Seated Straddle Good Morning
Adductors and hamstrings at length together — the wide, low position a slide tackle or a low ball ends up in
How to do it well
The set-up and the rep in full, then the cues the app shows on the exercise card — the short version, for the moment you are standing in front of the bar.
Set-up
Sit on the floor with the legs straight and spread as wide as is comfortable, toes pointing up. Rest a light bar across the upper back, or put the hands behind the head for the bodyweight version.
The rep
Sit tall, then hinge forward from the hips over five seconds, keeping the chest long and the back flat, until you feel the inside and the back of the thighs. Hold for thirty seconds, sinking a little further on each breath out. Rise back up slowly.
On the exercise card
- Fold from the hip, chest long
- Sink further on each exhale
- Tempo
- 5s to fold
What goes wrong, and the fix
| What goes wrong | The fix |
|---|---|
| Rounding the back | The fold comes from the hips. A long chest keeps the stretch in the hamstrings and adductors, not the spine. |
| The toes rolling inward | Keep them pointing up so the knees point up too. |
| Bouncing to get lower | Hold and breathe. Each breath out should take you slightly further. |
Make it easier, or harder
- Easier
- Sit on a cushion to tip the pelvis forward, or bring the legs narrower.
- Harder
- Wider legs, a slightly heavier bar, or a longer hold.
How Train Smart prescribes it
The sets and reps below are the authored starting point. The actual weight you see is calculated from your own last top set and the week you are in within your four-week block.
Hockey ends up wide and low, in a slide tackle or a low reverse-stick, and dance spends a lot of time in a straddle. Both programs hold this in the prehab block to build strength in the adductors and hamstrings at the same time.
What it trains, and who trains it
- Muscles worked
- Groin / Adductors · Hamstrings
- Region
- Lower body
- Classified as
- Mobility
If you cannot do this one
Rack taken, kit missing, or it does not suit you. These are the swaps the app offers, matched by movement pattern and body region — each with the reason it is a fair substitute.
| Alternative | Why it works as a swap |
|---|---|
| Trap Bar Deadlift | Big posterior-chain pull, back-friendly — sprinter strength gold standard |
| Romanian Deadlift | Hamstring + glute loaded stretch — anti-injury for soccer/AFL |
| Conventional Deadlift | Full-body max strength pull |
| Sumo Deadlift | Wide stance, more glute/adductor — hip-driven athletes |
| Deficit Deadlift | Standing on a plate — longer pull, more eccentric for hamstring resilience |
| Snatch-Grip RDL | Wider grip + bigger upper-back demand — Olympic lifters, throwers |
This exercise, in a program that knows why it is there
Train Smart puts this movement in the right session, at the right point in your block, at a weight calculated for you — and swaps it automatically if you do not have the kit.
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