Barbell Good Mornings for lower back

[ajb316]

I dont understand my strength with barbell good mornings, I'm assuming I'm working my lower back muscles.

I feel incredibly strong doing these. I can do 145lbs x 12 reps with prefect form which is basically my bodyweight.

I get funny looks in my gym as the only people who do this exercise are women or 'fitness members' with a really low weight.

I use the squat rack and never seen anyone else use it for this exercise.

Is this a safe weight to perform this exercise or am I doing damage to my lower back? I feel pain when doing them but not 'bad pain' just like my muscles are working.

I also do weighted hyperextensions with a 20kg plate for 20+reps and both these exercises really work my lower back, (along with seated rows) on back day.

[Lencho]

If you feel better after you do them, then you're okay.

[Tyciol]

Yeah, it's fine as long as you maintain good form and the back doesn't round. Just make sure you maintain a roughly regular length in your spine. Like, doing these after a set of squats or deadlifts is WAY different from doing them right in the morning or doing them after a set of chinups. The difference being the space between your spinal discs.

If they're really stretched out then you might not be able to handle as much weight versus if they are compressed. So, I think for moves like this (or stiff legged deadlifts) which involve horizantal spinal loading like this, one has to allow for some level of instinctive training due to that variable.

Another is, not going below parallel, no part of the spine should ever descend lower or closer to the ground than one of it's inferior vertebrae. The superior vertebrae should always be further away from the ground.

The reason is, if you go below that line in any way it puts disc traction and can lengthen the spine. This is fine for controlled eccentric-only stretching with lighter weights but shouldn't be done if you plan on going back up the same way because it will be harder on the way up after you have stretched. If it ever happens by accident then you should bend your knees so that your hips lower and push out of it like a normal back squat.

I have a feeling this might be how Bruce Lee injured his spine during good mornings. He's such a flexible bastard he was probably thinking "why stop at parallel? I'll do it until my head is pointing straight down and I will hold the bar onto my backs like I was doing a pull-up" and then POP on the way up

Or like, I mean, some triad guy kicked him from behind after losing a secret Chinese kempo tournament and then he fought a demonic suit of armour.

[ironwill2008]

Is this a safe weight to perform this exercise or am I doing damage to my lower back? I feel pain when doing them but not 'bad pain' just like my muscles are working.

I don't know; I haven't seen you performing them.

Post a vid, from the side, of yourself performing the lift with your regular working weight.