Good Morning vs 45 Degree Back Ext

Starting about a week and half ago, I switched from doing back extensions on 45 degree bench to bent-legged good mornings with a barbell placed evenly benhind my shoulders on top of my shoulder blades at the base of the neck.

For the bent-legged barbell good morning exercise, I have been lifting with the same exact weight that I last time had on the back extension on 45 degree bench exercise. With the back extension on 45 degree bench exercise I would hold a 35 lbs. plate close to my chest while doing the exercise. On the bent-legged barbell good morning exercise I used a 10 lbs. barbell with one 10 lbs. plate and one 2.5 lbs. plate on each side of the barbell.

What’s interesting is that while I have been doing a 1 sec. concentric, 1 sec. eccentric pace with the bent-legged barbell good morning exercise compared to the back extension on 45 degree bench exercise where I did a 2 sec. concentric, 2 sec. eccentric pace, I still feel that the bent-legged barbell good morning exercise feel much easier than the back extension on 45 degree bench exercise even when I use the same exact weight on each exercise. Why is that?

Your legs aren’t locked in, which makes it easier to use them a little to get the weight up.