A lot of gymnastics skill seekers want to have strong and flexible hips. We want to perform a chest-to-floor pancake, chest-to-thigh pike, L-Sits, V-Sits, strict toes to bar, gymnastic bridge, and all the sick gymnastics skills.
Gymnastics Strength Training (GST) is full of movements that require strong and flexible hips.
So, where do you start?
There are literally thousands of strength and flexibility drills you can choose from.
What's the best bang for your buck?
If you've been doing a lot of Yoga, you might already have flexible hips but not very strong hips.
If you've been doing a lot of weight lifting, you might have strong hips but not very flexible hips.
Is there an exercise that can help build both strength and flexibility?
Yes!
Say hello to the Seated Good Morning (GM).
It's not new, as powerlifters, Olympic weightlifters, and gymgoers have been using it for years.
But have you been performing it correctly? The seated GM is an excellent movement for:
Increasing core strength (hitting hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, lower back, and abdominals).
Increasing hamstring, glute and adductor flexibility.
Accessory exercises to squats and deadlifts.
Improving Anterior Pelvic Tilt (APT), which is essential for gymnastics pike and pancake training.
As you can see, it offers the best of both worlds.
I’m going to talk about some variations you can use in the seated GM to increase strength and flexibility. One of the variation is the height of the elevated surface you sit on. The lower the elevation the greater the flexibility demands.
A good starting point is to sit on an elevation with the thighs parallel to the floor. As flexibility improves, you can go lower, you want to be able to touch your chest to the elevated surface before you lower it.
The primary goal of the seated GM is the hip hinge.
You want to be able to maintain a flat back and focus on tilting the pelvis forward to change the angle of the torso. The movement must come from the hips tilting, not the spine flexing.
This is why the seated GM is a great accessory exercise to squats, deadlifts, pike and pancake training - all of them require a hip hinge.
Your ability to tilt the pelvis forward is dictated by your hamstring and adductors' flexibility, as well as the strength of your hip flexors.
You're using your hip flexors to pull you into the hip hinge.
Which comes first, the flexibility or the strength?
A lot of people make the mistake of trying to build strength in the seated GM before they've successfully achieved the chest-to-bench flexibility
One of my mentors, Charles Poliquin, taught me that strength is only gained in the range of motion trained. In simple terms, you only build strength in the range of motion you train. So, if you never move into the end range of an exercises, you'll never get strong there.
That's whys it's vital to focus on flexibility first.
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If you can perform a chest-to-bench seated GM (thighs parallel to floor) the depth and strength of your squat will increase.
The seated GM is often used as an accessory exercise for squats and deadlifts, but it’s one of the key exercises that can also be used as a primary focus. If you want to increase your posterior chain strength I suggest you give it a try.
Why bent knees?
You'll notice that most of the seated GM variation are performed with the knees bent. You might be wondering how this is going to transfer to the gymnastics pike and pancake which are performed with straight legs.
By bending the knees, we create slack in the hamstring and adductors, allowing the pelvis to move into a much deeper range of Anterior Pelvic Tilt (APT).
Poor APT is one of the most significant limitations holding gymnastics skill seekers back from accomplishing the pike and pancake. We use the bent knee variation to increase APT and move closer to our pike and pancake goals.
There are several different seated good morning variations that we can use.
Where do you start?
For most people, the best place to start is the Seated Good Morning, Mid-Range, Straddle, Dumbbells.
This mid-range variation is a safe place to start because:
It shortens the range of motion, allowing us to build a base level of strength and flexibility before jumping into the full range of motion. A lot people start to flex the spine when they move into a deeper hip hinge, by shortening we can focus on maintaining a neutral spine and building an awareness of APT.
Lowers the centre of mass as the dumbbells are held below the hips.
Removes the possibility of getting stuck under the weight. If muscle fatigue sets in during a set, you can drop the weights and exist the movement safely.
Being able to touch the weights to the floor with a flat back is the first goal to aim for. Next, you an stick at the mid-range variation and start building strength by increasing the load, but that depends on you long-term goals. Are you training for strength or flexibility?
