smith bent knee good morning: technique and muscles worked

Animated demonstration of smith bent knee good morning

How to do this exercise

Step:1 Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward.
Step:2 Place the barbell across your upper back, resting it on your traps.
Step:3 Bend your knees slightly and hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back straight.
Step:4 Lower your torso until it is parallel to the ground, feeling a stretch in your hamstrings.
Step:5 Engage your glutes and hamstrings to raise your torso back up to the starting position.
Step:6 Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Equipment: Barbell Olympic barbell
Body part: Thighs Glutes
Target muscle: Lower back Hamstrings Gluteus maximus
Secondary muscle: Trapezius Latissimus dorsi Adductors

Hypertrophy grade

Good8 / 10

Nemeo’s take

The Good Morning is a “king” exercise for the posterior chain, and using the Smith Machine helps add valuable stability to focus solely on hip movement. By placing the bar on your trapezius and performing a hip flexion, you intensely use the hamstrings, glutes and spinal erectors (lower back). It's the "big brother" of the straight-leg deadlift: it imposes a massive stretch under load, which is one of the most powerful mechanisms for triggering muscle growth.

This catalog score reflects Nemeo’s assessment of the exercise’s muscle-building potential. It is not a standardized scientific rating or a personalized recommendation.

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smith bent knee good morning

How to do this exercise

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