How do you do crunches/situps without hurting your neck? or do you just deal with the neck pain?

Hey Tash, I don't find my neck hurts when i do crunches. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be engaging your neck (or upper back) at all actually.. the movement should all be around the stomach, if you're bending at the neck it wont be as effective.

I don't bend at the neck. its just holding up my head hurts. I try to keep my neck as straight as possible though, but it still hurts and makes me not want to do any crunches....

You know I taught a guy the same thing tonight who was having the same problem. Lots of people have this problem when they first start doing crunches and what causes it is that you are doing one of 2 things wrong. Without seeing you do them I can only guess

If the pain is in the back of your neck then well you are pulling on the back of your neck with your arm and pulling hard. To fix this do not clasp your hands behind your head, just hold them on the side of your head. Remember you are working your abs by rolling your shoulder blades off the floor not pulling on your head with your hands. You can also try doing them with your arms crossed on your chest. Crunches are a very very small move, you are rolling your torso forward just enough to get your shoulder blades off the floor while pressing your lower back down into the floor. Once you get the hang of it after a few months you can put your hands behind your head again.

If the pain is in the front then you are straining to do the crunch and trying to extend your neck. Again this is sometimes a natural thing people do. Basically you are tensing all the way up to your neck and basically straining your neck muscles to lift your shoulders off the floor, basically you are using your neck kind of like a chicken strutting around the chicken coop every time you go up you jut your neck forward. This is a little harder to fix. You have to focus on relaxing all muscles but your abs and also focus on your abs and them contracting. This is usually a little more of an advanced thing this is called developing a Mind to Muscle connection. But you want to feel the muscle working and concentrate on it. Feel all other muscles and what they are doing. Really doing a crunch all other muscles should be relaxed. One way you might find of doing this is roll forward to where your shoulder blades are off the floor then look to the left and look to the right, you should be able to turn your head easily as your neck muscles should be relaxed.

Hope that help, let me know.

Another way if those do not help that many people find easier is doing a leg up crunch where you put your legs up on a bench so your thigh are 90 degrees up, and your knees are bent at 90 degrees on the bench then roll your abs forward. This is a little easier to do and should help you build up strength in your abs so you can do them properly in a few months.

Don't worry this is quite common, the guy I helped tonight was doing 3 sets of 50 sit ups on a decline bench and had worked up to that. He could not figure out why he couldn't get 6 pack abs or his abs to even show, if you didn't know sit ups mainly work your hip flexors not really your abs too much, the abs respond to rolling your torso. I pointed to his abs and said, does it feel like that area was being worked out, he said no, so i pointed along his hip flexors I said is that area tired and sore. he said yes. I then said well what do you think you were working, he thought for a minute, then pointed along his hip flexors, to which I said you think working that area will develop your six pack, he laughed because he began to understand.

I showed him knee up crunches, reverse crunches and oblique crunches. I did try Swiss Ball crunches but he could only do 2 or 3 of those. So we went to knee up crunches which this guy that could do 150 sit up could only do 20 crunches before feeling that burn in his abs so intense he couldn't do any more. But he was tensing his neck as well I had a hard time convincing him to relax his neck. Its actually going to take him a few time to get that out of his system because right now the crunch is just too intense for him to think about anything else.

So anyway your neck is sore because your basically trying to work the wrong muscle or the wrong way. You just need to pay attention to your body it will tell you what parts are being worked or which ones aren't not. You will feel it however sometimes figuring it out can be a little more difficult.

its in the back of my neck. but I have never put my hands behind my head. I was taught a long time ago to cross your arms over your chest so you don't pull on your neck. My husband was taught to lock your fingers behind your head :roll: but he gets in trouble if he doesnt. I always put my hands on my shoulders either with my arms crossed or not. although one of the videos on exersizetv has you put your arms straight up above your head. Something about making it more difficult....

I don't know what hip flexors are. I do crunches on my living room floor. We have a bench, but I rarely get it out since my toddler likes to stand on it. Of course she likes to stand on me while I do crunches too which doesn't help... :lol: (I try to do stuff while shes eating [read: trapped in high chair] or asleep). I always feel it the most in the area above my belly button and below my ribs. but a little tiny bit under my belly where my pooch is. (of course I know that will never go away, oh well). and of course the pain (not the same as the burn kinda feeling in my abs) in my neck.

