The good morning was one of the first strength exercises i did during my first 3 months of recover from my L5S1 herniated disc.
Why is it such a great movement if you have low back pain?
#1. It’s very similar to movements such as the Romanian deadlift or high hip deadlift except the bar is positioned on your back rather than in the front, which puts the hips as the musculature doing most of the work.
#2. Because of the bar position, all the spinal stabilizers and muscle of the back are creating a very strong engagement, which prevents spinal flexion of the back that occurs during movements where the bar is loaded in the front (aka any deadlift variation or whenever you pick something off of the floor).
#3. Good mornings reinforce the hip hinge pattern, the primary movement that is supposed to occur during most lower body exercises — deadlifts, squats, KB swings, etc — that strengthens our posterior chain muscles. During the hip hinge, the hips move back first and therefore take the load. When we have a lack of the hip hinge pattern & we try to pull from the floor, most likely the low back is taking all the load.
Low back pain when deadlifting? Start with the Good Morning & start very light.
Here’s how to perform the good morning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k9QUXsD2oE