→ What do people mean when they refer to the anterior chain?
→ What are anterior chain muscles?
→ What’s the difference between the anterior chain vs. posterior chain?
→ And what are some good anterior chain exercises you can try today?
In this article, we’ll answer all of these questions and more about the anterior chain.
We’re Back Muscle Solutions. We specialize in helping people take control of their back pain–right from home. So, we love talking about posterior chain exercises–focusing on the glutes and back.
But for a well-balanced body, we want to give attention to both posterior chain exercises (muscles behind the body) and anterior chain exercises (muscles in front of the body).
So today, we’ll share all of our best tips for how to understand the anterior chain–and how to strengthen it and work it out!
We’ll cover:
- What is the Anterior Chain?
- Anterior Chain vs. Posterior Chain
- 9 Best Anterior Chain Exercises
- How to Use These Anterior Chain Exercises in Your Workout Routine
- Anterior Chain Muscles & Back Pain
- Anterior Chain FAQs
What is the Anterior Chain?
So, let’s start with the basics. While you’ve probably heard of most of the anterior chain muscles, you may not have heard the term “anterior chain” before. It’s not something we use every day.
So, here’s a basic definition.
Anterior chain: muscles located on the front of the body that control forward movement/pushing.
Think pecs, hip flexors, core, and quads.
But now, let’s get even more specific.
Anterior chain muscles:
- Pectoralis major (Pecs)
- Rectus Abodominis
- Transverse abdominis
- Quadriceps (Quads)
- Tibialis anterior (Tibs)
So, what is the difference between the anterior and posterior chain? Let’s find out.
Anterior Chain vs. Posterior Chain
When comparing the anterior chain vs. posterior chain, it’s important to remember that the posterior chain is the exact opposite of the anterior chain.
Posterior chain: muscles located in the back of the body
Think back, glutes, and the back of your legs.
Posterior chain muscles:
- Posterior deltoids
- Quadratus Lumborum (QL)
- External obliques
- Glutes
- Calves
Antagonist Muscles
Muscles in the posterior chain are antagonist muscles to those in the anterior chain–meaning they relax and lengthen when the muscle on the other side of the body contracts.
What does this mean? Let me explain using an example.
Okay so, one of the anterior chain muscles is your pecs. When you perform a pec workout, your upper back muscles–particularly your delts, lats, and traps–all lengthen and relax as your chest muscles contract.
This is what it means to be an antagonist muscle.
Anterior Chain vs. Posterior Chain Function
Posterior Chain Function
When comparing the function of anterior chain vs. posterior chain muscles, there are some similarities and some differences. Posterior chain exercises are important for running, jumping, stability, balance, and posture.
Typical posterior chain exercises included pulling exercises for the back as well as glute exercises.
Check out some great posterior chain workouts below for examples:
“7 Best Glute Machines to Discover at Your Gym”
“Upper Back Rows: The Most Explosive Upper Back Exercises”
Anterior Chain Function
Just like the posterior chain muscles play a big role in our daily movements, so do the anterior chain muscles.
Here are some of the movements your anterior chain muscles help with every day:
- Extending the knees
- Flexing the hips
- Contracting the abs
Anterior chain muscles especially work to stabilize your hips and core. And they come into play when you run, walk, spring, squat, lunge, jump, and perform athletic activities.
When it comes to athletic performance, your quads especially help with changing direction as well as speeding up and slowing down.
9 Best Anterior Chain Exercises
When it comes to working out your anterior chain, there are a variety of anterior chain exercises to choose from–that’ll work out muscles from your chest all the way down to your shins.
Here are 9 of my favorite anterior chain exercises.
I’ve categorized them to move from the top of the anterior chain down to the bottom. Sometimes, the muscles worked with these exercises will overlap slightly. So, these are organized based on the major muscle worked.
Chest
Anterior Chain Exercises #1: Chest Flyes
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Find a pec deck machine at your local gym, and set the machine to your desired weight.
2) Gripping the handles with a neutral grip, bring them together in front of your chest, keeping a slight bend in your elbows.
