wieght lifting and the neck

[muayThaiPerson]

when i weight trainng, affter about 10 reps, i feel a strain in my neck. can someone tell me wat thats bout

[Nightingale]

my guess would be that you're lifting wrong and/or clenching your teeth or not breathing correctly.

Make an appointment with a personal trainer at your gym and have them show you the right way.

[muayThaiPerson]

ive asked the professional trainer, he said im doin it right. could it be that im straining it myself w/o knowing?

[Chiduce]

Originally posted by muayThaiPerson

ive asked the professional trainer, he said im doin it right. could it be that im straining it myself w/o knowing? This experience sounds like you are lifting a little too much weight. Lower your lifting capacity and increase your repetitions. This will help make the neck muscles and the slight swell at the skull base become more elastic by elongating and less plastic. It is not the amount of weight you lift, but the proper exercising of the muscle groups. When lifting especially curling for the arms and shoulders workout, the rooting of the legs and upper torso is increased by adding the extra weight pushing against the pull of gravity. The extra weight distribution is handled by the body in spreading this increase across the shoulders. This extra shoulder weight is again pushing against the natural gravitational pull upon the head and neck. Since this cross-sectional area is substantially smaller, the neck has to absorb the lifting by strain as well as gravity's pull on the head. As you lift the lighter weight doing more repetitions, improving muscle strength of the neck; your body will signal you when it is time to move up in weight without experiencing the nagging strain.
Sincerely, In Humility;
Chiduce!

[Damian Mavis]

Some people when they lift weights flex parts of their body that have nothing or very little to do with the actual lifting..... I know from experience I've pulled a muscle in my back because I got sloppy and was flexing parts I shouldnt have. Try to relax everything but the actual muscles used for the lift.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Carbon]

Let me ask this.

Are you feeling strain in your neck while you are lifting? If this is the case what excercise are you doing and what body group are you trying to work?

Also if you are felling the strain after you lift how long after do you feel the strain. Also what excercise were you performing that made you feel the strain later on.

[MartialArtist]

From my experience, a lot of normal trainers do not know perfect technique. They know the basic stuff that you read in books, and a couple of their own tricks. But you should always ask other people for opinions.

I believe you're using too much weight.

On a side note, why are you doing ten reps? Are you trying to get stronger or trying to get bigger? Because ten reps is a bodybuilding program which is about aesthetics and not practicality.

[Damian Mavis]

How many reps would you suggest?

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[7starmantis]

It sounds alot like you are using too much weight. When you lift too much, you can still lift it, but you use and strain other muscle groups, and that is what causes these little injuries. Use less weigth, and focus on using ONLY the muscle group for the excersise.


7sm

[muayThaiPerson]

thank you all for the post and advise. i feel much better by lowering the wieghts. when my neck starts to strain, should i stop right away? for example, after 10 reps

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by muayThaiPerson

thank you all for the post and advise. i feel much better by lowering the wieghts. when my neck starts to strain, should i stop right away? for example, after 10 reps

Depends on what you are lifting for, if you are going for strength and tone, I would lower it a bit more and do more reps, just me though.


7sm

[MartialArtist]

Strength = Low reps (3-4), more weight, 8 or more sets with lots of rest in between

Size = High reps (8-12), less weight, 3-4 sets with some rest

Nothing can really tone a muscle. Density, how hard it is, how big it can become (natural potential max), etc. are mostly determined by genetics.

[sparky]

Have you ever been in an accident or have other injuries to your neck. Possibly you need the services of a chiropractor?

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by MartialArtist

Strength = Low reps (3-4), more weight, 8 or more sets with lots of rest in between

Size = High reps (8-12), less weight, 3-4 sets with some rest

Nothing can really tone a muscle. Density, how hard it is, how big it can become (natural potential max), etc. are mostly determined by genetics.

Actually thats not exactly accurate, toneing muscles can be acheived by asthetic excersize, diet, and weight lifting. How big a muscle can get is determined by genetics, but not completely. Genetics doesn't cause the muscle to big at its bigest allready, or as tone as it can be allready, that is done by what I mentioned above.


7sm

[MartialArtist]

Originally posted by 7starmantis

Actually thats not exactly accurate, toneing muscles can be acheived by asthetic excersize, diet, and weight lifting. How big a muscle can get is determined by genetics, but not completely. Genetics doesn't cause the muscle to big at its bigest allready, or as tone as it can be allready, that is done by what I mentioned above.


7sm
You can't "tone" a muscle. You can get it bigger, smaller, but the only way to get it more defined is to cut your fat.

go to bodybuilding.com for more information on cutting, powerlifting vs. bodybuilding vs. Olympic lifting, etc.

