One really underestimated and rarely performed exercise in the gym, is the so called “ good morning”. Unfortunately just like deadlifts and squats, the “good morning” also has a bad name. Interesting! All UNIQUE exercises and absolutely essential exercises that ensure the good health of a person, are being denied and claimed as dangerous! No wonder that most people spend their time in the gym, sitting on different, weird machines and no wonder that so many people have a bad posture, lower back pain and so on.
One of the best exercises, which you could perform in order to strengthen your posterior chain is good mornings. Unfortunately people rarely take the time to learn the proper way to do the exercise and usually their first try to perform it, ends up with a sharp lower back pain. That’s how myths about the danger of the exercise start!
Well, I want to tell you that there aren’t many exercises, which could contribute so much to you getting rid of lower back pain, as good mornings could! That’s right! Not harm you, but actually help you!
Besides that it will help you shape nice, strong hamstrings, get your butt tighter and strengthen your lower back muscles,GM is a great exercise that could help you increase the pounds on the deadlift if you are in a plateau!
How to perform it?
When you perform it, you could o it with a wider or narrower stance. This respectively changes the loading. When you do it with a wider stance you get more tension on your hamstrings and glutes!
Personally I perform it with a stance about shoulder width apart or a little narrower!
The weight should be on your heels, as with every other exercise!
The bar should be placed on your back, as when you perform squats. Keep your body tight, activate your lats, so you will carry the load on your back muscles and not on your spine!
When you place the bar on your back, imagine that behind you there is a wall and you need a couple more inches to reach it with your butt. Then take your hips back, so you can try and touch the wall. Be careful to do it with the hips, and not bent over from your upper body!
The load, should be felt on your hamstrings and glutes. You will feel them stretch!
You shouldn’t feel bending in your lower back! It would be wrong to bent forward! This will really hurt your back!
Imagine the wall and try to take your hips back, as if you are trying to reach back to it!
GM resembles swings and deadlifts, the difference is in the loading vector and the ROM.
Reach back withyour hips and butt, while you feel full extension of your hamstrings and glutes!
By pushing back, your upper body will lean forward! This is ok. But keep in mind it will LEAN not BEND! The leaning will come from pushing your hips back, not from a bend in your lower back!
After that contract your glutes in order to get back . Your glutes should contract! As when you perform a swing, you should lock the hips to get back in the initial position! Here I want to emphasize again, that getting back, shouldn’t be done by lifting the weight with your back, but by using your glutes!
And as I think it is lame to explain an exercise with words, check out this video!
I just want to add, that when you learn the proper GM technique, this will save you a lot of injuries in your everyday life, because you will learn how to lean, without bending and without hurting your lower back!
Keep in mind that if you are a beginner, you better focus on mastering the swing and the deadlift. Just when you are good at the hinge movement, add the good morning exercise! 🙂
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