The Good Mornings is a beginner-friendly bodyweight strength exercise that targets the glutes and hamstrings, with the abdominals working alongside. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesGlutes, Hamstrings
Secondary musclesAbs
EquipmentBodyweight
LevelBeginner
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Good Mornings
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, hands crossed at your chest or behind your head.
Brace your core and unlock your knees with a soft bend, keeping that bend constant through the rep.
Push your hips backward and bow your torso forward, keeping your back flat from head to tailbone.
Lower until you feel a deep stretch in the hamstrings or your torso is roughly parallel to the floor.
Drive your hips forward to lift your torso back up to standing, squeezing your glutes at the top.
Pause briefly upright before starting the next rep, keeping the same knee angle throughout the set.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Builds hamstring strength through a controlled stretch.
Strengthens the glutes and lower back as a connected hinge unit.
Teaches the hip-hinge pattern used in every deadlift variation.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Rounding the back as you bow forward, which loads the spine instead of the hamstrings and glutes.
Bending the knees more as you go down, turning the hinge into a half-squat and reducing hamstring work.
Going past parallel before the hips can absorb the stretch, which strains the lower back.
Standing up by pulling with the lower back instead of driving with the hips and glutes.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Good Mornings, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