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by MartialArtist

You can't "tone" a muscle. You can get it bigger, smaller, but the only way to get it more defined is to cut your fat.

go to bodybuilding.com for more information on cutting, powerlifting vs. bodybuilding vs. Olympic lifting, etc.

Actually, cutting fat can be done with weightlifting, therefore toneing the muscles. My partner is a personal trainer and a PT, we have been debating this, his health knowledge and my medical knowledge, in actuallity, tone can be acheived quickest through weightlifting, asthetic excersize and diet. Not forgetting the weightlifting though. Not powerlifting, or bodybuilding but a regimented serious program including lifting.


7sm

[bscastro]

Originally posted by muayThaiPerson

when i weight trainng, affter about 10 reps, i feel a strain in my neck. can someone tell me wat thats bout

What exercise is it?

[Damian Mavis]

How much rest between reps do you people suggest for both strength training and size training?

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Nightingale]

not sure about everyone else, but my trainer always had me rest for one minute between sets.

[7starmantis]

For strength or tone issues, I would recomend as little rest as possible. high reps with lower weight and go straight from machine to machine or excersise to excersise. That is the program we have our tranors run, seems to work very well with great and quick results. It has to be seriously adheared to though or it doesn't work well.


7sm

[KennethKu]

Originally posted by 7starmantis

Actually, cutting fat can be done with weightlifting, therefore toneing the muscles. My partner is a personal trainer and a PT, we have been debating this, his health knowledge and my medical knowledge, in actuallity, tone can be acheived quickest through weightlifting, asthetic excersize and diet. Not forgetting the weightlifting though. Not powerlifting, or bodybuilding but a regimented serious program including lifting.
7sm

Correct me if I am wrong, but fat needs oxygen to burn. In order to burn fat, you would need 20-30 minutes of continuous aerobic activity that involves the large muscle groups.

A recommended plan is an aerobic exercise, a nutrition program (high protein, low carb, low fat, low cal), and a moderate repetition range (8-12 reps) with a progressively heavier weight . The result is accelerated fat loss with a toning effect.

That is the general idea.

[muayThaiPerson]

right, wieght lifting does absolutley no cutting. look, you can do 1000 crunches and not see it because theres fat. but if u do none but have little fat then its visible

[MartialArtist]

Originally posted by 7starmantis

Actually, cutting fat can be done with weightlifting, therefore toneing the muscles. My partner is a personal trainer and a PT, we have been debating this, his health knowledge and my medical knowledge, in actuallity, tone can be acheived quickest through weightlifting, asthetic excersize and diet. Not forgetting the weightlifting though. Not powerlifting, or bodybuilding but a regimented serious program including lifting.


7sm
Weight lifting does help you lose weight. It speeds up your metabolism.

However, doing cardio and weight lifting at the same time will hurt your gains.

[MartialArtist]

Originally posted by 7starmantis

For strength or tone issues, I would recomend as little rest as possible. high reps with lower weight and go straight from machine to machine or excersise to excersise. That is the program we have our tranors run, seems to work very well with great and quick results. It has to be seriously adheared to though or it doesn't work well.


7sm
I disagree.

For mass, try to get at least 1 minute or so. For strength, more than a minute. The reason is bodybuilders go for a "pump" which is just blood flowing in the muscle allowing it to grow larger. The more rest you have, the less blood can really flow (as a result of lower reps and more rest) so you can get some strength with it.

I would also stay away from machines. Some machines are necessary, but stick to freeweights. They get you stronger, bigger, faster while machines really don't do much.

What you're talking about 7star is circuit training. The purpose of circuit training is not really to get mass or strength but try to add an aerobic feel to your training program.

Muaythai, what is your training split?

[7starmantis]

Thats exactly what I'm talking about MartialArtist, I was responding to the question of tone, not gain, or mass. Muscle by itslef burns fat sitting idle. Tone is acheived by the balance of lean muscle and asthetic excersise. We don't have to agree, but medically this is what is accepted as fact, at least by the American Society of Clinical Pathologist. Thats who I work with. I guess we are getting confused on what I'm saying, I'm not saying that lifting is actually "toning" the muscles, the muscles themselves are incabable of changing composition, the tone look we are talking about is achieved by illiminated the fat between the muscles, this is done by diet, and asthetic exersise, but to excentuate the tone lok and to speed the process, "circuit" type lifting will increase the process of toning.


7sm

[muayThaiPerson]

However, doing cardio and weight lifting at the same time will hurt your gains.

how do u mean?

to martialartist:
i do 15 reps of 15lb and 10 reps of 20lb for biceps. 10 lbs triceps. 115 lb bench press. 7.5 lb flies. 30-40 lb shoulders. 200 crunches.
7 sets of 20 push ups