Upper body workouts, neck straining(?)

[elpa]

Hi folks, it seems that whenever I try to perform an upper body exercise(bench press, lat pulls, even crunches) I have this terrible tendency to flex the muscles at juncture between neck and upper back(scrunching everything up, I suppose). Afterwards there is a tightness in that area and I was just wondering if I'm putting too much strain on my neck, and some possible ways to correct this. I have tried performing crunches the exact way I've seen them shown and I still can't help but to scrunch my neck up.


Not too sure that made much sense, but if it did all advice is appreciated. :]

 

[Mudge]

Just make sure you aren't throwing your neck forwards putting the spine in an awkward position. Dont pull on your neck when you do crunches, not sure I understand the problem because I dont abnormally flex my neck doing crunches. I put my hands on my chest.

 

[OceanDude]

I do this often when I do very heavy lat pull downs or shrugs. When I get like this I put a towl aroud my neck, tilt my head forward and pull down with the towl as I lift my neck/head up at various angles to stretch things out and east the sensation. I suspect its jsut a nerve getting pinched or cramped when the muscle flexes intensely.

 

[Mudge]

I allow myself to tilt my neck forward only slightly with shrugs, lifting the weight relatively slowly though I have no issues straining it. I have more issues doing dumbell laterals with 50s

 

[Jim1954]

Do you ever have neck problems when your not working out?

You might try stretching the neck, by gently pulling it forward, and pulling the head to the left, and then the right. It seems to help me when my neck gets stiff. Some neck bridges every once in awhile probably wouldn't hurt anything.

I do use my hands behind the neck while doing crunches, but I never pull on the neck.

 

[Mudge]

Then its no biggy, the thing is to avoid pulling on the neck, I happen to like hands in front better