Seated Good Mornings For Stronger Hamstrings & Lower Back

Seated Good Morning Exercise

If you’re looking for a powerful exercise to strengthen your lower back, hamstrings and glutes, then the Seated Good Morning exercise is one to add to your training arseal.

Seated good mornings isolate the hip extension movement and work your posterior chain through it’s greatest possible range, as you can see in the video below from the angle of the hips at the bottom position. This means they are one of the most effective ways to build dynamic flexibility in the hamstrings as well as helping to develop strength, power and stability in the lowest range. This increased strength through a full range of movement has transference to other compound exercises, most notably the Squat, and also works to reduce the risk of injury.

To perform the Seated Good Morning (barbell)…

– Position the bar on the middle of your traps and take a wide grip;
– Step back and take a seat on a bench;
– Lean as far forward as your flexibility allows keeping your shoulders back, chest up and back in straight alignment – if your back starts to round forwards then you’ve gone beyond your current range of movement or the weight is too heavy;
– Lift back up to an almost-upright position and focus on initiating the movement with your lower back, make sure you do not hyperextend, as you come up;
– Doing the exercise with your legs straight will have the maximum impact on hamstring flexibility, but knees bent is still highly effective so work to your current mobility.

When to use Seated Good Mornings

Include Seated Good Mornings in your programme as an accessory exercise after you’ve already performed your Squats or Deadlifts. We recommend keeping reps between 3-10 reps, dependent on your training goal, and start light; most people will train at around 30-40% of their Squat weight.

The Seated Good Morning is an advanced movement that does require a strong core and decent level of mobility. We would recommend becoming familiar with  Standing Good Mornings before trying the seated version.