Need help w/ my good morning

[MPB]

I decided to add good mornings to my routine to help my deadlift. I checked youtube and there seems to be many variations of GM out there. I just played around with many different styles, and this one seems to hit my hamstrings the hardest. I'm not sure how they should be done so I'd appreciate if you guys can kindly critique my form and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thanks!

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[geoffsherman]

Just my observations. This looks more like a squat than a GM. You might try not locking your legs out after every rep which may be part of the problem. From the angle, it looked like you were squatting part of the way down and then bending at your hips.

[MPB]

I think that happened b/c I wanted to go down as much as possible without losing my arch. Do you have good videos that show how good mornings should be done?

[Ben Moore]

Yeah, not quite so much bend at the knee.

[MPB]

Ah I wasn't aware of that. If I don't bend my knees much, I don't think I can bend down that low without losing the arch. Is this still effective?

[Steven001]

I've never done them before, but I would say stand with your feet closer together, and don't bend you legs as much, if at all.

[Ben Moore]

Play around with foot positioning and bar placement. Don't be afraid to lower the weight. My regular GM stance mimmicks my conv DL stance

[MPB]

I always pull sumo so I thought it'd be okay to go a little wide. I'll keep working on my form. Do you guys recommend low bar placement?

[Ben Moore]

Again - there's no one way to do them. I've done high bar narrow stance, low bar wide stance, arch back, round back. All i'm saying is try to lessen the knee bend from above.

[geoffsherman]

[QUOTE=MightyPitbull;2032111]Ah I wasn't aware of that. If I don't bend my knees much, I don't think I can bend down that low without losing the arch. Is this still effective?[/QUOTE

While I think decreasing the bed will help, you need to focus on bending at the hips to descend rather than at the knee. To help with keeping the arch, you almost have to cosciously focus on that. I have also found looking up and throwing my head back on the ascent will help.

[Ben Moore]

Push your ass back. Think about trying to touch the wall behind you. Good trick to bending correctly and maintaining your arch.

[Kiknskreem]

A strict, flat back, full RoM good morning will really nail the hamstrings.

The mechanics are basically that of the RDL, knees only slightly unlocked, hips rotate backwards, chest up and back arched.

This is how I do them...

Video

[Pete22]

I pull sumo as well and I usually alternate GM's by going wide/narrow and arch back/round back. Your form wasn't that bad at all, it looks like you could have a little less knee bend and get the weight further in front of your knees, otherwise it just turns into a quarter squat. Here's a good vid of Eric Talmant doing GM's:

Video

[MPB]

Push your ass back. Think about trying to touch the wall behind you. Good trick to bending correctly and maintaining your arch.

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the tip. Kiknskreem & Pet22, thank you for the video. I can see what I'm doing wrong now.

[Ben Moore]

I pull sumo as well and I usually alternate GM's by going wide/narrow and arch back/round back. Your form wasn't that bad at all, it looks like you could have a little less knee bend and get the weight further in front of your knees, otherwise it just turns into a quarter squat. Here's a good vid of Eric Talmant doing GM's:

Video

UMMM, why is he training in a singlet?

[KarstenDD]

UMMM, why is he training in a singlet?

Because he is Eric Talmant. At least he isn't going straps down for once.

[Pete22]

UMMM, why is he training in a singlet?

LOL... I don't know. But he's sponsored by EliteFTS so he gets a pass.

[KarstenDD]

If you're want to hit your back harder then more knee bend is ok. If you want to hit your hamstrings harder go down the same way but straighten your legs before you go back up.

[KarstenDD]

LOL... I don't know. But he's sponsored by EliteFTS so he gets a pass.

Wrong he is Eric Talmant. He will get nothing and like it.

[Lones Green]

your form is not bad, just easy on the knee bend.

and arched back will hit the hams hard, a rounder back style goodmorning will hit the back more.

[Matthew White]

I've never done them before, but I would say stand with your feet closer together, and don't bend you legs as much, if at all.

Actually I play with the foot positioning alot. Whenever I max though I go super wide. I've noticed this has more carryover to my pulling ability. Probably alot to do with working the weaker muscles as I pull frog footed (4-6 inches between the feet convetional deadlift) When I do them no matter what I have a slight squat involved but its not enough to make a huge difference. It would depend more on whether you are trying to focus more on your hip erectors or your hams. If you want more hip erectors, its ok to squat a little, if you want more hams, quit squattin it. Just my opinion.

[Travis Bell]

Wrong he is Eric Talmant. He will get nothing and like it.

HAHAHAHA

have to agree with Ben, little odd to be training in a singlet.

Lones hit it right on, rounded back hits more the lower back and arched back hits the hams and glutes. If you have access to chain, doing chain suspended GM's is an awesome way to force your depth. Some people tend to cut them a bit high

[BigTallOx]

If you have access to chain, doing chain suspended GM's is an awesome way to force your depth.

Yup, I do those, but with straps. They're rated to something like 1600 pounds and easier to cary around than chains. I bought them at home depot for $8, you can use them for all kinds of stuff, like benching with weigh hanging on the straps, etc.

[brihead301]

Thank you for this thread. I just started doing GM's on Wednesday, and I want to make sure that I'm using good form as well.

[AdamBAG]

I think your form looked pretty good to me. Doing a proper GM is a really subjective thing. As long as you aren't dipping under the bar and squatting it up then I think it's a GM.

I'm a big fan of chain suspended concentric GMs. Really help the pull in my opinion.