Typically, after a phase (4-6weeks) of training the mid-range seated good morning, we can progress to the Seated Good Morning, High Bench, Dumbbell Behind the Neck.
The change in position of the weight is pretty significant as the centre of mass is now above the hips. As we hinge at the hips the weight moves both forward and down. The more we hinge, the further forward the weight moves and the heavier the load becomes.
A 20kg dumbbell can feel relatively light when sitting up straight, but as we lean the torso forward, it will feel a lot heavier.
The scientific reason behind this is based on the fulcrum lever length and the gravity vector. In simple terms, it's like holding a 20kg dumbbell at chest height with bent arms versus holding a 20kg dumbbell at chest height with straight arms. The further away the weight is from your centre of mass, the heavier becomes. It’s all a question of leverage.
With the weight behind your neck, you want to maintain a flat back as you hinge at the hips and try to touch your elbows to the bench. If you can achieve that, you can then start to work into a greater range of motion and aim to touch your chest flat on the bench.
We use this exercise to increase the range of motion while building strength gradually.
"How much weight should I be using?"
The common question is, "how much weight should I be using?"
You want to find a weight that allows you to move into the deepest range of motion possible.
When we try to use a weight that's too heavy, our muscles will resist moving into a new range as a protective mechanism.
If we choose a weight that is too light, the weight won’t push us into a deeper range of motion. We want to find a weight that assists the goal of increasing flexibility.
It's about finding the Goldilocks of weights. Not too heavy, not too light, but just right.
Remember, the primary goal is maintaining a flat back and tilt from the pelvis. The secondary goal is to touch your chest to the bench. Do not sacrifice the primary goal to accomplish the secondary goal.
Once you’ve achieved the full range of motion you can start increasing the weight and working. I'm going to suggest that you build up to [8-10reps] with a 15-20kg dumbbell because the next step is to start using a barbell (standard female barbell =15kg, standard male barbell =20kg).
Using a target!
Another variation that I like to use in the Seated Good Morning, Weighted to Target.
When we’re building strength, we measure progress by the amount of weight being lifted.
When we’re building flexibility is can be a little harder to measure.
How do you know that you’re making progress?
How do you know that each rep is working a full range of motion?
This is where a target is super helpful in measuring you flexibility progress and holding you accountable for each rep.
Using the seated GM to build strength?
Once you've achieved the flexibility goal of touching your chest to the bench, what next?
Up until now, we've been focusing on increasing our flexibility so you can perform a full range of motion seated GM.
Next is the Good Morning, Seated, 90* Knee Bend, Barbell. When we move up to the barbell, we can start to increase the weight, and we can start to build some serious levels of strength.
Don't lose sight of the primary goal. Allow the range of motion to dictate the load, not the other way around. If you add too much weight, you won't be able to touch your chest on the bench.
Gradual steps.
Using the seated GM to support your training goals.
Depending on your training goals you’re going to have an option here.
To increase strength, you can continue to add weight to the bar and work a full range of motion in the Good Morning, Seated, 90* Knee Bend, Barbell exercise.
But, if you want to continue increasing flexibility, you’ll need to find a way to keep challenging the range of motion.
There are a number of option here:
You can increase the knee angle and start to work towards a straight leg seated GM.
You can gradually decrease the height of the elevated surface and start to take the hips closer to the floor.
You can play with both 1 & 2.
The lower the elevation and the straighter the legs, the deeper the stretch will be on the posterior chain. If you’re working towards a gymnastics pike and pancake, this is the journey you’re going to need to work on.
Whether you're a beginner or an expert the seated good morning is one of the best exercises for hip mobility and strength. It’s best to focus on the flexibility first and get your chest-to-bench before you start increasing the loads beyond 15-20kg. Once you’ve achieved the full range of motion you have the option of building strength, increasing flexibility, or working on a combination of the two.
The seated GM is one of the best exercises to increase hip strength and mobility.
If you’re an adult gymnastic skill seeker who wants to master your body weight and unlock skills you never thought possible, TSTM can help.
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