Barbell Good Morning
The barbell good morning is a hip hinge with the bar on your upper back, where you bow forward from the hips and return upright. It trains your hamstrings and back hard, with glutes assisting. Pick it to strengthen the hinge pattern and the back position you need for squats and deadlifts, using modest loads.
Muscles worked
The barbell good morning trains the hamstrings and back, with glutes helping.
Primary
Helpers
Weekly sets for hamstrings
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for hamstrings, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the barbell good morning
- 01Set the bar on your upper back as you would for a high-bar squat and unrack it.
- 02Stand with feet hip width apart, knees slightly bent, and brace your trunk.
- 03Push your hips back and lower your torso forward, keeping your back flat.
- 04Stop when your torso nears parallel to the floor or your hamstrings reach full stretch.
- 05Drive your hips forward to return upright, keeping the bar locked onto your back.
Coaching cues
- Hips back, chest stays proud.
- Bow from the hips with a flat back.
- Keep a soft, fixed knee bend.
Common mistakes
- Rounding your back under the bar is the biggest risk here, so stop the descent where your spine stays flat.
- Bending your knees deeply turns it into a squat, so keep the knee angle fixed and push the hips back.
- Loading it like a squat overwhelms your back, so use light to moderate weights and controlled reps.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers compound lifts toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Barbell Good Morning alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Free programs that use it
Ready-made splits from the Swole.fit library. Pick one and the app runs the progression.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your barbell good morning free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.