Neck injuries and benching

SomewhatDamag

SomewhatDamag

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Hey everyone,

Just curious, have any of you injured your neck when benching? Mine has been finicky recently, with semispinalis capitis and levator scapulae blowing out periodically. When this is not in an acutely injured state, the base of my neck, about C-7 level, has frequent aching on either side of the spine. Just looking for generalized insight, experiences, and suggestions.

Thanks!!
 
Jm88888

Jm88888

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Are we talking about neck muscle spasms? The kind that you can feel the muscle crawling up into brain almost? Or are we talking actual bone/vertebrae injuries?
 
SomewhatDamag

SomewhatDamag

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More of the muscular kind. There isn't anything to make me think that this is a recurring disc or spine injury.
 
SomewhatDamag

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It's a pretty slow progression to working weight, for something like bench. Bar, plates, then up in increments of no more than 20-30 until I'm where I want to be for that workout. Between warmup sets, lots of shoulder and chest stretching, usually not much neck-related. I used to tilt my head left when straining, but even though I've gotten away from that, the right base of my neck can feel sore after pushing hard. Not always, but sometimes.

I have found that any kind of frontal arm raise, such as with dumbbells or cables seems to really set my neck off badly, but usually delayed by overnight. Dumbbell shrugs are more of a recent issue, but barbell shrugs are not.
 
Jm88888

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Here’s what I suggest prior to getting under even an unloaded bar:
1 to 2 minutes of foam rolling back
1 to 2 minutes of foam rolling on your side targeting your lats
30 seconds of rolling on your neck
Then sets of head down head up, not to the point it hurts just to give a little stretch and start getting blood into neck
5 sets of look left look right
5 sets of tilt ear to shoulder
5 sets of forward neck roll (never roll tilted back)
10 reps of forward shoulder rolls
10 reps backward
10 to 15 seconds hang from power rack
10 to 15 seconds of pulling back on power rack to stretch lat
10 to 15 seconds of grabbing power rack leaning forward to stretch chest

Do the neck on ALL lifting days. This takes 5 to 10 minutes and is worth every second. Haven’t been to therapy in knock on wood almost one year, because I’m taking warming up seriously....

Let me know how it works for you
 

Jeremyk1

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You may be arching your back too much when benching. Take a break from benching for a little while to let it heal, but really keep an eye on that arch.
 

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