Ever felt neck pain when you’re doing a set of stomach crunches? Here’s why that could be and how you can fix it, with a little help from Jessica Ennis-Hill
Have you ever experienced neck ache or neck twinges when knocking out a set of sit-ups or crunches? Then there are two important things you need to know:
The main reason that people suffer from neck ache when they’re performing ab exercises is poor form – and it comes down to the fact that you are probably not crunching from your abdominal muscles.
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“The most important thing you need to remember when you do a sit up or crunch is to initiate the movement from your core, so that your stomach muscles engage and start the movement, rather than your neck.
“If you don’t focus on your core, you will often make the first movement come from your head and neck, which is why you experience neck pain.”
Drilling down a bit deeper, leading the movement with your head, neck and shoulders rather than your core makes it much more difficult to keep your head moving in line with your spine, which in turn puts a lot of strain on your neck muscles.
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If you don’t focus on your core, you will often make the first movement come from your head and neck, which is why you experience neck painHow can you fix it?
“The key with any abdominal exercise is to focus first of all on drawing in your abdominals so that they are fully contracted, ” says Jess.
“Then, as you perform the exercise, you initiate the movement with your core, rather than leading with your head. It’s a subtle tweak to the technique, but it makes a huge difference.
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“Another good tip, ” says Jess, “is to slow down the exercise so that you are conscious of where the movement in your ab exercise is coming from and perhaps take a small break in between each movement.”
Failing that, you could film yourself doing your next crunch set and see where the start of your ab exercise movement is coming from. If it’s all neck and the ideas from Jess above aren’t working for you, it may be that the exercises you are doing are too challenging for you, so it could be worth modifying them temporarily until your core gets stronger.
If you’re keen to improve your ab definition or just fancy a new challenge, Jessica Ennis-Hill has created a 30-day ab challenge in the app, which includes 5-minute ab blasts, HIIT circuits, mini HIIT circuits, rep challenges, and ultra ab sessions.
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It’s designed for all fitness levels, there’s tons of variety to keep things interesting and it’s a day-by-day guided plan, so you don’t need to think about a thing – except that exceptional form, of course.
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Hate Crunches? 6 Better Core Exercises For Beginners
Sign up for the very latest news on women's fitness, health and hormones, plus be the first to receive exclusive offers and extrasIt takes some ingenuity to find exercises that can strengthen core muscles when you have neck pain. The traditional abdominal crunches, where you interlace the fingers behind the head to lift the head and shoulders, are often out of the question. Not being able to do abdominal exercises can be frustrating, especially if you have lower back pain, because these muscles are instrumental in keeping the lower back healthy. This blog presents two ways of working core muscles while leaving your head relaxed on the mat. I realise that these movements are not strictly yoga. However, doing the exercises with full attention makes them more ‘yogic’ than a headstand in which the performer is distracted and trying to outdo the yogi next to him or her. It is the attention that counts.
The oblique abdominals are often overlooked. Running diagonally on the side and front of the abdomen, they assist with forced exhalations or sucking in the abdomen, and with flexion and rotation, as in side bending and twisting movements.
Doing the traditional sideways crunches as described in this previous blogcan efficiently strengthen the obliques. Alternatively, and especially if you have neck pain, you can keep your upper body on the floor and strengthen the oblique abdominals by moving the hips and legs. As demonstrated in this video:
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Move the knees halfway to the right while looking over to the left. It is important to find the right height, where it feels like an effort for the abdomen to keep the legs hovering just off the ground.
With the next exhalation move the knees to the other side. Hover the knees halfway down while breathing slowly a few times.
These legs lifts are fantastic if you have neck or lower back pain. They involve the inner hip flexors, the iliopsoas, and the rectus abdominis. The latter are the paired muscles that run lengthwise between the pubic bone and sternum.
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Lie on your back with the left leg bent, quite close to the body, and the right leg straight on the mat.
Exhale and lower the right leg. When this exercise has become familiar, you can leave the foot an inch off the floor before lifting it up again. This makes it slightly harder.
As always, don’t jump up after doing the movements: stay on your back for a few minutes with the legs bent. Notice how your body feels and listen to your breath.
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You can find more abdominal exercises in my video series. These five 15-minute videos are especially designed for those who would like to do gentle but effective core strengthening.One of the most common complaints about traditional abdominal exercises is neck or back pain. If you’re one of these people you may wonder whether you should you throw in the towel or push through despite the discomfort.
As a personal trainer and coach, I hear this complaint often and it tends to boil down to a handful of causes, all which are related to improper form. Here are the top three reasons why ab exercises may be aggravating your neck and your back — plus, a few fixes you can use in the moment to protect your neck and back, reduce pain and lower your risk of injury.
Even though ab exercises are supposed to be all about your core, many positions require your head and neck to lift up off of the ground. Jonathan Tylicki, director of education for AKT and certified personal trainer, says that the strain you may feel in your neck in this position is most likely related to your posture. “The continued neck flexion is associated with sitting, working at a computer, and texting. This reinforced improper alignment can creep up when you are doing ab work, making you pull your head forward and use your neck during exercises, ” he says. When you’re in a supine position on your back, typically you’ll rest your head in your hands and then curl up, lifting your head and neck off the mat. This can cause discomfort, particularly if your posture muscles are tight and you’re not used to engaging your core correctly.
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But what if you’re in a Pilates or core class and don’t want to be the odd one out doing your own routine?
What if your arms are doing too much work? Specifically, if you’re not using a towel and instead you’re placing your hands behind your head, it's important to remember that this should not be an arm workout. Your arms and hands are simply supporting your neck. But a major mistake people make is engaging the arms instead of the abs.
Trainer Kristina Alai, certified fitness trainer at The Bay Club Company, says that while doing exercises like crunches, you may be overcompensating by grabbing your neck with your hands instead of focusing on the ab engagement. Liana Hughes, certified personal trainer and coach for the fitness app Gixo, says, “It’s very common for people to want to pull their neck when they have their fingertips behind their head.” For many. it’s an automatic action that we do without even noticing, so even if you don't think this applies to you, it can be smart to keep these two tips in mind:
Best Abs Exercises To Strengthen Your Core And Reduce Back Pain
As a Pilates instructor, I see so many people using their back instead of their abs to do abdominal exercises. This is concerning because when done incorrectly it can lead to a lower back injury. That’s why it’s important to laser focus in on the transverse abdominis, the deepest ab muscle, to ensure the low back is not overworking in core exercises. This is most common in exercises where your legs are extended or straight. When done correctly, it should feel challenging to keep your core engaged and you will feel this deep in your core muscles (and not so much in your back.) But how can you ensure you have
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