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Crunches hurt my neck, how can I avoid this?
(5003 reads) 
Question:
I like to do crunches for my abs, but every time I do them I hurt my
neck! Is there any way to eliminate this problem?
Answer:
This is a common complaint. In fact, in my many years as a personal
trainer I have heard this dozens of times. There are a few things you can
do to make your neck more comfortable while performing crunches. I know
this will sound strange, but the first thing you may want to try is
placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth while crunching. This is
the anatomical resting position of the tongue, and it will help to
recruit the muscles near the surface of the neck that best support your
head. When your tongue is in any other position the much weaker muscles
near the cervical vertabrae must support the head. These muscles are
easily strained and/or injured when overtaxed. Another thing you might
try is resting your head on the floor briefly between reps. This will
lessen the stress on your neck by allowing these muscles to relax
momentarily. Just don't rest too long or you will compromise the training
effect on your abs. Finally, do not interlock your fingers and place them
behind your head during crunching movements. This is probably the number
one reason for neck strain during ab work, for as you begin to fatigue
you will most likely begin to pull on your neck and head in order to do
more reps. This can overstretch connective tissue and injure the delicate
neck muscles.
Question:
I am training about 2 hours per day, 4 days per week, but not
growing. My diet is solid, I use the proper supplements, and I train
hard! Am I just genetically screwed?
Answer:
While not all of us has the genetics to become bodybuilding giants,
everyone is capable of getting significantly bigger and stronger through
weight training. If I take you at your word that you are dieting and
supplementing correctly, and that you are training intensely, than my
opinion is that you are in the gym for too long! Two hour, 30 set
workouts are for pros on juice and with all day to train. For most
trainees 10-12 total work sets is all that should be performed during
each workout. You should not be in the gym for more than an hour at a
time or you are at risk of over training. More is not always better when
it comes to training. After 60 minutes or so of hard training, several
negative things begin to happen within your body. Testosterone begins to
drop, cortisol begins to rise, brain neurotransmitters begin to fizzle
out, and ATP-CP stores dwindle away. |
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