The Good Morning helps develop your posterior chain, primarily hamstrings and gluteals, as well as your lower back, though you should focus on involving your lower back as little as possible. The only major difference between the Romanian Deadlift and the Good Morning is you keep your legs straight throughout the Good Morning. As with the Romanian Deadlift, your objective is to engage your posterior chain as prime mover.
Online Personal Training Video: Good Morning
How To Do It
1. Stand with feet close to one another, narrower than shoulder width. If you are using dumbbells, grasp dumbbells at your sides. Keep your knees straight.
2. Keeping your back neutral (or, if it’s easier to execute, arch your back – meaning spine toward your stomach, NOT hunched like a cat), lower the dumbbells by bending your hips, controlling the motion with your hamstrings, until you feel a mild stretch in your hamstrings.
3. Once you feel a mild stretch, lift the dumbbells by engaging your hamstrings and gluteals and straightening your hips until standing upright.
4. Once standing upright, strongly contract your gluteals.
Online Personal Trainer Tips
1. Start with light weight and allow your lower back to adapt to the motion before raising weight.
2. Throughout the exercise keep your arms straight, with the dumbbells close to your legs.
3. Keep your back neutral throughout the exercise. This will diminish how “low” you can go with your stretch. Your range of motion will increase as you increase your flexibility.
4. If you do not feel the exercise in your hamstrings, you are either very flexible or, 99 times out of 100, you are not keeping your back arched throughout the movement. Remember, your goal is not to touch the ground. Your goal is to feel the stretch in your hamstrings and the strong contraction in your gluteals.
