What types of sets/reps will elicit muscular hypertrophy in the posterior chain? 3-4 sets*12-15 reps?? Best exercises??It seems that I have no trouble with the quads but my hamstrings/glutes/low back could use some needed muscle growth and size
Im Geussing That You Are An Athelte So Why Would U Want Hypertophy In Your Posterior Chain. Not That You Don Want It To Happen Its Just That There Are More Important Things Like Strenght Power And Soon On. These Factors Can Be Obtained Without Hypertophy Or Atleast Without It Being A Large Component.
he plays football, mass an advantage in football, but WR, I’d say 6-8 reps as the hamstrings are highly fast twitch fibers and will feed off lower reps, as well for exercises like goodmorning, various deadlift, and box squats you can use 5 heavy reps, rather than 1 or 3.
Yep Yep. Good post numba56.
James you are correct, but some people have inadequate muscle mass in that department. Sometimes they need a little help. Also an increase in muscle mass can help increases in strength and since the posterior chain muscles are prime movers this is not such a bad thing because the increase in mass will be utilised more “specifically” than general hypertrophy of the body which is a bad thing in most cases; except throwers and line backers. GENERALLY speaking larger hamstrings and adductor magni would probably improve speed. Check out Carl Lewis in those pictures from early to late 80s, look at his posterior chain development compared to his whole body development. Look at M Green, look at B Johnson all had well developed posterior chain which I doubt came about by just sprinting alone. Of course proper technique when running will cause hypertrophy in prime movers but only to a certain point.
3-4 sets * 5-8 reps. Squats as low as possible and any pulling exercises (power cleans 3-5 sets * 2-3 reps , clean pulls. dead lifts, snatch grip dead lifts, single leg and regular Romainian dead lifts) Straight leg bounding are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. You should also make sure that your quads are not too much stronger than your hamstrings. I forget the exact ratio of quads to hams I think it’s the hams should be 80% as strong as the quads. Hope this helps…
ok 2 things — not a personal critique of nycjay01, but just an observation — first, no magic sets or reps. i.e. 45 degree back extensions, with the bench set low, so that the hamstrings/glutes are used to a greater extent, can be done effectively at a variety of loads, reps, and movement speeds. All should be used to promote total development.
-Second — you really need your posterior chain strong. again, no magic numbers or ratios, just keep loading on the bar. RDLs, goodmornings of every type, back raises, reverse hypers and ghrs if you have access to them.
No offense taken!
The reps and sets I posted are good enough for hypertrophy but still staying close to power development. I have to admit the reps and sets I posted are closer to a weightlifting athlete than a track athlete (I just took the USA wieghtlifting class and the ideas are still in my head 
). As a general rule I tell athletes to lift slightly higher reps and sets for the general exercises (squat, front squat, bench etc…) as compared to the OL exersices which will be lower reps.
WR Cortese- a good article to refer to is DavidW’s program:
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=3476
I’m really trying to base my upcoming program around posterior chain work, and if you could choose 6 excercises to do that focus on the posterior chain what would they be? (please rank from 1-6)
- Box Squats
- Snatch Grip Deadlift
- Good Mornings
- GHR’s
- Reverse Hyper
- Bulgarian Split Squat
There are so many!!!
Romainian DLs
Squat (to at least parallel or lower)
cleans (all variations)
Hyper complex (single and double leg)
rev. hyper
GHR