Barbell · advanced · back
Barbell good morning to behind neck shoulder press
Also called Good morning to behind the neck press, Good morning press combo, Good morning to press.
With a bar across your upper back, you hinge forward into a good morning, stand back up, then press the bar overhead from behind your neck and bring it down again. The hamstrings drive the hinge and the delts do the press. What makes this one unusual is that it is capped twice over: the hinge half is the least forgiving loaded hinge you own, and the press half needs shoulder range not everyone has.
How to do it
- Step onePlace a barbell across your upper back and stand with feet shoulder-width apart.
- Step twoHinge forward at the hips with a slight bend in the knees, lowering your torso toward the ground.
- Step threeKeep your back flat and lower until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
- Step fourReturn to an upright position, then press the barbell overhead from behind the neck.
- Step fiveLower the bar back to your upper back and repeat the sequence.
What usually goes wrong
Each starts with what you would notice.
The hinge feels fine and then the bar will not go overhead.
WhyYou loaded it for the good morning. Even a light good morning is heavier than most people press from behind the neck, so the top half is where the sequence stops.
FixSet the weight from the press, and expect it to be very light. Both halves of this movement want a light bar for different reasons, which is unusual and worth taking at face value.
The bar sits in an awkward place when you go to press.
WhyThe hinge wants the bar low and settled across the upper back so it does not travel while you are horizontal. The press wants it higher and closer to your shoulders. It cannot be in both places at once.
FixStand up fully, then move the bar deliberately to where you press from before the press starts. Treat it as three separate things rather than one continuous motion.
You start pressing before you are completely upright.
WhyBlending the two halves, so the press begins from a torso that is still leaning and the bar goes up on an angle.
FixFinish the hinge standing tall with your hips underneath you, take a beat, then press. Rushing the join is what turns a controlled rep into a save.
You have to strain to get the bar behind your head at all.
WhyPressing from behind the neck needs a certain amount of shoulder range and not everybody has it. If getting into the position is the hard part, the press has not started yet.
FixDo the press from the front instead. It is a different set of muscles at the shoulder rather than a lesser version, and forcing range you do not have is where positions go wrong.
What it is for
The barbell good morning to behind neck shoulder press is an advanced compound movement combining a posterior chain stretch with an overhead press. It targets the hamstrings and lower back through the good morning while also developing shoulder and trap strength through the press.
Questions people ask
- What muscles does this work?
- The hamstrings drive the hinge with the glutes assisting, your lower back holds your torso angle throughout, and the delts and traps handle the press. It is two exercises stacked, so it works what both of them work.
- How heavy should this be?
- Light, and lighter than either half would be on its own would suggest. The press caps it, and the hinge half punishes a lost position faster than any other hinge because the bar sits so far from your hips.
- Is pressing behind the neck a problem?
- The research that compared it measured muscle activity in eight competitive bodybuilders, not injury, so nobody can honestly say. It found more middle and rear delt behind the neck than in front. It does need shoulder range that not everyone has, and forcing that range is the thing to avoid.
- Can I do this from the front instead?
- Yes. Pressing from the front works the triceps and chest more and the middle and rear delt less, which is a difference rather than a downgrade. If getting the bar behind your head is the hard part of the rep, press from the front.
- Should the bar move between the two halves?
- Yes, deliberately. The hinge wants it settled low across your upper back where it will not travel while you are leaning. The press wants it up near your shoulders. Move it while you are standing still rather than mid-rep.