Good-morning

The good-morning is a weight-lifting exercise. It is known as a good morning because of the movement in the erector spinae which resembles the rise out of bed to stretch. The erector spinae muscles of the lower back work isometrically to keep the spine in an extended position while the hamstrings and gluteus maximus work isotonically to perform hip extension. Other muscles are involved in stabilizing weight on the back and maintaining balance. The good-morning is a weight-lifting exercise. It is known as a good morning because of the movement in the erector spinae which resembles the rise out of bed to stretch. The erector spinae muscles of the lower back work isometrically to keep the spine in an extended position while the hamstrings and gluteus maximus work isotonically to perform hip extension. Other muscles are involved in stabilizing weight on the back and maintaining balance. The degree of knee bend used will change the focus. The straighter the knees, the more the hamstrings are stretched and stressed by the movement and this stretch involves them more as the hip extensors. Bent knees can shift the weight forward, which allows the pelvis to drift back further as the body hinges in hip flexion. The good-morning is an essential exercise in the Westside Barbell method and is often trained to near limit maxima. Developing strength in the lift aids in the recovery of a 'bad' squat, reducing the risk of injury. Properly applied, it can also strengthen an individual's deadlift; for this reason, it is a key exercise in the conjugate method of training this lift. In Olympic weightlifting, the good-morning is used as the most efficient assistance exercise to train the second phase of the clean or snatch pull and bases of squat positions in snatch drops and clean squat positions. In this variation, the lifter will descend, reverse direction, and accelerate the ascent, rising up onto the toes at the conclusion of the lift. This mimics the rapid hip extension and subsequent toe-rise during the clean and jerk or snatch. One starts with a barbell held on one's shoulders, behind the head. Similar to a back squat, there is some variation with the height on the back at which the bar is held. Holding the bar lower on the back decreases the distance to the pelvis and decreases the strain on the hip and spine extensors: a low bar position allows one to lift heavier weights while a high position allows one to stress the muscles harder with a lighter weight. Another possibility is to hold a barbell at the crooks of the arms, on the inside of the elbow, as in a Zercher squat .