Good Mornings

Good mornings are a hip-hinge exercise for the posterior chain. They reward restraint: a lighter load, stable bracing, and a range you can control are more useful than chasing depth or weight.

Good Morning Form

Keep the bar balanced across your upper back, move from the hips, and finish by squeezing the glutes. Start with a dowel or empty bar if the hinge is unfamiliar. Pair this exercise with a barbell back squat or use the Romanian deadlift when you want a simpler loaded hinge.

Programming Good Mornings

Use good mornings after your main lift, not as a test of maximal strength. Leave a few controlled reps in reserve and progress only when your spine and hip path stay consistent.

Stop the exercise if it causes sharp or radiating pain. Seek assessment from a qualified health professional when pain persists or when a known health condition affects your training.

Good Morning Setup

Set the bar in a squat rack at a height that lets you unrack it without standing on your toes or leaning sideways. Place it across the upper back in a position you can stabilize; it should not sit directly on the neck. Use a grip that keeps the wrists comfortable and pull the bar into the body. Step back with small, deliberate steps and establish a hip-width stance. Keep the toes slightly turned out if that is natural for your hips, and distribute pressure across the entire foot.

Before the first rep, soften the knees and take a breath into the trunk. Brace around the waist and imagine the bar, head, and pelvis moving as a connected unit. Your upper back should stay firm, but there is no need to squeeze the shoulder blades together as hard as possible. Practice the hinge with an empty bar or dowel. If the bar rolls, the elbows flare, or you cannot walk it back safely, the load or rack height needs changing.

Step-by-Step Form

Unlock the knees slightly, then send the hips backward as though trying to close a car door with them. The knees may bend a little more as the torso lowers, but they should not travel forward as in a squat. Keep the bar over the middle of the foot and maintain a long spine. Descend only while the pelvis, ribs, and head stay controlled and the hamstrings develop a manageable stretch.

At your comfortable bottom position, pause briefly without relaxing the brace. Drive the feet into the floor and squeeze the glutes to bring the hips forward. Stand tall with the bar over the midfoot. Do not finish by thrusting the ribs upward or leaning backward. The range may be smaller than expected, especially at first. A good morning is a hinge with a bar on the back, not a test of how close the chest can get to the floor.

Use a slow lowering phase, around two or three seconds, while learning. Film a side view if you can do so safely, or ask a coach to check whether the bar stays over the foot and the back position remains consistent. The repetition should look similar at light and moderate fatigue. If the last few reps become faster, shorter, or more rounded, end the set.

Muscles Worked and Exercise Role

The hamstrings and gluteus maximus produce hip extension as you return to standing. The spinal erectors and deep trunk muscles work isometrically to hold the torso position, and the upper back supports the bar. The quads contribute to knee control, but the movement should feel different from a squat because the hips travel backward and the shin angle changes relatively little.

Good mornings are useful for learning posterior-chain tension and building tolerance to a loaded hinge. They are also demanding on the trunk because the bar creates a long lever as the torso leans forward. For that reason, they are usually an accessory rather than a lift to test with maximal weight. A Romanian deadlift, cable pull-through, or back extension may be easier to load or scale for some lifters.

Programming and Progression

Start with two or three sets of eight to twelve reps using an empty bar or very light load. Once the path is consistent, three sets of five to eight can build strength, while three or four sets of eight to twelve can support muscle gain. Light sets of twelve to fifteen can build endurance, but fatigue must not change the hinge. Rest two minutes between moderate sets and longer if bracing feels difficult. Leave at least two good reps in reserve.

Progress through range and control before adding weight. A pause just above the deepest comfortable position, a slower eccentric, or one extra repetition can provide a useful challenge. When you add load, use the smallest plate increase available and reassess the bar path. Keep good mornings after a primary squat or deadlift if those lifts are the priority. If the hamstrings or lower back are already exhausted, reduce the volume rather than forcing the planned number.

Safety and Troubleshooting

Use safety pins in the rack, keep the walkout short, and know where the bar can be returned. Do not round forcefully, bounce at the bottom, or turn the movement into a squat. If the bar presses painfully on the neck, adjust its position or choose a different variation. Stop for sharp, radiating, or worsening pain, numbness, or unusual weakness. Persistent symptoms or a known spinal, hip, or hamstring condition warrant individual guidance from a qualified professional before loading this pattern.

References

1. National Strength and Conditioning Association. Anaerobic and Muscle Endurance Development: Lifting Guidelines. National Strength and Conditioning Association (2017)Back to claim
2. Brad S Currier, Alysha C D'Souza, Maria A Fiatarone Singh, Caroline V Lowisz, Eric S Rawson, Brad J Schoenfeld, Abbie E Smith-Ryan, Jeremy P Steen, Gwendolyn A Thomas, N Travis Triplett, Tyrone A Washington, Timothy J Werner, Stuart M Phillips. American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults: An Overview of Reviews. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (2026)Back to claim
3. Deborah Riebe, Barry A Franklin, Paul D Thompson, Carol E Garber, George P Whitfield, Melissa Magal, Linda S Pescatello. Updating ACSM's Recommendations for Exercise Preparticipation Health Screening. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (2015)Back to claim

See our exercise methodology for how this evidence is applied and its limits.