Friday, January 05, 2007

Back on Track: Good Mornings

After browsing through the exercise index at the elite fts site, I noticed this excerpt about Good Mornings:

"To illustrate the power of good mornings, I'll use my wife as an example.[...]

The first good morning session was done with a broomstick and then progressed to good mornings while standing on a band with the other end of the band around her upper traps. Her torso was the weakness and these movements were the solution.

So how did it work? Eleven months later, she squatted 365, bench pressed 240, and deadlifted 315... in the 123 weight class.

The key is to begin and train at the level you're at. If you're too weak to do a good morning, then use a broomstick until you can use a curl bar. Then move to a barbell and so on. Her best good morning before the meet was 225 for three reps."


So I decided to try some good mornings in the recommended rep range:

30kg x 5
50kg x 5
70kg x 5 (bad form, weight a bit too heavy)
60kg x 6
68kg x 5 ==> will be using this weight and go from there.

OBSERVATIONS:
-I felt like jumping a hole in the sky after that last set of 5. My hamstrings and lower back felt full and I can really see the carry over to the back squat, as lowering the bar - in a squatting motion - afterwards feels easy compared to the good mornings themselves.
-Will be using 68kg for now and progress from there. If I can make 225lbs/100kg for 3 reps the 365lbs squat should be well within reach.
-I decided to add good mornings in 3 x a week and keep my regular Olympic Lifting day on Wednesday.

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