Hello everybody. I’ve spent the last hour searching all over the place for proper standing good morning form, and the most common techniques I come across are “DO NOT arch your lower back and keep it tight, round it a little bit” and the other is “DO NOT round your lower back, keep it as tight as possible” I’ve been through old posts, t-mag, elitefts, I can’t find the answer I’m looking for. Would there be a beneficial reason to perform them with an arch as well as rounded?
I found myself asking the same question the other day. After a little research I came across the following link articletemplate
Its basically an article by Dave Tate about Westside Training for Back and Abs. To summarise there are various types of good mornings some with arched back and some rounded, legs straight, legs bent e.t.c
Arched are good for static erector strength and rounded are good for dynamic strength of the erectors.
Hope the article is helpful.
To add to Creed’s post:
I’ve found that I can perform the arched back position with MUCH more weight. It also feels much safer to me with the arch. Currently looking for strength and size, this is the way for me.
Other goals may indicate that the rounded back would be more appropriate.
I would recommend the arched version as the lower back is a great deal stronger in this position. Keep in mind when you round the lower back this places a great deal of stress on the intervertrable discs.
In the Science and Practice of Strength Training Zatsiorsky presents an entire chapter on positioning of the lower back in regards to max safety and strength production. He highly dis-courages rounding of the lower back in most instances.
If you perform rounded lower back good mornings i would recommend that you use a light weight. This can be benefical for range of motion, but beware this is a vulnerable position as well.
thank you
Coach Jamie Hale
Total Body Fitness
Winchester Ky
Well from having done GM’s in conjunction with Westside it is nearly impossible to do this as a ME exercise without some rounding of the back. While at the lower weights I kept strict form but once I get to about 85% of my max I start to get rounding.
If you go through the search engine there are some videos of Landon and Goldberg performing these exercises
Yep, I watched the videos. Pretty damn impressive. I can’t imagine the chaos that would come if I brought my own chains into the commercial gym I have to go to.
Well if there are no rules posted banning them then why can’t you bring em in.
I get looks all the time when I do things like GM squats, jm presses, or any other non-crap trainer sanctioned exercises. I got told by a trainer that pin presses and floor presses had no practical applications to the bench press. Needless to say I just threw my headphones back on had a nice chuckle to myself.