No pain in the neck

Add comment June 7th, 2008

Crunches may be the most popular core conditioning exercise going, but they’re also prone to the most common mistake made when beginners progress from folding their arms across their chest to putting their hands behind their head when working their abs — pulling the neck forward as they flex upward.

Naturally, the problem is that eventually their neck, and probably their shoulders, are going to ache from the strain of being pulled on every repetition.

 I’ve offered my clients tricks such as pushing the tip of their tongue against the roof of their mouth and squeezing a tennis ball with each hand to help them keep their neck in neutral position, but I found a really good one today while studying a Core Conditioning video by Glen Carrigan of Progressive Education in Hilton Head, S.C.

Carrigan suggests making a fist with one hand and placing it directly under and touching the chin, and holding the other hand, palm down, directly under the fisted hand as the exerciser flexes upward.

Suddenly, it becomes very hard to flex the neck forward at all and, if you’d still have the tendency to do so, you’ve got both hands under your chin to remind you not to do it.

Keeping the neck from pulling forward can lead to more repetitions more comfortably and, maybe, the abs you’re looking for.