Good Morning (Kneeling)

Hinge

Corrective

Level: 2

Target Action: Corrective

Assistance

Kit: Body Weight

Play Video

Safety Warning: go low-moderate load for this exercise. No-one wants to face plant with a heavy bar on their back. 6-10kg for youth athlete, 10-15kg for adults. Too light and the constraint of the bar won’t work.

The Kneeling Good Morning is the second part of a 3 part series to teach a perfect hip hinge using advanced coaching techniques. This series is one of only 2 entry points into a myriad of Hinging variations for posterior chain development from every angle.

All Good Morning variations provide a positive constraint on Lumbar Spine Posture and encourage optimal Lumbo-Pelvic Control in Hinging patterns. This kneeling variation forges a link between 2 complex coordination skills:

maintenance of Lumbar Spine neutral as the hip flexes/ extends and
counterbalancing of the hips to remain balanced learned (learned in the Kneeling Hip Hinge).

The limitations with this exercise are that A) kneeling exercises have low relevance or transfer to the majority of sporting movement done in standing, and B) there’s limited opportunity to load. As such we must progress onto the Good Morning in standing and beyond to Romanian Deadlifts to address these issues.

As with all high-constraints exercises, be light with your coaching cues (see the coaching card), let the task to the teaching and the athlete work it out themselves.

Hinge The Hinge series owns the deadlift derivatives that form a cornerstone of an effective strength programme. Fundamental to the hinge progression is the ability to maintain a neutral spine position under duress. By developing strength in a stiffened trunk position we can have a tremendous impact on both lumbar spine injury prevention and performance of our ability to transfer force through the body in the Kinetic Chain. This lumbo-pelvic control is perhaps the single most important skill that you need to develop. Because of this it builds roots into every exercise category in the SSOS.

The Corrective Theme is the initial phase of a 4-part movement hierarchy. This Theme contains exercises which promote good movement quality first. Here we expose range of motion deficits & poor coordination that will derail progression & transfer of training. Exercises in the Corrective Theme stimulate reflexive stabilisation in optimal postures at priority joints with dynamic control that will scale to support more complex exercise variations.