Question about crunches and neck soreness

[sln]

Hi Cathe,

I'm not new to exercising, but I have recently started doing crunches after years of ignoring abs completely. I have your Ab Hits and loads of your other DVDs and tapes. Is it normal for your neck to be kind of sore while doing crunches, or is something likely wrong with my form? As I do more abs work, will my neck get used to this motion? Any form pointers that will correct this uncomfortable feeling? My head just starts to feel so HEAVY after a bit!

 

[macska]

I'm not Cathe but here is my tip.
Lie down on a towel when doing crunches. With your hands grab the 2 ends of the towel. Instead of pulling by the neck pull by the towel, that supports your head and neck together. In that way your neck won't hurt again! Is that clear??? Mari

 

[sln]

Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a try. I feel like maybe I'm pulling my chin too far toward my chest. Maybe this would help me keep my spine more, um, neutral? Is that the right way to use neutral spine? Thank you! - Sarah

 

[Lori BC]

Hi Sarah, I used to have the same problem when doing crunches, for me what works is make sure you dont clasp your hands behind your head and just have your fingers my yours ears so not to pull your neck to hard, and also like you said try not to put your chin down to far into your chest, and try to just relax your shoulders I'm sure with more practice it will get better. Lori BC

 

[sln]

Thank you for the advice. I have been clasping my fingers - maybe that was giving me too much power to lift my head at a bad angle, causing pain. Thank you! - Sarah

P.S. Cathe, if you ever have time to read this, I just wanted to tell you that you are inspirational and I love your workouts.

 

[lindadrobinson]

Hi, I am not Cathe, but your head needs to be stationary. Pretend you have an apple between your chin and neck. This stance holds the neck in one position. Also, when you have your hands behind your head, it should not pull your neck. It should be placed gently while you are using your core section to pull up in the crunch motion. This is normal, I had to get my form down so my neck would stop hurting too.

Linda