Band Good Morning

beginner · hinge

Setup

Stand on the middle of a resistance band with your feet shoulder-width apart to anchor it. Bend forward and loop the other end across the top of your upper back, where a bar would sit rather than on the neck bones, then pin it to your shoulders with both hands.

Execution

Stand tall with a soft bend in the knees, hold that same knee angle for the whole set, chest open.
Inhale, brace your core, and push your hips back as your chest tips forward, keeping the lower back naturally straight.
Lower until your torso is close to parallel with the floor, or as far as you can control the band tension.
Exhale, drive your hips forward and squeeze your glutes to stand back up, not your lower back.

Breathing

Inhale as you lower, exhale as you drive the hips forward to stand up. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, a hernia or are pregnant, do not hold your breath: exhale as you stand up and use a lighter band.

Quick cues

Hips back first, chest follows.
Lock the knee angle, don't squat it.
Lower back flat like a board.
Squeeze glutes to stand, not your back.
Stop where the band pulls hardest.

Common faults

Fault: Bending the knees into a squat instead of hinging the hips
Fix: Stand close to a wall so your hips lightly touch it as they push back, and keep the knees at one small fixed angle.
Fault: The lower back rounding on the way down
Fix: Shorten the range to where the back can still stay flat, and rehearse the hinge with no band in front of a mirror first.
Fault: Standing up by arching the upper back instead of driving the hips
Fix: Think about driving the hips forward to touch an imaginary point, squeezing the glutes at the top.
Fault: The band slipping off the neck or sliding to one side
Fix: Loop the band over the top of the upper back rather than the neck itself, and hold it pinned to the shoulders with both hands for the whole set.

Equipment

resistance_band

Muscle groups

legs, glutes, back