Bill Starr has always suggested the use of Good Mornings. This is a quote from one of Bill Starrs articles…
"Good mornings are without a doubt the most hated of all exercises. You may have noticed, however, that the more difficult the exercise, the more productive it is. So it is with good mornings. In order for them to be useful they have to be attacked. Stay in the comfort zone and you won?t gain the desired results. On the plus side, most lifters find that the heavy sets aren?t any more troublesome than the lighter warmup sets. The bottom line is that there really isn?t any way to make this exercise fun or easy. If you?re seeking a non-stressful workout, good mornings won?t fit into your plans, It has been my observation that when people want to get strong ? really strong ? they don?t mind doing the hard stuff. In fact, they welcome it.
There are three variations of the good morning. You can do them with a flat back, with a rounded back and while seated. I have my athletes try all three and ask them which one got them the most sore. That ?s the one they should do regularly, but they can do the others occasionally for variety. It?s a simple exercise, but there are some key form points.
To perform the standing rounded-back or flat-back good morning, take the bar from the rack and lock it tightly to your upper back. That?s necessary because if the bar moves even slightly it will hurt your back, which is sometimes more painful than doing the exercise itself. Don?t let it move at all. Place your feet a bit closer than shoulder width and turn your toes in slightly. Bend your knees, but not too much ? just enough that your knees aren?t locked.
The second key form point is to push your feet firmly into the floor before starting the movement. That helps tighten your legs and hips and helps you control the weight better. Now bend forward, leaving your hips in the exact same position they were in when you started. Don?t let your hips drop during the execution of the exercise so it resembles a squat.
How low should you go? The lower the better. I?ve had some athletes, especially females, who could look back between their legs at the bottom position. The lower you can go, the more lumbars you involve. Try at least to place your chest on your thighs. You?ll find that going lower makes the exercise a tad easier than cutting it off. You?ll get a recoil effect when you go low.
Do each rep smoothly and in a relatively slow fashion. Don?t try to rush through the set or get herky-jerky. Reset at the top, make certain your knees are bent and the bar is snug on your back, and then do the next rep. You?ll find that if you do your sets at a quick pace, rather than taking long breaks between them, the good mornings will be a bit easier. Do them right after your squats or other leg exercise. That also makes them easier because you already have blood in your lower back and the area is warmed up thoroughly. Every so often I catch one of my athletes doing good mornings first in his program. They usually do it because all the squat racks are busy. I explain that if they tap their lumbars first they aren?t going to be able to handle much weight on the squat.
The seated version is good for variety and also for anyone who has a knee or ankle injury. The main thing to remember when doing these is to brace your feet solidly on the floor or against an upright on a rack. Otherwise, you?ll tip forward. Try to touch your chin or forehead to the bench. This is the easiest form of the exercise.
The set-and-rep formula is the same for all three versions of the good morning: five sets of eight, with the last set being heavy. How heavy? Your goal should be to do eight reps with 50% of what you can squat. That means someone who squats 400 pounds should be handling 200x8 on the good morning. If you haven?t been doing good mornings at all or have been using light to moderate weights, proceed toward your target number in a steady, unhurried manner. Add five pounds every one or two weeks and you?ll reach your goal in due course. Each week the final set should feel the same: heavy, but not overwhelmingly so.
I learned from the Russian Olympic lifters to limit the good morning to 220 pounds. They found that when athletes used more than 100 kilos they were forced to alter their mechanics to counterbalance the weight and it wasn?t a pure lumbar exercise any longer. I have followed that guideline ever since.
If I have an advanced strength athlete who wants to improve his lumbar strength, I have him do two or three sets with 225. For powerlifters and football players I make exceptions to the rule. I let them go heavy, knowing that they?ll involve many other back muscles along with their lumbars, but that?s okay. Bruce Randall popularized this form of good mornings in the 50?s and it?s an effective strength builder. Two football players at John Hopkins did in excess of 400 pounds.
Once a week is sufficient for most people because good mornings are taxing. I put them in the program on Wednesday, behind the light squats, and since Thursday is a non-lifting day there?s time to recover before the Friday session. "