Neck Question

I HAVE BEEN NOTICING WHEN EVER I GO HEAVY ON BENCH MY NECK GETS A LITTLE BIT SORE FROM STRAINING I GUESS TO ME THAT SHOWS A SIGN OF A WEAK NECK COULD ANYONE GIVE ME SOME TECHNIQUES ON STRENGTHENING UP MY NECK IN THE GYM ALL HELP IS APPRICIATED.

When I played football we used to lie on a bench, face down, with our head off the end. Bend your head forward (chin to chest)your partner takes a rolled up towel, places it on the back of your head, resists and you slowly straighten your head (for reps). Do this to either side as well. I also did it lying backdown but stopped because bending your head back pinches your vertabrae. Another good exercise is a wrestlers bridge. Lie on your back, bend your knees, cross your arms on yur chest and slowly roll up onto your head.

Pete

One thing do you lift your head off the bench whilst benching? This can cause neck pain.

BA

AL ITS NOT REALLY A NECK PAIN ITS MORE OF A SORENESS FROM STRAINING AND TENSEING MY NECK DURING THE PRESS

I feel ya man , my neck does the same thing after i bench. I think its because we're not concentrating on using 100% chest and we're just trying to get the weight up any way we can. I believe that could be causing strain on the neck. BTW..... cool ass avatar.

Jeremy...try stretching your neck before and after. Chin to shoulder (hold for a count of 10), chin to other shoulder (same), chin to chest (same), ear to shoulder (same), ear to other shoulder (same). Try it and see if it helps.

Pete

Pete and Big Al made a valid point. Streaching always is a good idea before a lift, but mostr important make sure that you are useing good form. You need top keep your back flat on the bench, feet flat on the floor. If you have to arch your back drop the amount of weight. Another thing is to Not allow the bar to touch your chest. Visualize a plane that goes straight across your shoulder blades. When you are on the downward movement of the bench press rep, do not allow your elbows to go past that imaginary plane. This also holds true for any type of shoulder press movement. If your neck is still bothering you follow Big Al's advice and try to focus on keeping your head down on the bench. The upward movement is a power movement where by you can push alot of weight. This unfortunately opens the door for injuryes as well. Try warm compresesses on your neck to ease the soreness. If there is any swelling use cold compresess. If it lingers for more than a week see your doctor.
Good Luck
Tobey

You should,nt get a sore neck from benching-period.I bet you lift your head a little bit and it strains your neck.Like the guys said stretch your neck but do this slowly and try to make sure your head does,nt come off the bench

Billy

i lift my neck when the wieght is coming down but when it goes back up i keep my feet flat on the floor back and head flat on the bench the soreness in the neck just happend the one time and it was when i was doing my last set of two one rep sets cause on my flat bench i work it like this

set 1 warm up 15 reps
set 2 warm up increase weight 10reps
set 3 8 reps increase weight
set 4 4 reps increase weight
set 5 1 rep increase weight
set 6 1 rep increase weight


do you think thats good

JRMY2711,
I have been lifing like that with the same concept for years now. It gives you the benifits of a good warm up and high reps as well as strentgh sets with low reps and heavy weight. Looks good to me bro, just be carefull not to get complacent with the weight. This has happened to me in the past and I have wittnessed it many times before with others as well. What I mean is that it is easy for you to get accustom to the weight wiithout realizing it and before you know it you are in the gym working out but you are not pushing the body to it's max potential anymore. In effect you are getting a mental workout in the fact that you are in the gym and menatally you feel like you have worked out but in reality you could have pushed yourself harder and thus gotten a overall better workout. Does that make sense? Anyway good luck with you training. I personally would not change a thing on what you have above. How often do you workout, and what body parts do you do each day?
Tobey

I TRY TO GO UP IN WEIGHT AT LEAST 5LBS EVERY WEEK SO FAR I HAVENT HIT A PLATEAU YET BUT WHEN I DO YOU GUYS WILL BE GETTING SOME ?? ON A CYCLE PROGRAM AND DIET AND ALL THAT FUN STUFF AND FOR ALL YOU SCAMMERS I DONT NEED HELP GETTING ANY GEAR.