Seated Good Morning
Trains the Spinal Erectors.
- Equipment
- A barbell, a rack and either a flat bench or an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a barbell in a rack at upper-chest height with a bench positioned underneath.
- Step under and rest the bar across your upper back, then sit down on the bench.
- Sit with your feet flat and your knees at about a right angle.
- Set your back flat and brace your stomach.
- Hinge forward from the hips, keeping the spine in one shape, until the torso is as far forward as a flat back allows.
- Return to upright by driving the torso back up, not by rounding back into position.
Common mistakes
- Expecting the hamstrings to be the limit. Seated, the hips are already flexed and the hamstrings are slack — this is a lower-back and hip exercise in a way the standing version is not.
- Loading it like a standing good morning. There are no legs to drive with and no hip travel to hide in, so the usable weight drops sharply.
- Rounding the back to travel further forward. The range ends where the flat back ends, and every inch past that is loaded spinal flexion.
- Sitting on a bench that is too high or too low. Thighs roughly parallel to the floor keeps the hips in a position the trunk can hinge from.