Workout: Work that body!
This is the final call for fitness. This exercise has five rounds and combines many moves of our “Top 10 Home Workout Moves” blog post.
Say “Good Morning!” to Good Mornings
Good mornings are exercises to start your day off on the right foot, although you do not necessary need to do them right when you get up. You can do them anytime and anywhere and in the comfort and privacy of your own home. They are easy to do, and you might as well do a few, since good mornings are known for helping us get strong lower backs, toned legs and bubble butts! Maybe they should rename the good morning to the good butt? It seems more fitting, doesn’t it? Regardless if you answered yes or no to that question, you may be curious now how the good morning got its name.
Here’s how to do the good morning:
In our demonstration on our “Top 10 Home Workout Moves” you can see the good morning is a very simple exercise. It’s actually the simplest one we suggest you try, so you might as well try it out if you haven’t already. From the pictures and description, it should be clear all you need to do is stand upright with your feet shoulder-wide apart with your knees slightly bent and bend forward at the waist, right? Well, in many cultures bending at the waist is a greeting since when you bend at the waist you are literally “bowing,” hence the exercise gaining the name of “good morning.” Good morning is a bow or a way to say hello. The origin of the good morning is unknown, but this popular little exercise has been around for several years.
Even late celebrity and known martial arts instructor Bruce Lee was an avid good morning exerciser. Instead of just “bowing” Lee took the good morning a step further and preformed this exercise by holding a barbell with weights across his shoulders. He bent at the waist with the weight on his shoulders while keeping his legs and back straight, and then returned to an upright standing position.
Although using weights can be a good way to increase your back muscle, failing to master the good morning first with no weights as a warm up or using too much weight can be dangerous and potentially cause injury. Lee actually injured his lower back while doing this exercise by failing to warm up and by using too much excess weight, so exercise sound judgment before deciding whether or not adding weights is the right option for your good morning workout. But just keep in mind you don’t need to use weights to do this home workout. We don’t!
So what do good mornings work out?
The target muscles of your good morning exercise (whether you use weights or not) are your hamstrings. Hamstrings are the muscles in the back of your upper legs (semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris). If you’re a woman, this is the area that generally develops cellulite and seems strenuous to define and tone. Although your hamstrings are the main focus, it is not the only part of your body that benefits from the effects of this workout. Your lower back and your hips also feel the effects as well as some synergist muscles. Synergists muscles are muscles that indirectly benefit from a workout without being directly involved. This means while you are performing your good morning, your gluteus maximus (glutes or buttocks) and adductor magnus (groin) are indirect muscles also being targeted (getting a workout). So, as you may have concluded, the good morning is an amazing exercise that strengthens several muscle groups.
If you’ve already tried our good morning and you’re looking to amplify your hamstring workout even more, try the Sitting Good Morning.
Sitting Good Morning
As the name hints, you sit while performing this modified version of the good morning. You can even perform this one while watching television. It’s that easy! Or is it? Give it a try and let us know.
- Sit on the edge of a sturdy kitchen chair or a bench if you have one, positioning both of your feet flat on the ground with your legs hip-width apart or closer. Your legs should form a 90 degree angle and your thighs should be parallel with the floor (or very close).
- While keeping your left foot flat on the floor with your knee bent, stretch your right leg out in front of you and lower it to the floor. Arch your toes toward the ceiling while keeping your heel on the floor. (Toes in the air, heel on the ground).
- While keeping your back in alignment with the chair’s back (erect and straight up) bend over at the waist toward your knees. You don’t need to touch your knees, just bend forward as far as you can while keeping your back in a straight line and then return to an upright seated position. You should feel a slight pull on your right hamstring as you do these (the leg that is extended—not bent). If you feel unstable while performing this move, rest your hands on your left thigh for support (the leg that is bent) or hold gently onto the sides of your chair.
- Perform as many as you can and then switch legs. If you want to intensify this exercise further, when you bent forward at the waist hold the position for 20 to 30 seconds before returning to an upright position and repeating.
If you haven’t already given the good morning a try yet, maybe you will after hearing about some of the benefits the good morning exercise offers:
Health Benefits of the Good Morning: Why the Good Morning is a Great Exercise
- Good mornings can strengthen and sculpt your back to actually prevent back injuries in the future (So we get an awesome toned back and avoid future heartache!)
- Good mornings can increase our level of balance (risk of falling decreases).
- Good mornings can help enlarge, tone and shape our glutes (Bye bye cellulite! Hello bubble butt!)
- Good mornings can help tone our abs (Hard abs here we come!)
- Good mornings are one of the best and most recommended exercising techniques for people who want to build hamstring muscle.
The good morning is a great exercise for persons of all ages, and the best part is it takes only seconds to do. Of course, the more you do, the quicker you will see results. This is the easiest exercise you can perform by doing our Home Workout Challenge. After reading this information and watching our demonstrations, if for any reason you are hesitating right now, doubting whether or not you can do this, trust us, you can! At the very least, give the good morning a try. Once you see just how easy it is, we know you’ll want to try the rest of our “Top 10 Home Workout Moves.” Get the results you want with a team who supports you on your fitness journey.
