Smith Machine Good Morning
Smith machine good mornings train the hip hinge with a guided bar across the upper back, loading glutes, hamstrings and trunk stabilizers.
HAMSTRINGS · LOWER BODY
How it is executed
- Position the bar across your upper traps inside the Smith machine and unrack it with a shoulder-width stance and a slight bend in your knees.
- Brace your core and keep a neutral spine as you hinge at the hips, pushing your glutes back and lowering your torso toward parallel.
- Stop when you feel a strong stretch in your hamstrings without rounding your lower back.
- Drive your hips forward to return to standing, squeezing your glutes at the top.
- The fixed bar path lets you focus on the hinge without balancing the load.
- Muscles worked
- Hamstrings
- Primary muscle
- Hamstrings
- Equipment
- Smith machine
- Movement pattern
- Lower body
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- What it is for
- StrengthHypertrophy
Common mistakes
- Bending the back for more depth: reduce range.
- Turning it into a squat: move the hips backward.
- Skipping the stops: set safeties before loading.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the rail remove lower-back demand?
- No. The trunk still supports the load. Start light and do not use the rail as a reason to increase weight without control.
- How far should you hinge?
- As far as you can move the hips back without losing spinal position. Reaching parallel is not mandatory.
- How should you set the safeties?
- Set stops below the intended range and rehearse entry and exit without plates. The bar rests on the upper back, not the neck.
Sources and editorial approach
The explanation, variations and FAQs are Kaizer’s editorial synthesis. ACSM’s 2026 guidance provides general context on progression and resistance training in healthy adults; it does not independently validate the technique of each variation.
No individual professional review is recorded for this page.
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Glossary and calculators
HypertrophyHypertrophy is the increase in muscle fibre size in response to sustained resistance training.Linear progressionLinear progression is the scheme where load rises by a fixed amount every session or every week, with sets and reps held constant.RIR ↔ %1RM conversionWhat percentage of 1RM does your RIR correspond to?
