Good Morning (SL)

Hinge

Challenge

Level: 7

Target Action: Eccentric

Assistance

Kit: Barbell

Play Video

The Good Morning (SL) and it’s progressions the Romanian Deadlift (SL), Good Morning Hold to Arabesque and Hip Hinge to Arabesque work as a ‘progression within a progression’ in the Challenge Theme to form a bridge between the bilateral Stiff Legged Deadlift exercise variations of the Fundamentals Theme and the Arabesque variations of the Mastery Theme.

We realised the need for this series of exercise when trying to teach Arabesque variations to a high standard. The jump from bilateral hinging to hinging on single leg is just too big for many athletes.

Hip stability on single leg is built on a foundation of bilateral lumbo-pelvic control in the saggital plane so the Mastery Theme depends on the progress made through the Hinge Exercise Category so far. External resistance is obviously lower on single leg but the coordination demand is somewhat higher.

What changes as we move from Bilateral Stance to a Split Stance

The goal here is to load the leading leg with minimal weight on the back foot. To cue that simply ask the athlete to point the tips of the toes onto the floor rather than the forefoot. While the lead leg takes the load, the rear leg provides a second anchor point with the ground which helps to avoid rotation in the transverse plane that we commonly see in Arabesque variations.

The Good Morning on Single Leg

The Good Morning (SL) reuses the bar-on-back constraint seen previously in the Hinge Category to lock in braced lumbar neutral in Hinging while we introduce a new skill in the split stance. Like all Good Morning variations, shoulder function isn’t really a consideration here either allowing us to focus directly on the ability of the athlete to Hinge competently with this new stance.

Common Errors:

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 Challenge Theme is where Low Constraints and Exercise Intensity converge to test dynamic postural control under maximal loads. Here we use an array of movement tasks to actually encourage movement skills to crumble and ask athletes to defend optimal coordination using intense load or speed. Excelling in the Challenge Theme demonstrates an extremely trainable athlete across the 14 Exercise Categories. Every % increase in strength with these techniques demonstrates an increase in robustness and readiness to perform high quality movement at ever higher standards of performance.