Bycicle crunches hurt my neck!

sunshine_eve

Hi!

This is probably going to sound quite weird (I'm not sure if anyone else has this problem) but whenever I try to do those bycicle crunches on JM workouts, they seem to put a lot of strain on my neck and it starts to hurt. Nothing like that happens when I do the basic crunches. Am I doing them wrong somehow? Trying to do too much to soon?

I would appreciate if you gave me any tips on proper form for this exercise. I don't mind my abs hurting like hell but my neck shouldn't!

aviduser

Without seeing you do them, it is hard to say for sure. My guess is that you are pulling on your head/neck too much. Try using your abs to hold you in the crunch position more.

Start with 10-15 at a time, then work up from there.

My workout today included 3 sets of 50 bicycles and 3 sets of 30 crunches. Fun.

vtachycardia

Everyone who does not do them correctly has that problem. Tell me, when was the last time you needed to be on your back doing crunches for anything essential to life.

And, avid user - you know that your spine can only handle so many sit ups and crunches before it fails. Add some weight and decrease the reps.

Power vacuums - bipedal
Plank - quadripedal
Rotational exercises - bipedal

Supine core exercises are accidents waiting to happen.

mamamc03

They hurt my tail bone!! I hate em!!

jaz050465

Me too I accept I've got a bad neck and just don't do them. Just do normal crunches, slanting my knees to the side. It may not be as good but sore neck and migraine isn't good either.

Alexmcdermott6

Take time to concentrate on form. Aim to get your armpit to your knee. Keep looking upwards, pick two points on the ceiling, one on the let and right of you and switch your point of vision. It should help.

schicksa

Make sure you're keeping your elbows wide and crunching from your stomach, not your head/neck. Your shoulders through your head should all move in the same plane.

An alternative that might help.....sit all the way up, twisting to the side so that when you finish, you're looking sideways 90 degrees from your leg angle. Again keep those elbows out wide, use your fingertips behind your head so you're not lifting it up with your arms. Still works those obliques, and they don't make my neck as sore.

laylaness

I do them by lightly touching my fingertips to the back of my earlobes, which does 2 things: 1. stops me from pulling on my neck, which 2. forces me to use my core more.

vtachycardia

I do them by lightly touching my fingertips to the back of my earlobes, which does 2 things: 1. stops me from pulling on my neck, which 2. forces me to use my core more.

If the core is designed to stabilise, how does crunching it up make it stable or exercise it to be stable.

Get a credit card and keep moving it back and forth. Tell me what you have done to the stable plastic after a few hundred bends of the credit card.

aviduser

The credit card analogy does not apply. Plastic is not living tissue. If you continually flex your plastic card, it will eventually break. But if you strengthen the muscles in your trunk, including your abs, lower back muscles, hip flexors, obliques, etc, you will have better balance and greater ability to lift things (in real life, not in the gym), without injuring your back.

True there are many other good core exercises, but crunches and bicycles, when done with proper form, are great exercises.

vtachycardia

The credit card analogy does not apply. Plastic is not living tissue. If you continually flex your plastic card, it will eventually break. But if you strengthen the muscles in your trunk, including your abs, lower back muscles, hip flexors, obliques, etc, you will have better balance and greater ability to lift things (in real life, not in the gym), without injuring your back.

True there are many other good core exercises, but crunches and bicycles, when done with proper form, are great exercises.

You are out of date, the credit card analogy does apply your rectus abdominus have no reason to crunch, nor to assist in bicycle crunches. They are not even the best exercises to strengthen nor grow them as a muscle group. They are proven to damage your body and to carry on doing them is to cut off your nose to spite your face.

Core is about stability, anti-flexion, to rotate through the hips activating the transverse abdominus and the obliques but anti-rotation of the spine. The rectus abdominus would be like a hamstring if it were meant to crunch.

There is no reason to perform any exercise on your back, we are bipeds and functionally all exercises should reflect our bipedal nature. And aviduser as you are a cyclist you should be welll aware of lower back problems of cyclists and poor core strength, but carry on believing that crunches are good, all the sports scientists, all the strength and conditioning coaches, all the top bodybuilders, all the physiotherapists and oesteopaths will beg to differ and based on the evidence that I have read about I agree. Supine crunches are stupid and damaging and serve no purpose as to what the muscles evolutionary design is intended for and that is anti-flexion you are better off doing extending exercises not contractions.

mariposa224

Just rest your fingertips behind your ears, don't press with them at all. There should be no strain on your neck when you're doing them. I'm not sure how to better describe it, but that's how I do them.

vtachycardia

Spine, lumbar, discs, tendons, nerves and then muscle - it is not the muscle that wears it is the rest of the spinal construction. And it behaves exactly like a credit card - bang broken because you caused the body to do exactly the opposite as to its purpose.

fatty_to_fitty

you aren't doing them right. I used to be exactly the same.