3) Pause, allowing yourself to really feel the squeeze in your chest.
4) Slowly return to the starting position, opening up the chest and keeping the elbows bent.
5) Repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
Pecs
Anterior Chain Exercises #2: Chest Press
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Find a chest press machine at your local gym, and set it to the right weight for you!
2) Grip the handles. Then, push outward, extending your arms and contracting your chest.
3) Pause at the top of the motion.
4) Then, bend your elbows to return back to the starting position.
5) Repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
Pecs
For more great chest exercises, check out the article below:
“Ultimate Chest & Back Workout - 8 Best Exercises”
Core
Anterior Chain Exercises #3: TRX Fall-outs
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Find some TRX straps at your local gym.
2) Adjust the length of the straps, so they fall just below your waist.
3) Grip both handles.
4) Allow your body to fall forward, raising your arms up and out.
5) Pause at the top–keeping a braced core. The suspension of the TRX straps will hold your body up.
6) Slowly lower back down to the starting position.
7) Repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
- Pecs
- Core
Anterior Chain Exercises #4: Plank
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Lay on your stomach on a yoga mat.
2) Support your upper body with your elbows.
3) Support your lower body by placing your toes on the ground.
4) Keep your core braced, holding the plank position for 30-60 seconds.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
- Rectus abdominis
- Transverse abdominis
- Obliques
- Quads
- Chest
Want more resources on core workouts? We’ve got you covered!
3 Core Strengthening Exercises for Lower Back Stability
“7 Core Exercises With Dumbbells for Sturdy, Ironclad Abs”
Hip Flexors
Anterior Chain Exercises #5: Hanging Leg Raises
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Find an overhead bar.
2) Grip the bar, allowing your body to hang comfortably in a dead hang position.
3) Keep your core tight, bend at your hips, and raise your legs up till they are parallel to the floor or higher.
4) Slowly lower your legs back down, maintaining constant tension.
5) Repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques
- Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL)
- Iliopsoas (upper hip flexors)
We’ve got a whole article on variations of the leg raise, which you can check out below:
“Leg Raise: How to & 6 Variations for Rock-Hard Abs”
Anterior Chain Exercises #6: Knee to Chest March
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Use one leg for support as you raise the opposite knee up towards your chest.
2) Hold for a moment. Then, slowly lower back down.
3) Next, raise the opposite knee up.
4) Repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
- Iliacus
- Psoas
- Quads
For a video explaining this exercise, check out our resource below.
Hip Flexor Strengthening Exercises
Quads
Anterior Chain Exercises #7: Leg Extensions
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Find a leg extension machine at your local gym, and adjust it to the desired weight.
2) Place your feet behind the pads of the machine, so the leg pad covers your lower shins.
3) Keep your feet flexed upward to maintain maximum muscle work.
4) Focusing on your quads, straighten both legs out, extending at the knees.
5) Slowly lower the weight back down.
6) Repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
Quads
Anterior Chain Exercises #8: Bulgarian Split Squat
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) For this anterior chain exercise, you’ll need some dumbbells and an elevated surface, such as a bench.
2) Holding a dumbbell in each hand, hook one foot on the elevated surface behind you.
3) Support yourself on the front foot, aiming for 90% of the weight on your front foot and 10% on your back foot.
4) Lean your torso forward slightly.
5) Slowly lower down into a squat position, keeping the dumbbells in line with your foot throughout the entire motion.
6) Raise yourself back up.
7) Repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
Quads
Here’s a great article on working out your quads, specifically:
“5 Rectus Femoris Exercises: How to Strengthen Against Quad Strain”
Tibialis
Anterior Chain Exercises #9: Tibialis Raises
How to Perform This Anterior Chain Exercise
1) Support your back against a wall.
2) Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
(Feet closer to you = easier / Feet further from you = harder.)
3) Keeping your legs straight, raise your toes up with your shins as far as you can.
4) Slowly lower your toes back to the floor, and repeat for desired amount of reps.