As soon as I stop my neck stops hurting. It feels to me like my head is just too heavy. I don't know. Could it be that my neck muscles are just too weak to hold my head at that angle? its not a normal angle to have my head in... :shrug:

If it would help I might be able to get a (low quality) video up... it might be a few days though....

For your pooch you want to do reverse crunches, that tagets below the belly button and pulls that area in and makes it hard and smooth.

Here is good video that talks about reverse crunches and shows it to you.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/liftrite10.htm

Sounds like you are feeling the crunches correctly. just too much tension on your neck. Just sounds like you are stressing your neck if you can do a video make sure who ever is filming you shows you doing a couple from a distance so I can see your whole body, but wear something that shows your neck really well, then have them focus in on your neck area from both the top and side while you are doing crunches.

Oh yeah another thing you could try, I have not seen it in a while but take a towel roll it up a little and place it behind your head on the lower part, or right on the back of your neck then pull it tight and hold it in your hands while your hands are on your chest, then the towel will support your neck and head, and as long as you are not pulling with your hands you would not be pulling on your head.

Also in reply to above yes placing your hands above your head makes it harder. Just simple leverage. Think about a teeter todder, when your toddler get older and wants to play on that well you can't have it set in the middle because you are bigger than your toddler. So you adjust it so it is longer on the toddlers side. It makes it harder, anyway simple leverage. Holding your arms above your head is same principal. Actually placing your arms across your chest is good to begin with until you get enough strength, then you can move your hands behind your head like your husband, that is more difficult because now you have moved the weight of your arms up higher, then you can extend your arms. This puts the weight even farthur up. Much like adjusting a teeter todder. All 3 ways are valid crunches all depending on what you are doing.

I never extend my arms above my head, but when i do crunches for detail, like in 50-60 reps per set range, I put my hands behind my head. When I am trying to get size on my ab muscles I need to do low reps with weight, so I put two 25 lb plates on my chest and cross my arm over my chest and do crunches that way. I would get the same work on abs if i like took only a 20 lb weight and held it with my arms extended above my head. I just prefer to put the weight on my chest rather than hands above my head it just feels awkward to me

the pooch will never go away compleatly. not without surgery. I can only minimize it. Its mostly skin from when I was pregnant. tons of streach marks and everything.....

when I do the video it will be with my web cam and I will just have it sitting somewhere while my baby is eating or sleeping so she doesnt try to take it or climb on me or something. (ever seen that yoga video with the baby? :lol: ) I will try to set it up like that though....

that towel trick sounds neat...

thanks

ok, I got a video. I couldnt get anything from 'above my neck' it just was a bad shot of my hair :lol: but I got two side views. my neck still hurts from this time (but my abs dont :( ). Now that I can see myself it does look like I am moving my head forward a tiny bit. but when I do it it feels like my chin is waaayyy back, like if it were any farther back my head would be on the floor the whole time :lol:

I don't know... I was thinking about an ab lounge... I just don't know if I have the space to keep it (and it seems kinda dangerous to have around my toddler).... but it looks like it would keep my neck right.. and it kinda looks like fun too.

(hope this link works)
http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/tashmoore/templates/?action=view&current=crunches.flv

Actually you look like you are doing them correctly maybe a little bit of strain pushing your neck forward but really not much not what I would think would hurt your neck, also a little bit fast, try slowing down some, I recommend a little pause at the top like hold for a second or two and do them slow and controlled, the guy i was working with last night you could see the threads of muscle in his neck sticking out he was so tense, however if you were straining the muscles in your neck like he was you would feel it in the front of your neck or along the front sides from the muscles holding your head up. You do not look like you are straining your neck to me.

I would try the towel under the neck and see if that helps some that way you can relax your neck into the towel and hold your head up with your hands.

I would skip the ab lounge as well, that doesn't roll your body forward which is what your abs need that just bends you at the waist. Doing Crunches on Swiss ball is not only better for you, harder but better, they are cheaper, and your toddler would love the giant ball ;-) However that would put more of a strain on your neck. A better product would be the ab roller http://www.abroller.com/abs.php We have the $150 at the gym because it is more sturdy and allow you to attach weight to it. But you might be able to get away with the $19 one for home

Do you warm up or anything before doing crunches? Even if I am just working my abs I do 5 minutes of cardio before and then stretch fully. You might do some like loose head rolls and roll your head slowly around to stretch your neck muscles.

