Hanging Bar Good Morning
Trains the Hamstrings.
- Equipment
- A barbell, a rack and straps or chains
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Hang a barbell in a rack from straps or chains so it sits at upper-back height and can swing.
- Step under it so it rests across your upper back.
- Set your feet hip-width, knees slightly bent, back flat and stomach braced.
- Hinge forward from the hips, keeping the bar settled where it sits.
- Go as far as the flat back allows, then drive the hips forward to stand.
- Keep the bar still throughout — the straps let it swing, and that is what has to be resisted.
Common mistakes
- Letting the bar swing. A hanging bar moves when you do, and holding it still is the whole difference from a racked one — a swinging bar changes where the load sits with every degree of the hinge.
- Starting heavy. The instability means the trunk is working before the hips are, so the honest load is well under a standard good morning.
- Hanging the straps at different lengths. An uneven bar loads one side of the back more than the other for the whole set.
- Rounding the back to travel further. The range ends where the flat back ends, and a moving bar makes that harder to feel rather than easier.