What is the best good morning variation for an athlete trying to improve primarly hamstring and glutes strength?
I tryed the stiff legged variation but found that nothing was worked that hard except my lower back. I certainly couldnt get enough weight on to feel my hamstrings or glutes working much.
Good mornings target lower back and glutes more than hamstrings.
Crunching the glutes pulls your hips through regardless of stiff legged or not.
some knee flex might hit the hammies more, depends on how you do them.
GMs used in conjuction with GHRs which target hamstrings more, hit both.
Squats get everything.
Stiff legged dead lifts can hit the hamstrings pretty hard as well.
but other than GHRs, you can work the hamstrings more or less depending on which muscles you are using as the prime movers. They have overlapping functions so you have to make it happen the way you want.
Romanian DLs, Stiff-Legged DLs are also good altenatives to GHRs. Pull-thrus are good too
GMs hit my hamstrings hard if i do them with a wide stance. With a close stance i mostly feel it in my lower back.
[quote]Major Dan wrote:
Good mornings target lower back and glutes more than hamstrings.
Crunching the glutes pulls your hips through regardless of stiff legged or not.
some knee flex might hit the hammies more, depends on how you do them.
GMs used in conjuction with GHRs which target hamstrings more, hit both.
Squats get everything.
Stiff legged dead lifts can hit the hamstrings pretty hard as well.
but other than GHRs, you can work the hamstrings more or less depending on which muscles you are using as the prime movers. They have overlapping functions so you have to make it happen the way you want.[/quote]
I tryed natural GHRs but damn! there hard. Not just the muscle but actual joint gets little sore after doing them. I guess a variation of exercises is the key. Thanks for the information.
[quote]chints wrote:
Romanian DLs, Stiff-Legged DLs are also good altenatives to GHRs. Pull-thrus are good too[/quote]
Thanks, I’l look up what pull-throughs are.
[quote]Ceaze wrote:
GMs hit my hamstrings hard if i do them with a wide stance. With a close stance i mostly feel it in my lower back.[/quote]
I never thought of doing them like that but it sounds like it would work. Cheers.
The above suggestions have really got it covered as far as GM’s except to say the obvious and make sure you accentuate pushing your butt out backwards as you break at the hip, i.e. don’t just bend forward. And definitely keep the knees bent. Excuse me if I am trying to teach you to suck eggs.
Pull throughs I like these alot for the hammies. Also Dimels are good.
I have found that a one leg variation works really well for the hamstrings in particular. I try to keep a straight back and a bend in the knees for this one. Also, doing a one leg deadlift style one works it in the same fashion. I hold the bar with the arm on the opposite side of the leg being worked. That really will help out your balance if you have any athletic endeavors. These are super killer off of a platform, too.
Pull-throughs, dimmel deadlifts and glute-ham raises, when performed correctly, will nicely toast your hams.
good mornings with knee bent really hit my hams… but only if i push my hips back…
so maybe focus on pushing your hips back more than bending over, that is key…
peace
Just to add my $0.02, I have found that Romanian DLs hit my hams better than any GM variation.
Jonboy, are you fosucing on “pushing your butt back”? For me GM’s didn’t do any good unitl I imagined trying to touch my ass to the wall behind me and my chin to the wall in front. this kept a good arch in my back as well as kept the weight over my heels/intsep instead of out in front of my (which caused me no end of low back pain)
For dimels, do you stand up straight all the way to lockout, or only go about 3/4 of the way keeping more stress on the lower back/glutes/hams for the entire exercise?
[quote]fastken77 wrote:
Jonboy, are you fosucing on “pushing your butt back”?[/quote]
No I havent been, good thing you said thanks.
Cheers guys.
Here’s a test for you to see if your form is good. Take a barbell with no plates on it (just the bar). Place it on your shoulder and take a wide stance (wider than shoulder-width).
Pull your shoulder blades back, chest out and begin the motion by pushing your hips out. Then bend forward till you are about parallel to the floor. Do you feel a stretch in your hams? You should otherwise check your form.
Try all of the above as well as lifting your toes off the ground