Three ways to stop your neck from hurting when you chest lift.

 I see a lot of clients crushing their chin towards their chest (see image below) when they start doing chest flexion in exercises like chest lifts and roll ups. It’s really common but over time, it can lead to a really sore neck. 

Before I talk about how to help, I should mention that if you've never done this type of movement before you WILL feel your neck muscles working. It’s impossible to work just your abs to do this movement. Your head is pretty heavy and when you lift it off the ground while lying supine, you’re also working against gravity so if you feel your neck, know that you will and that it shouldn’t necessarily ring alarm bells 🚨. 

Your body is an incredible machine with many parts working together to do a movement like this one. So much of the pilates repertoire utilises this chest lift as a start position so unless you have a specific neck or back condition that prohibits you from doing it, you will want to work on building strength in a way that minimises pain experienced. 

In order to move in a way that increases the focus on the abdominals, I have three tips that I teach to all new clients. 

1) Use a towel. It’s a great little trick I was taught when I first started. Allow your head to hang heavy on the towel and make your arms do more work. Focus on keeping your arms attached to your back. When you lift, focus on the head and neck relaxing and using your arms to lift the head. Keep your shoulder blades broad and breathe into your back. Use the towel until you’ve got the work understood in your body  

2) Focus on keeping the space between your chin and chest the same from when you’re lying down until you’re at the top of your lift. I often tell clients to imagine a juicy peach under their chin that they don’t want to squash. 

3) Think about the bottom ribs sliding towards the pelvis as you lift. You can practice doing this while standing without the addition of gravity. 

Give these a go and let me if they helped in the comments. 

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