. Deadlift variations, hip thrusts, back extensions, and good mornings are better for that because they allow more controlled loading and progression.

How to Do Kettlebell Swings

1. Place a kettlebell on the ground, about one or two feet in front of you.
2. Take a wide stance, lean forward and grip the kettlebell.
3. Brace your core slightly, and swing the kettlebell back between your legs, while inhaling.
4. Swing the kettlebell forward by extending your hip, while exhaling.
5. Try to swing the kettlebell to about chest height.
6. Repeat for reps and put the kettlebell back on the ground when you’re finished.

13. Seated Leg Curl

I know, I know—an isolation exercise, and a machine no less? Absolutely. The seated leg curl is a premier posterior chain exercise for hamstring growth.

Recent sports science favors the seated leg curl over the lying leg curl.¹² Why? Sitting puts your hamstrings in a fully stretched position at the hip. You train them at a longer muscle length, which is a good thing for muscle growth.

The lying leg curl is by no means a bad exercise, but the seated variant is the superior choice. If you have to choose, that is. Use lying curls as a good secondary option, for variety, or for when someone is hogging the seated machine.

How to Do Seated Leg Curls

1. Adjust the machine so that you are correctly positioned. Your knees should be in line with the machine’s joint.
2. Push the weight down by bending your knees as far as possible.
3. Slowly let the weight go back again.
4. Repeat for reps.

14. Calf Raise

Yes, calves are part of your posterior chain, and the best exercise to train them is by doing calf raises.

I’ve picked the leg press calf raise as my top choice—you get a fantastic stretch without any spinal compression—but your favorites might vary.

If you only do one calf raise exercise, pick one that lets you load the calf through the longest range of motion possible, get a good stretch (and no bounce) in the bottom, and keep your legs mostly straight to build both the soleus and gastrocnemius maximally.¹³

How to Do Leg Press Calf Raises

1. Position yourself in the leg press machine, placing the balls of your feet on the lower edge of the platform, with your heels free.
2. Extend your legs without over-extending your knees and maintain slight tension throughout the movement.
3. Allow your toes to drop downward in a controlled motion for a light stretch in the calves, while keeping your heels as the highest point.
4. Press through your toes and push them away from your body for a full contraction of the calf muscles.
5. Slowly return to the starting position and repeat for reps.

15. Honorable Mention: Cable Pull-Through

To be honest, I don’t think the cable pull-through is an awesome posterior chain exercise. Not a huge fan. The cable stack becomes awkward and tries to pull you off your feet before it becomes heavy enough once you get reasonably strong.

That being said, it’s not useless. Its biggest benefit is that it teaches you the “push your hips back” part of a hinge, better than most similar exercises. Plus, it’s very lower-back friendly, so you can train the hip extension pattern without loading your spine.

So: very nice for hinge practice and as a finisher (getting a pump) after heavy hinge work like deadlifts, but not ideal for maximum strength or hypertrophy.

How to Do Cable Pull-Throughs

1. Fasten a rope handle in the lower position on a cable pulley. Turn your back against the pulley, with the cable between your thighs, and take a few steps forward.
2. Bend forward by hinging in your hips, and let the rope handle move backward between your thighs.
3. Extend your hip again, and return to standing.
4. Repeat for reps.

Posterior Chain Workouts for Muscle & Strength

Now, with those posterior chain exercises in the bag, let’s put theory into practice with not one but two posterior chain workouts.

Hamstring Workout

The first is the StrengthLog Hamstring Workout, with three exercises:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Romanian Deadlift	4	8
Seated Leg Curl	3	12
Lying Leg Curl	2	20

A simple and effective workout that hits your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back through both knee flexion and hip extension, and a wide rep range.

This is a free workout in our workout log app, StrengthLog.

Glute and Hamstrings Workout

The second is StrengthLog’s Glute and Hamstrings Workout, featuring five exercises, three of which are from this list. The remaining two are squat variations that hit your quads very effectively but are also proven glute-builders.

Exercise	Sets
Bulgarian Split Squat	3
Seated Leg Curl	3
Hip Thrust	3
Romanian Deadlift	3
Step-Up	3

This is a premium workout, meaning it requires a subscription to follow in-app.

You can add a calf raise exercise of your choice at the end of both these workouts to make them a complete posterior chain session, top to bottom.

Follow These Posterior Chain Workouts in StrengthLog

These are two of the many workouts in our workout tracker app, StrengthLog.

StrengthLog remembers what weights you used in your last session and automatically loads them into your next one.

That makes it super easy to keep track of your weights and reps and make sure you’re on the fast road to progress.

Download it and start tracking your gains today!

StrengthLog is free, and so are many of our programs and workouts, like the hamstring workout. For premium routines, you’ll need a subscription to follow them in-app. We offer a 14-day free trial (no strings attached and no funny business) that you can activate in the app, so you can check it out before making a decision.

Final Rep

Your chest and arms and delts might be your show muscles, but your posterior chain, those are your go muscles. They’re the ones everyone needs for strength, posture, athletic performance, and injury prevention.

Don’t let the front of your body have all the fun. Add a variety of these posterior chain exercises to your plan, and you’ll build strength and muscle where it matters most.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your training.

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Last reviewed: 2026-05-05

References

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2. J Hum Kinet. 2020 Jul 21;73:145–152. A Comparison Between the Squat and the Deadlift for Lower Body Strength and Power Training.
3. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning 5(1), May 2025. Differences in Muscle Activation and Joint Kinematics Between Deadlift Styles When Performed at High-Intensity Training Loads.
4. J Strength Cond Res. 2016 May;30(5):1183-8. An Examination of Muscle Activation and Power Characteristics While Performing the Deadlift Exercise With Straight and Hexagonal Barbells.
5. J Sports Sci Med. 2019 Jun 1;18(2):198–206. Barbell Hip Thrust, Muscular Activation and Performance: A Systematic Review.
6. Sports Biomechanics, 23(12), 2935–2949 (2024). Electromyographic differences of the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, biceps femoris, and vastus lateralis between the barbell hip thrust and barbell glute bridge.
7. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Aug;33(8):2053-2056. Biomechanical Comparison of the Reverse Hyperextension Machine and the Hyperextension Exercise.
8. Br J Sports Med. 2019 Nov;53(21):1362-1370. Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the rate of hamstring injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 8459 athletes.
9. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Jun;28(6):1573-80. Muscle activation during various hamstring exercises.
10. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Jan;26(1):16-27. Kettlebell swing, snatch, and bottoms-up carry: back and hip muscle activation, motion, and low back loads.
11. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Aug;26(8):2228-33. Kettlebell swing training improves maximal and explosive strength.
12. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2020 Oct 1. Online ahead of print. Greater Hamstrings Muscle Hypertrophy but Similar Damage Protection after Training at Long versus Short Muscle Lengths.
13. Front Physiol. 2023 Dec 13:14:1272106. Triceps surae muscle hypertrophy is greater after standing versus seated calf-raise training.