The deadlift is one of the most commonly prescribed exercises and considered by many as ‘The Godfather’ of whole-body strength. The deadlift relies heavily on posterior chain strength which is beneficial for a plethora of exercises inside and outside of the gym, for instance, carrying and picking up heavy objects, sprinting or even other resistance training exercises like back squats or Olympic lifts.

What is the Posterior Chain?

The posterior chain, derived from the Latin word ‘posterus’, refers to the muscles on the back side of your body, with an honourable mention to 3 key posterior muscles for the deadlift: the hamstrings, the glutes and erector spinae muscles. The hamstrings are biarticular (they span across two joints) and they work to extend the knees and hips. The glutes work to powerfully extend the hips and the erector spinae works to extend the spine to counteract the weight on the bar, thus keeping your back straight.

Will Posterior Training Complement My Deadlift?

For those new to training, the deadlift is the perfect compound exercise to train all three of these key muscles and movements. However, as you become more highly trained you will benefit from supplementing your deadlift work with exercises to target each muscle and movement individually to help you break through the dreaded training plateau that comes for us all as our training age increases.

Top Three Deadlift Accessory Exercises

(To target the hamstrings, glutes and erector spinae)

Nordic Curl

A popular exercise among elite athletes, the Nordic curl isolates the hamstrings around the knee joint, utilising eccentric overload to increase muscle damage and hypertrophic adaptation (increased muscle size). This is important for long term strength development because a bigger muscle (one with greater cross-sectional area) has a greater potential for high force output.

• With your knees on an Exercise Mat, anchor your lower legs in place with a loaded barbell (as show in the image). Make sure you load the barbell up heavier than your bodyweight.

• With your hips fully extended, lower yourself to the floor as slow as possible with your hands out in front to catch you when required.

• If you find it too easy, add a weighted vest to make it harder so that you are utilising eccentric overload (lowering more weight during the eccentric phase/the way down than you’d be able to on the concentric phase/the way up)

Barbell Zercher Step Up

The barbell step-up and its variants have been shown to have the greatest glute activity amongst other popular glute exercises like the back squat or the hip extension. They also target the glutes in a unilateral fashion, increasing single leg strength, reducing side to side imbalances. The Zercher load helps pull your torso forward to load the hips as much as possible. 

• Unrack a Barbell in a Zercher position, across the underside of your elbow joint with your fists to the sky with a Bar Pad attached for comfort.

• Place one foot onto a plyo box (Plyo Jump Boxes | Mirafit) with your hips and shoulders level, leaning forward slightly onto your front leg.

• Drive through your front leg until fully extended and then step the other foot onto the box.

• Reverse the movement to reset, performing equal reps on each leg.

Superman Isometric

The Superman isometric targets full extension at the erector spinae, of which the deadlift does not, thus filling the gaps the deadlift misses for lower back training, whilst also giving you an awareness for what lower back extension feels like so that you can implement it during your deadlift.

• Lay face down, flat on and exercise mat with your legs together and your hands in front, like Superman.

• Slowly raise your arms and legs off the floor as much as you can, without your knees or elbows flexing so that lower back extension is prioritized.

• Once at your end range, hold for 10-20 seconds, before lowering back down to rest, increasing the duration week to week.

Add these 3 Posterior Chain accessories into your training, targeting the hamstrings, glutes and erector spinae muscles to compliment your deadlift and break through training plateaus to get stronger than ever!

Written by guest author Ewan Hammond.

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Tags: Equipment > Bars & Weight Plates ; Exercise Type > Conditioning