Anterior Chain Muscles Worked in This Exercise
Tibialis anterior
How to Use These Anterior Chain Exercises in Your Workout Routine
When structuring workouts, many people follow one of the structures below:
→ Push Day / Pull Day
→ Upper Body Day / Lower Body Day
Here’s how I recommend using these anterior chain exercises for each structure.
Push Day / Pull Day
If using a push day / pull day structure, use the anterior chain exercises focused on the chest for your push day routine.
During pull day, you won’t use any anterior chain exercises.
And then if you add in a leg day, this is where you can include the leg workouts for quads and tibs.
Core workouts can be added as a supplement to any of these days!
Upper Body Day / Lower Body Day
Is using an upper/lower split for your structure, the anterior chain exercises in this routine would be best used alternating with posterior chain exercises.
This provides variety in your workout as well as muscular balance.
Anterior Chain Muscles & Back Pain
Back pain probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about anterior chain muscles.
But as we’ve established, these muscles are closely connected.
So, lots of people tend to immediately blame their lower backs when they feel lower back pain…which would make sense.
Except that some muscles like to refer pain to other areas of the body. This is a concept called referred pain.
When it comes to muscles in the anterior chain that tend to refer pain to the lower back, it’s mostly hip flexor muscles that are to blame.
Specifically, the psoas and liacus muscles.
Psoas
So, how do you know if your psoas is the culprit of your lower back pain? Here are a few indicators:
- You’ve been sitting for long periods of time.
- You feel chronic, stabbing lower back pain after you stand up from sitting.
- You also feel pain in your outer hips.
Here's a video for how to help a painful psoas muscle:
Iliacus
Similarly to the psoas, the iliacus could also be at play when your back hurts after sitting too long. Here’s how to know if you have iliacus muscle tension causing lower back pain:
- You’ve been sitting for long periods of time.
- You feel lower back pain.
- You also feel pain in your upper thighs.
See the image below to see the referred pain caused by the psoas and iliacus muscles.
Help for Anterior Chain Back Pain
So, what’s the best way to help with back pain caused by anterior chain muscles?
Well, you could always try a PsoRite or a Hip Hook.
But personally, I recommend the QL Claw.
More diverse than the PsoRite or Hip Hook, the QL Claw’s unique design addresses all 5 muscles responsible for causing back pain.
So, that includes the psoas and the iliacus–while also addressing lower back muscles like the QL, and glute muscles like the piriformis and gluteus medius.
Why buy many when you can just buy one? The QL Claw is your one-stop shop for back massager devices.
The QL Claw lets you stay active:
→ Going to the gym
→ Playing with your kids
→ Running with your dog
Without getting stopped by back pain.
It provides deep tissue massage from the comfort of your home. And it actually works. So, you can get at-home access to massage any muscle that might be contributing to your back pain. Without having to go get a massage.
Check out some reviews of the QL Claw below.
And to learn more, click the button below:
Anterior Chain FAQs
What is the anterior chain?
The anterior chain is a term referring to the muscles in the front of your body that work to move your body forward. Think chest, abs, hip flexors, and quads.
What is the difference between anterior and posterior chain?
The posterior chain refers to the muscles in the back of your body. The anterior chain refers to the muscles in the front of your body. These muscles often work in opposition to one another.
What is anterior chain focus?
An anterior chain focus in a workout means focusing on muscles in the front of your body.
What exercises strengthen the anterior chain?
Some of the best exercises to strengthen the anterior chain include the chest press machine, hanging leg raises, leg extensions, and tibialis raises.
Do front squats work anterior chain?
Yes, front squats work your quads and your core–both anterior chain muscles. They also work posterior chain muscles–glutes, hamstrings, and back muscles.
Are anterior chain muscles push or pull?
Anterior chain muscles are “pull day” muscles. Posterior chain muscles are “push day.”
Do squats work the tibialis anterior?
Yes, squats work the tibialis major–but for a better tib exercise–I recommend tibialis raises, which you can find in this article.
What exercises strengthen the anterior tibialis muscle?
The best exercise to strengthen the anterior tibialis muscle is the tibialis raise. This exercise isolates the tibialis and strengthens this muscle.
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25111163/