StrengthIn review

Dumbbell Good Morning

A standing hip hinge with one dumbbell held against the chest in both hands.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Hinge
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand with the feet hip width apart and the knees a little bent.
Hold one dumbbell against the chest with both hands, below the chin.

Do the rep

Push the hips back and lower the chest with a flat back while holding the dumbbell against the chest.
Stop when the torso is near parallel to the floor or the hamstrings stop the hips.
Drive the hips forward and stand tall.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the hips move back with a flat back to the end of the range and you return to standing tall.

One rep starts standing with one dumbbell held against the chest in both hands, hinges the hips back with softly bent knees until the torso is near parallel or the back would change position, and ends standing tall.

Breathing

Inhale as you hinge; exhale as you stand up.

Cues

Move the hips back, not the shoulders down.
Keep the back flat from the hips to the head.
Lower more slowly or pause at the bottom when the reps get easy.

Common mistakes

Rounding the back
What you seeThe upper or lower back curves as the chest lowers.
FixStop higher and keep the chest long.
A flat back keeps the load on the hips.
Squatting the movement
What you seeThe knees bend a lot and move forward.
FixKeep the shins near vertical and push the hips back.
The hinge trains the hamstrings and glutes, not the quadriceps.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you cannot keep the dumbbell secure against the chest.
Stop if you feel pain in the lower back.
End the set when you cannot keep a flat back.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Glutes · moderate confidence
Hamstrings · moderate confidence

Assisting

Spinal erectors · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence
Forearms and grip · moderate confidence

Equipment

Dumbbell

Use one dumbbell that you can hold secure against the chest with both hands.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 12, written from the blueprint CSV row and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12 in #340. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the owner rules; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_dumbbell_romanian_deadlift, the closest Wave 1 record. Its review evidence is not carried into this draft.
Rule 1 requires 1 dumbbell; setup and technique use that quantity. Load-and-reps uses kg. Load steps come from user equipment, so load_increment_constraints stays empty.
Failure cost moderate: the user must control the stop with a free weight (rule 3).
The CSV says home no. Rule 1 gives home yes because every required item is a home item; classification and engine environments include home.
The optional bench from the CSV is removed because the movement does not use it.
Rule 2 gives primary_hinge and secondary_lower, as ex_dumbbell_romanian_deadlift and ex_barbell_hip_thrust.
Skill tier beginner: a new user can do one clean rep with a suitable free weight in the first session (rule 3).
The draft holds one dumbbell against the chest in both hands, unlike ex_bodyweight_good_morning. Review must confirm the load position and hinge range.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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