Good Morning: Muscles Worked and How to Do It
TL;DR
The good morning works your hamstrings, the main muscle controlling your hip hinge, while your glutes and lower back extend your hips back to standing and your abdominals brace your spine. It's a hip-hinge exercise that builds the posterior-chain strength behind a strong deadlift and squat.
- Primary muscle:
- Hamstrings
- Secondary muscles:
- Abdominals, Glutes, Lower back
Muscles worked
Your hamstrings are the prime mover, lengthening under tension as you hinge your torso forward and then contracting to help pull you back upright. They're loaded hardest at the bottom of the hinge, where your torso is closest to parallel with the floor.
Your glutes work alongside the hamstrings to extend your hips and bring you back to standing. Your lower back muscles hold your spine in a stable, neutral position throughout the hinge, resisting the pull of the weight on your shoulders rather than rounding under it.
Your abdominals brace to support your spine and keep your ribcage from flaring, working isometrically alongside your lower back to keep your torso rigid through the whole movement.
Log Good Morning in PR Streak
PR Streak's library has 873 exercises, each with photos and step-by-step instructions like this one. Log this move and see what you lifted last time right next to every set, with every PR caught automatically and a chart for every exercise.
How to do it
- Begin with a bar on a rack at shoulder height. Rack the bar across the rear of your shoulders as you would a power squat, not on top of your shoulders. Keep your back tight, shoulder blades pinched together, and your knees slightly bent. Step back from the rack.
- Begin by bending at the hips, moving them back as you bend over to near parallel. Keep your back arched and your cervical spine in proper alignment.
- Reverse the motion by extending through the hips with your glutes and hamstrings. Continue until you have returned to the starting position.
Form tips
- Push your hips straight back, not down, as you hinge forward.
- Keep a soft bend in your knees throughout instead of locking them out.
- Stop lowering once your torso nears parallel to the floor or your lower back starts to round.
- Brace your abs and keep your chest up before you start each hinge.
- Start with an empty bar or light weight until the hip-hinge pattern feels natural.
Exercise details
| Equipment | Barbell |
|---|---|
| Level | Intermediate |
| Mechanic | Compound |
Used by lifters following PPL, 5x5, upper/lower, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the good morning a hamstring or lower back exercise?
It's primarily a hamstring exercise built around a hip hinge, with your glutes assisting hip extension and your lower back and abdominals working isometrically to keep your spine stable. A rounding lower back means the weight is too heavy or the hinge pattern needs more practice.
How much weight should I use for good mornings?
Start light, even just the bar, until your hip-hinge pattern and spine position are consistent. Because a rounded back under load is the main risk here, build up gradually and keep every rep, even at higher reps like 12 or more, in a position you could hold safely.
How does the good morning compare to the Romanian deadlift?
Both train the same hip-hinge pattern and hamstring stretch, but the good morning loads the bar on your back instead of your hands, shifting more balance demand onto your lower back. Many lifters use the Romanian deadlift as the heavier main lift and the good morning as an accessory.
More hamstrings exercises
Exercise instructions and photos come from the free-exercise-db library, public domain, the same library used inside the PR Streak app.
