The Good Morning Exercise: How to Do It Safely

"Good morning" may be an email greeting, a sweet note from your significant other while you're away on business, or, to be honest, any morning that doesn't start with an alarm clock. However, saying "good morning" is an activity you should undertake regularly.

Have you never heard of it before? This is a tutorial for you. Scroll down to find out how to practice the good morning exercise properly and what you'll gain by including it in your workout routine.

What Is the Good Morning Exercise?

The movement is a hip-hinge at its most basic level. Hip-huh? Physical therapist Grayson Wickham, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., founder of Movement Vault, a digital movement education platform, states, "The hip-hinge is one of the functional movement patterns that combine maintaining a neutral spine and bending at the hips." For example, consider the initial half of a deadlift when you bend forward and break at the hips—that's the hip hinge. (Never tried a deadlift before? This is the deadlift guide for you.)

The movement's namesake, getting out of bed in the morning, is another fantastic visual. Planting your feet on the floor, bracing your midline, and shooting your hips through to stand are the steps you take when getting out of bed. Right? That's a great way to start the day! (Don't worry, there's a step-by-step guide below.)

Good Morning Exercise: How to Do It Safely

You'll have better functional strength and mobility if your posterior chain is stronger. This will help you avoid injuries from both working out and everyday activities. It also has significant benefits for other physical activities such as sports or martial arts, as well as just assisting you in lifting bigger weights in other workouts with less chance of injury.

It's critical to learn how to do safe, form-perfect good mornings. Here are some pointers to help you perform things correctly and without risking damage.

Keep Your Form Excellent

Good mornings might quickly turn perilous due to poor form. Overbending, over-straightening the knees, and over-balancing can all be dangerous. In the next section, we'll go over how to execute this exercise correctly. But it's worth emphasizing how crucial solid form is for a good morning workout.

Take It Easy With The Weights

With good mornings, stick to modest weights. Overloading weight is a surefire way to harm yourself. Instead, start with the minimum weight as you're learning the form. For example, begin with a barbell that isn't loaded or even nothing at all. Then, work on developing proper and consistent form, and only start adding weight when you're completely confident.

If At All Feasible, Work With A Trainer

Because correct morning form is so important, it's ideal for working with a trainer if you can. A trainer will demonstrate proper form and supervise you to ensure that you maintain it.

How to Perform the Good Morning Exercise

Begin with a weight that you can control for 2–3 sets of 8–12 repetitions for the good morning. Next, select a weight that permits you to keep good form throughout all sets and repetitions.

Set up a barbell in the squat rack at the optimum height for your height. The barbell should be about one inch below your shoulders.
Step underneath the barbell and lay your hands on both sides of it while facing the barbell. The barbell should be resting on your upper back muscles.
Remove the barbell from the rack and take a few steps backward.
Maintain a tall posture by keeping your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Your shoulders should be directly over your hips, and your head and neck should be in a neutral position. As though you were carrying an egg under your chin, keep your chin tucked throughout the movement.
To create a stable foot position, grab the floor with your feet. Your weight should be uniformly spread across your entire foot.
To engage your lats and upper back, rotate your shoulders outward.
Engage your core and pre-tension your shoulders and hips. Your ribs should be tucked in, and your pelvis slightly tucked out.
Begin the rearward action by hinging your hips to push your hips backward while keeping a neutral spine.
Continue to push your hips back and forward with your upper body until your upper body is 30–45 degrees away from the floor.
Your knees should be slightly bent, but your shins should be parallel to the ground. Your glutes and hamstrings should feel stretched.
At the end of the rearward movement, pause for a second.
Begin your upward movement by pressing your feet through the floor while keeping a neutral spine. Next, squeeze your glutes and allow your hips to move forward as you stand.
Keep your core engaged as your hips go forward, and finish the movement by squeezing your glutes.
Your shoulders should finish directly over your hips at the end of each repetition. Consider your pelvis to be a bucket filled with water that you're trying to keep from spilling out the front, back or sides.

What Are the Benefits of Doing the Good Morning Exercise?

Squats and deadlifts, for example, are extremely beneficial since they provide a full-body workout while also strengthening the often-overlooked posterior chain.

It's the same with good mornings. The good-morning workout works for multiple muscle groups at the same time. The most effort is done on the glutes and hamstrings. The calves, upper back, lats, and core will all be worked on.

That's not the end of it, though.

You can also work the shoulders, biceps, and triceps, depending on the weight you employ. But, again, all of this came from a single workout. Apart from the sheer number of muscles that the good morning exercise works, the most significant benefit is how it targets and improves the posterior chain, which is a weak region for many people.

There are various advantages to including effective morning exercises in your strength training program:

Your posterior chain is activated by good morning exercises. The hamstrings, gluteus maximus, erector spine, and lower back muscles are all worked out in this terrific morning exercise. Good morning exercises can help you strengthen your legs and back if you do them correctly.
Morning exercises can help you improve your hip-hinging form. The good-morning exercise can help you improve your hip extension and flexion strength, which will help you perform better in hip-hinging exercises like the Romanian deadlift and kettlebell swing.
Morning exercises can help you to improve your posture. A good-morning workout can build muscle hypertrophy throughout your back and improve your posture during everyday activities with frequent practice. Help to lose weight also.

Takeaway

A Good Morning exercise is a more advanced workout activity named for the movement it involves, which resembles stretching and bowing out of bed. It's a squat, but it works your back muscles more than traditional squats. Because of the movement and the use of an upper back barbell, this is the case.

Because there is so much back involvement, proper form is critical for avoiding injury. If you're not quite ready for a Good Morning yet, you can use bodyweight, dumbbells, or resistance bands, or do it seated instead of standing. With these suggestions, a "good morning" can take on a whole new, more powerful meaning than ever before.

The Good Morning Exercise: How to Do It Safely

What Is the Good Morning Exercise?