Pulled neck muscle Wtf

rawvegpower

I pulled a muscle in my neck doing shoulder presses, Is this normal? It wasn’t alot of weight either.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

That's not normal.

I'm useless with strength training and someone much more knowledgeable will be along soon no doubt.

Could you pay for some sessions with a personal trainer to help you with form?

Okiludy

Likely a form issue. Still a proper standing overhead does cause small amount of neck movement. The bar path should be vertical to the floor over midline if the body. This means your face and chin are in way of bar path if bringing bar to under chin. You either move head out of way or use a small bit of hip movement to just clear bar.

The other thing is traps are used during lockout and the rest of neck might tighten for stabilizing.

https://youtu.be/tMAiNQJ6FPc

dhimaan

Yes it happens to me sometimes. I have to have perfect posture and in a position where my neck is relaxed. If it is even a bit tensed it will flare up. Also if I don't warm up properly and go heavy it can also flare up. So I have to be very careful otherwise I can't even turn my neck at any angle.

Chieflrg

rawvegpower wrote: »

I pulled a muscle in my neck doing shoulder presses, Is this normal? It wasn’t alot of weight either.

More likely to happen to a novice with poor form.

If a OHP, the body should be rather tight/rigid from head to toe to transfer energy to the bar.

If the body relaxes in compound movements such as the OHP, squat, deadlift etc or just life/work and any shift/twist of balance takes place while under some type of load, strains/pulls are more likely to happen.

Doesn't take alot of weight and is more likely with colder muscles.

The best and efficient warm up for any lift is the lift itself.

canadianlbs

i would say it happens, so it's somewhere in the normal-ish spectrum. but it's not ideal. like, don't go thinking that's just the way overhead press is meant to be.

any hints as to which muscle? ialso, i would start researching gentle massage and such stuff, and lay off further ohp-ing or just stick to a 'maintain' kind of routine with it, until it settles down. those little muscles don't deal well with repeated aggravation.

ObLiVi0uSx

I did this while doing 5x5 and weight was getting near 120. It's due to incorrect form. Make sure your head is looking straight ahead the entire way. While not correct, I do lift my head initially to get the bar past my chin and also because I have a habit of dropping my head. Once it's past my chin, my head returns to a neutral position.

When I hurt mine twice (in a row!), It was due to dropping my head (lookong down) near the top of the press because the weight was at my max. Do not do any presses until fully healed. Also be sure you're warming up properly.

Hope you recover quickly and just concentrate on form as much as possible

Wheelhouse15

Very normal, a lot of people get neck strain from benching and squatting too.

BJSwail

Make sure you ramp up (starting sets with empty bar or much lighter dumbells, 5 reps will do) my rule I to never increase load by more than 50lbs between sets for barbell movements or 25lbs per hand for dumbells. If you're really strong and need more sets to ramp up, sets of two or one are fine. A typical overhead press workout for me would start at 1 set of 10 reps w empty bar, one set of 5 with 95 lbs, a single at 125lbs, and then working weight after that. Someone doing heavy squats or deadlifts will often do 4-5 sets before they touch the working weight. Then ensures your not exhausted and going to hurt yourself under weight you normally can handle and it warm up the muscles and joints.

mom23mangos

See if you can find someone nearby that does ultrasound on muscles. It does wonders for taking the pain away.