How to do good morning to build your back and hips

What is Good Morning

Good morning is a tilt of the body with a barbell on the back, which is performed to pump the extensors of the spine and muscles on the back of the thigh.

The movement is very similar to the Romanian deadlift with the only difference that the projectile is not held in the hands, but lies on the upper or middle part of the trapezoid.

Why Good Morning Exercise Is Good

Good Morning has several advantages at once:

1. Strengthens the extensors of the back. When you lean forward, the muscles surrounding the spine in the thoracic and lumbar regions tense up. 1. W. Kraemer, M. Clark, P. Schmotzer. The Good Morning Exercise / Strength and conditioning journal
   2. S. M. McGill, A. Karpowicz. Exercises for the torso performed in a standing posture: spine and hip motion and motor patterns and spine load / Journal of strength and conditioning researchto keep your back straight. So the exercise pumps the extensors no worse.
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   M. McAllister, K. Hammond, B. Schilling. Muscle Activation During Various Hamstring Exercises / Journal of Strength and Conditioning Researchthan the Romanian deadlift.
2. Pumps the back of the thigh. Good Morning Loads the Target Muscle Group BetterM. McAllister, K. Hammond, B. Schilling. Muscle Activation During Various Hamstring Exercises / Journal of Strength and Conditioning Researchthan leg curls in the machine and extension on the GHD.
3. May protect against injury. During the exercise, the muscles on the back of the thigh are subjected to an eccentric load - tense and stretch. This kind of training helpsC. L. Brockett, D. L. Morgan, U. Proske. Human hamstring muscles adapt to eccentric exercise by changing optimum length / Medicine and science in sports and exercise muscles to the optimal length and can prevent 1. C. Askling, J. Karlsson, A. Thorstensson. Hamstring injury occurrence in elite soccer players after preseason strength training with eccentric overload / Scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
   2. J. Croisier, S. Ganteaume, J. Binet. Strength imbalances and prevention of hamstring injury in professional soccer players: a prospective study / The American journal of sports medicine injuries in team sports.
4. Increases the mobility of the hip joints. According to the analysisK. O'Sullivan, S. McAuliffe, N. DeBurca. The effects of eccentric training on lower limb flexibility: a systematic review / British Journal of Sports Medicine scientific research, eccentric loads develop not only strength, but also flexibility in the legs. Good Morning Help stretch muscles on the back of the thigh and can be a great alternative to stretching exercises such as leaning towards the legs.
5. Doesn't require a long learning curve. Good Morning is a fairly simple and safe movement, especially when using the right weights.

Sometimes you can hear that good morning pumps the gluteus muscles well. Exercise does stress them, but it does it significantly worse than other popular movements.

For example, in one experimentS. Lee, J. Schultz, J. Timgren. An electromyographic and kinetic comparison of conventional and Romanian deadlifts / Journal of exercise science and fitness found that even the classic deadlift pumps the buttocks better than the Romanian one - in fact, repeating the motor pattern of good morning.

Moreover, in a large reviewW. K. Neto, T. L. Vieira, E. G. Soares. Gluteus Maximus Activation during Common Strength and Hypertrophy Exercises: A Systematic Review / Journal of Sports Science & Medicine strength exercises noted that in terms of activating these muscles, the backbone is much inferior to exercises such as steps elevation or hip extension with a barbell.

Who Shouldn't Do Good Morning

One scientific work notedW. Kraemer, M. Clark, P. Schmotzer. The Good Morning Exercise / Strength and conditioning journalthat with a deep tilt, the extensors of the back relax and the load is transferred to the ligaments of the spine.

And although the force of compression and shear acting on the back when doing the Good Morning exercise is not moreA. Burnett, A. Beard, K. Netto. Back stress and assistance exercises in weightlifting / 20 International Symposium on Biomechanics in Sports (2002)than in the Romanian deadlift and pull to the chest in the slope, with lower back problems it is better not to take risks and exclude this movement.

How to properly perform Good Morning

Place the barbell on racks at chest level. Grasp the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and position it over the back delts.

Holding the projectile with your hands, remove it from the racks and take a couple of steps back. Make sure the bar is on your back and not on your hands.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, turn your toes slightly to the sides and check that the weight is evenly distributed over the entire foot.

Make sure your elbows are behind the barbell line, not directly below it, but do not lift them high. Raise your head and look forward.

Inhale, tighten your abs and check that your back is in a neutral position, without excessive arch in the lower back and hump in the chest.

At the same time, move your pelvis back and tilt your body forward, bending your legs at the hip and knee joints. Keep your shins upright.

Get down to the parallel of the body with the floor or slightly higher. Then push your hips forward and your back up and return to the starting position while standing with the barbell on your back.

What mistakes should be avoided

Correct these technique flaws to maximize the benefits of the exercise and reduce the risk of injury.

Bending the knees too much

During the Good Morning exercise, you bend your knees, but only slightly so that you can easily move your pelvis back and tilt your body. If the angle is large, and the lower legs tilt forward, the exercise will resemble a squat, and the load on the back of the thigh will decrease.

Inappropriate range of motion

The degree of inclination of the body depends on how flexible your hip joints are. If you can lower your back to parallel with the floor without pain in the back of your thigh and keeping your lower back neutral, fine, do so.

If the muscles begin to pull much earlier, do not try to make a deep tilt, sacrificing the rigidity of the body. Perform good morning in the range in which it is possible to maintain a flat lower back and rise without additional bending of the knees and other unnecessary movements.

Lack of stiffness in the upper back

Try to straighten your chest and press the barbell against your rear deltas. If the bar rides up and down your back, chances are you placed it incorrectly. Place the barbell on the back deltas and press down with your hands.

How to add good morning to your workouts

Do this movement once a week - on the day you pump your legs or when you decide to work on the back of your thigh. Do 3-5 sets of 6-12 reps. Pick the weights in such a way that you can finish all reps with the correct technique - without excessive bending of the knees and rounding of the back.

Trainer and physiotherapist Jeff Nippard advisesHOW TO DO THE GOOD MORNING EXERCISE: Build Your Glutes, Hamstrings And Squat With Perfect Technique / Jeff Nippard / YouTube take a weight of 40-50% of the one-rep maximum in the squat. However, this is a recommendation for experienced lifters.

If this is your first time trying the exercise and are not quite sure about the strength of the back extensors and the mobility of the hip joints, start with an empty vulture, increase the weight gradually and watch your technique.

Iya Zorina