I think the following should be added to the FAQ section:
If an exercise hurts it does not mean that it is “bad” for you. It just means it’s working.
My parents were killed by good mornings.
The only time I really had any problem with GM’s was the day some numbskull told me “you might want to consider your form while you’re squating, seems like your bent over at the waist a little too much”
hazards of the game.
B.
Good mornings are terrible. Squats are atrocious and deadlifts are the most horrible exercise ever. That’s what I read or perhaps that’s what someone on the bus told me. I can’t remember. If you need me, I’ll be over here watching television and eating my weight in twinkies.
Use your head.
I’m sorry to hear that Jared.
Jared, that’s awful. My aunt lost both her legs in a Smith Machine roll over. It was terrible.
Thank you Josh.
You only get hurt if you do them wrong.
“smith machine rollover”
I have paid close attentino to my form, but every time I do good mornings, the next day my lower back hurts like hell. I’m not using heavy weight, either… I decided to try them with a ten on each side of the barbell, and I still ended up with lower back pain, it just took a couple more days to kick in. Any suggestions?
Yes, indeed good mornings are bad…bad…bad. Just like atf squats are bad for your knees and deadlifts will kill your lower back. That’s riiiiiiight.
They’re also bad for making your hamstrings, glutes and low back so strong and mighty that you may bust the back of your pants as you perform them. That’s riiiiight, they’re bad…bad…bad!
Neophorm - something is wrong if you are in pain after good mornings, or any lift for that matter. Have someone watch you from both the back and side at a low weight. You may be twisting on the way up or down, or using your lower back to either start or finish the lift. I got hurt from twisting on the way up, due to a big strength imbalance between my left and right sides.
(2,3,4)
nephorm, I find that doing a few light sets the day after, sometimes with just the bar, helps a lot with soreness from good mornings. As soon as the tightness sets in.
To those of you who were wondering whether Good Mornings work the lower back or the hamstrings more…
either.
There are 10 or more variations of the good morning. The more you bend your knees, the more the ham/glute is involved. 2 simple variations would be to quarter squat, then bend forward, and to half squat then bend forward. For me this grealty changes which muscles are doing most of the work.
The lower back is a touchy area. One thing that makes it different is that normal soreness that you would experience from resistance excercise on other muscles can interfere with activities of daily living when applied to the lower back. It could be that you don’t excercise your lower back frequently enough. The lower back needs to be strong, not big. Therefore, working it more often than other lifts might be a better approach. I would go back to a lighter weight, but do the lift more frequently during the week. You should be able to gradually move back up to your current weight.
Thanks for the advice… I’ve been doing seated good mornings, so maybe I should try standing while doing them. That might decrease pressure on the lower back. I’ll try your suggestion, Michelle, as well as CGB’s.
If sex was bad, would you stop having it?
As far as an 800lb GM, definitely possible. You can see some videos with poundages approaching 650-700 in the videos section at:
“Good mornings” are only bad when your’e hungover and some moron says this to you.
just one more comment:
i am sick of people saying that you can only get hurt if you do an exercise(i.e. good-mornings) incorectly. thats bullshit! believe me, that your form can be great but STILL something can give! if you do not believe me, train for strength sports for nearly 21 years as i have and you WILL believe, lol!