Barbell Good Morning
The good morning is a barbell hip hinge: with the bar across your upper back, you push your hips back and tip your torso forward over slightly bent knees, then drive back up to standing. It works the hamstrings, glutes and the muscles along the spine, and is a long-standing accessory for the squat and deadlift.
Also called: Good Morning, GM · Equipment: barbell · Pattern: hinge
Step by step
- Set the bar in a rack at about mid-chest height. Step under it and rest it across your upper back, on the same shelf you use for a back squat, not on your neck.
- Grip the bar just outside your shoulders, lift it out of the rack and take two steps back. Set your feet hip-width apart with a slight bend in your knees.
- Take a big breath, brace your trunk and set your spine long from head to tailbone.
- Push your hips straight back and let your torso tip forward as one unit, keeping the slight knee bend fixed.
- Descend until your torso is close to parallel with the floor, or until your back starts to round, whichever comes first.
- Drive your hips forward to stand tall, squeezing your glutes at the top without leaning back.
- Breathe at the top and re-brace before the next rep. After the last rep, walk the bar forward into the rack.
- Push your hips back to the wall behind you
- Long spine, proud chest
- Soft knees, fixed in place
- Go only as deep as your back stays flat
- Squeeze your glutes to stand tall
- Big breath and brace before every rep
In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.
What it trains
| Muscle | Role | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Erector spinae | Prime mover | C |
| Hamstrings: semitendinosus | Prime mover | C |
| Hamstrings: biceps femoris (long head) | Prime mover | C |
| Hamstrings: semimembranosus | Prime mover | C |
| Gluteus maximus | Prime mover | C |
| Adductor magnus | Secondary | C |
| Rectus abdominis | Stabiliser | D |
| Obliques (internal/external) | Stabiliser | D |
| Quadratus lumborum | Stabiliser | D |
Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Back rounding at the bottom
Fix: Descend only as far as your back stays flat, and use a lighter bar while you learn.
Knees bending and travelling forward
Fix: Keep a slight, fixed knee bend and push your hips straight back.
Leaning back at the top
Fix: Finish tall with your ribs down and a firm glute squeeze.
Bar sitting on the neck
Fix: Seat the bar across your upper back on the same shelf as a back squat.
Grinding out a heavy last rep
Fix: End each set with one or two clean reps still in reserve.
Losing the brace on the way down
Fix: Take a big breath and brace fully before each rep begins.
What the research says
Strength · first choiceMuscle growthSport performance
- Muscle activity — In an EMG study of trained men lifting 85% of their best, hamstring activity was highest in the Romanian deadlift and glute-ham raise, with the good morning below both. EMG measures muscle activity, not growth.
- Stretched position — In a 12-week leg-curl study, training the hamstrings at a longer length grew them more (about 14% versus 9%). The good morning loads the hamstrings hardest near the bottom, where they are longest, though no study has measured its growth effect directly.
- Load by goal — Research comparing loads finds maximal strength favours heavier loads, while muscle growth is similar across a wide range of loads when sets are taken close to failure.
- Effort — Studies show sets that finish a few reps short of failure capture most of the growth benefit, and strength gains appear largely insensitive to how close to failure you train. Many lifters keep good mornings well short of failure.
- Volume and placement — Research links more weekly sets for a muscle to more growth, with diminishing returns. A common approach is to place good mornings after the main squat or deadlift, once or twice a week.
Swap it mid-workout
With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.
Log the barbell good morning in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.
General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.