Hanging Bar Good Morning

intermediate · hinge

Setup

Suspend the bar from the rack on heavy-duty chains or straps. Set the length so the bar sits exactly across your upper back at the bottom of your hinge — roughly stomach height when you stand tall. Step under it, set the bar across your upper back as you would for a squat, pinch your shoulder blades together and stand up: at the top the chains are slack and you carry the whole bar, at the bottom they come taut and take it off you.

Execution

Stand feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent and held at that same angle, core braced.
Inhale and push your hips back as your chest tips forward, lower back flat, neck in line with the spine.
Lower to close to parallel with the floor, descending slowly until the chains come taut and start taking part of the load; never drop into them.
Exhale, drive your hips forward and squeeze the glutes and hamstrings to stand tall as the chains go slack again.
If you run out of strength mid-set, do not fight to stand up: keep folding until the chains take the whole bar, drop your shoulders out from under it and step forward.

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 load.

Quick cues

Hips back first, chest follows.
Lower slowly until the chains go taut.
Hold the same small knee bend.
Lower back flat like a board.
Out of strength, let the chains take it.

Common faults

Fault: Dropping into the bottom so the bar slams into the chains and bounces back into your back
Fix: Lower over 2 seconds and let the chains come taut gradually at the end of the range, treating them as a catch, not a backstop.
Fault: The lower back rounding on the way down
Fix: Shorten the chains so the bar meets its catch earlier, cutting the range back to where the spine can stay flat through the whole rep.
Fault: The knees bending more and more, turning it into a squat
Fix: Lock in one small fixed knee angle before starting and move only at the hip.
Fault: Standing off-center so the chains twist or hang unevenly
Fix: Re-center your stance between the two chains before each set and check both sides hang at the same height.

Equipment

barbell, squat_rack, other

Muscle groups

legs, glutes, back, core