Training crunches - neck question

🇬🇧 English speaking Forum Training Q&A
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I just did Nemesis for the first time, which has about 150 crunches in total. Although I was feeling it in my abs by the end, the thing that slowed me down was feeling the strain in the front of my neck. Admittedly I have a hefty head, but would you say that’s a technique issue or just a result of being fairly untrained in crunches?

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Hey @Yecyob :waving_hand:

This did make me laugh :joy: ,but I don’t think this is the problem :wink:

Both of the above :backhand_index_pointing_up: 150 crunches is a lot, particularly if you’re not used to doing so many. What’s likely happening here is with ab fatigue, you’re starting to use your neck flexors to help “pull” your head up, essentially overworking the front of your neck.

A couple of tips:

  1. You can try to keep your chin slightly tucked (almost like you’re holding a small orange between your chin and chest).
  2. Imagine your ribcage moving toward your pelvis, not your head toward your knees.
  3. Make sure you’re not using your hands to pull your head forward.
  4. Think of the movement as small — you really only need to lift your shoulder blades off the ground to engage the abs effectively.

Also, this has been mentioned a lot on here previously, but it’s surprising how many people don’t really know how to engage their core correctly. I like to imagine it as almost like preparing my abs ready to take a punch to the gut, firm but not so rigid that your breathing is abnormal. A good cue that will help you indicate that your core is fully engaged is that your lower back will remain pressed against the floor-as soon as you feel it arching, you know you’re losing core engagement.

If this happens towards the end of a workout, I would honestly switch to an alternative core exercise that keeps the neck in a neutral position-Dead Bugs would be good for example :+1:

Hope that helps - keep at it, and you’ll be doing Triple Nemesis in no time :flexed_biceps:

:clapclapstatic:

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Hey @Ben

This is about the best answer I could have hoped for, thanks for taking the time to be so thorough!

It was definitely a case of ‘throwing’ myself forward in the second half of the workout. The orange tip is a good one, I’ll definitely keep that in mind in the future, as well as focus more on how my core is contracting.

3x Nemesis sounds… a lot right now lol

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