Another thing, you could try to strengthen your neck a bit, using the towel on the back of your head use your hands holding the towel as resistance and tilt your head back. Then just using your hand put you hand on the side of your head for resistance and tilt your head sideways. Do like 2 sets of 10 reps. Do this like twice a week for a couple months and see if that helps you some.

If after that it still hurts the other cause of neck pain in the back of the neck especially if it is the thicker muscle part on the back of your neck right beside where you spine is. Stress or Tight back muscles crunches might just be amplifying that, having a knot in one of your back muscles could be pulling on your neck there. The back is a hug muscle you could have possible also strained your back maybe picking up your child wrong or something, I have seen that sort of thing before. I can’t be certain but you might just be due for a little relaxation, even getting a half hour chair massage and not a full blown massage from a professional masseuse they would be able to get that out of there. But if you are going to treat your self, if you can I recommend a nice hot tub and then a full body deep tissue massage from a professional.

The only other thing I have seen just once when it happened to me but doc told me it was common. I had a sinus infection, the infection caused my lower back muscles to hurt on one side just like I pulled them. I thought the doc was off his rocker but sure enough a couple days on antibiotics cleared the back pain right up and my running nose.

I can't do a whole five min of cardio. I wish I could. it would really help. But I about die after 2 min. I have ashma, and nothing helped before. I might see if anything new will work now... Ill see....

with my daughter I am also lucky if I get a whole 5-10 min total. shes kinda high needs. shes getting better as she gets older, but its still difficult.

with my neck hurting it makes me want to skip it all. that doesnt help :( we have a big ball, but my husband deflated it since our apartment is kinda small.

I go semi-regularly to my chiro which also includes a back/neck massage. It really helped my back. Maybe I should ask her to work on my neck more....

thanks.

Hi Tash,

I read somewhere that you can reinforce your neck muscles by applying force with your tongue to the roof of your mouth, just behind your two front teeth. It engages your neck muscles more and should make the whole area more stable. Ask your chiro about it..?

Whats your posture like generally? If like most of us you're at a computer all day its probably not good. Have you done chin tucks to correct a neck forward posture? You basically pull your chin in towards your spine- don't dip your chin down, just "retract" it back... the opposite of how most of us poke our neck out at the computer.

Hope that helps =)

that tounge thing is intresting... wonder how it works....

my posture is aweful. I use my laptop the most, but because of my daughter (always wanting to be on my lap) I kinda sit sideways to use it on my end table. I slouch a lot too, my chiro gets on me for that.

Hi Tash,

This quite a long post so I didn't read everything. I did however see a link to an ab roller and would like to give my input.

I used to ...emphasize used to...exercise a lot and had the exact same problem with my neck. I finally joined a gym and they had the ab rollers in the stretch area. They were my Saviour, I could finally do ab work and I (nearly) enjoyed it. So maybe look on ebay or a cheap junk shop for one I am sure it would be a wise investment.

Anyhow I just joined gimme20 today for some motivation. So good luck to you and keep it up.

Cheers Callan

Not sure what the problem is with your neck, but you may want to try doing the crunches with your hands behind your head, supporting your head. That may solve your problem as well as making sure your chin is not tucked into your chest. Here is a link to a bunch of ways you can do crunches depending on the equipment you have.

http://www.physicalfitnet.com/exercise_video_library/exercise_search.aspx

I had this problem, until I realized that I wasn't using my abdominal muscles to pull myself up entirely. Sometimes I compensated for lack of height, using my arms to pull my upper body up - this helped cause some neck strain.
To correct it, this is what I became aware of:

1. I touch my fingertips to the back of my neck, this helps me realize when I'm starting to support my neck to pull myself up - which is what I'm trying to avoid.

2. I do not focus on how far off the floor I'm getting, but only in engaging my abs to lift myself - if my abs can only take me so far, I stop - I know with time I will be able to get further off the ground, but it takes time to develop the muscles.

3. Posture: I do not hunch my shoulders, I try to imagine that the correct sitting posture I use everyday (or try to, anyway) is the same way I should be lying down in resting position prior to lift. When I hunch my shoulders, it contributes to neck strain.

4. When I lift, I stop and examine how my neck/shoulders feel. Am I feeling tension? I adjust to see what feels less painful, etc. It comes down to knowing your body and knowing how you tend to compensate.

5. I remember that sit ups are about my abs. That is where I should be feeling it, deep in the belly, mainly - not up near my ribs on in my shoulders or neck.

Hope it helps!