Focus on the ceiling, pull your self up by pulling your abs into the floor.

Imagine a needle threading through your belly button attaching you to the floor.

With a stronger core your neck will hurt less you will stop relying on it.

Maybe do some other core work to strengthen it?

secretlobster

That's why I don't do them. My chiropractor advises against it too.

chivalryder

The credit card analogy does not apply. Plastic is not living tissue. If you continually flex your plastic card, it will eventually break. But if you strengthen the muscles in your trunk, including your abs, lower back muscles, hip flexors, obliques, etc, you will have better balance and greater ability to lift things (in real life, not in the gym), without injuring your back.

True there are many other good core exercises, but crunches and bicycles, when done with proper form, are great exercises.

You are out of date, the credit card analogy does apply your rectus abdominus have no reason to crunch, nor to assist in bicycle crunches. They are not even the best exercises to strengthen nor grow them as a muscle group. They are proven to damage your body and to carry on doing them is to cut off your nose to spite your face.

Core is about stability, anti-flexion, to rotate through the hips activating the transverse abdominus and the obliques but anti-rotation of the spine. The rectus abdominus would be like a hamstring if it were meant to crunch.

There is no reason to perform any exercise on your back, we are bipeds and functionally all exercises should reflect our bipedal nature. And aviduser as you are a cyclist you should be welll aware of lower back problems of cyclists and poor core strength, but carry on believing that crunches are good, all the sports scientists, all the strength and conditioning coaches, all the top bodybuilders, all the physiotherapists and oesteopaths will beg to differ and based on the evidence that I have read about I agree. Supine crunches are stupid and damaging and serve no purpose as to what the muscles evolutionary design is intended for and that is anti-flexion you are better off doing extending exercises not contractions.

This

Ever heard of a 'roid gut?

Crunches were developed by body builders during the steroid era because their guts were getting too big from exercises that actually develop the abs. They started doing crunches because, though they did a little bit of work to keep them toned, crunches did little to actually develop strength and size.

If you want to strengthen your mid section properly, do full sit-ups, or leg raises. Crunches won't do you any good.

denisel321

Are you keeping your eyes up and looking at/toward the ceiling?

ilikepandasyay

I also get pain in my neck from doing most ab work, and a lot of pressure in my head/ears

JenaePavlak

Then don't do them! Those are not the only exercise to do for your core.. I prefer different planks myself.

robmcd88

Try a standing crossover crunch or other standing abdominal exercises they put less strain on your neck and back.

vtachycardia

The credit card analogy does not apply. Plastic is not living tissue. If you continually flex your plastic card, it will eventually break. But if you strengthen the muscles in your trunk, including your abs, lower back muscles, hip flexors, obliques, etc, you will have better balance and greater ability to lift things (in real life, not in the gym), without injuring your back.

True there are many other good core exercises, but crunches and bicycles, when done with proper form, are great exercises.

You are out of date, the credit card analogy does apply your rectus abdominus have no reason to crunch, nor to assist in bicycle crunches. They are not even the best exercises to strengthen nor grow them as a muscle group. They are proven to damage your body and to carry on doing them is to cut off your nose to spite your face.

Core is about stability, anti-flexion, to rotate through the hips activating the transverse abdominus and the obliques but anti-rotation of the spine. The rectus abdominus would be like a hamstring if it were meant to crunch.

There is no reason to perform any exercise on your back, we are bipeds and functionally all exercises should reflect our bipedal nature. And aviduser as you are a cyclist you should be welll aware of lower back problems of cyclists and poor core strength, but carry on believing that crunches are good, all the sports scientists, all the strength and conditioning coaches, all the top bodybuilders, all the physiotherapists and oesteopaths will beg to differ and based on the evidence that I have read about I agree. Supine crunches are stupid and damaging and serve no purpose as to what the muscles evolutionary design is intended for and that is anti-flexion you are better off doing extending exercises not contractions.

This

Ever heard of a 'roid gut?

Crunches were developed by body builders during the steroid era because their guts were getting too big from exercises that actually develop the abs. They started doing crunches because, though they did a little bit of work to keep them toned, crunches did little to actually develop strength and size.

If you want to strengthen your mid section properly, do full sit-ups, or leg raises. Crunches won't do you any good.

No, don't do full sit ups or leg raises either - still same destruction of the spine, still leads to thoracic kyphosis and hip flexor issues, not to mention issues with the pelvis, ruptured discs. In fact full sit-ups are worse.

RBXChas

I would find a different ab exercise. I don't like crunches for that reason. Planks and side planks (try "thread the needle" - wow!) are great.