Need a check up from the neck up

[GreenCloudCLF]

Sometimes when I do upper body weights, the next day my neck tightens up and I lose ROM for a day or so.

What kids of neck exercises can I do to prevent this?

[Chief Fox]

It sounds like you're tensing your neck when doing other exercises. So the first thing I would do is try to relax your neck when lifting. Do you have mirrors where you work out? If so, look at your neck to see what you're doing.

Another thing you could do is head rotations after you lift. Another good stretch for the neck is turn your head to the side and try to touch your collar bone with your chin. You can even put your hand on your head and pull down slightly.

Last thing. A heating pad and some Icy Hot works wonders sometimes.

[Samurai Jack]

I get the same thing sometimes when I perform military presses. As I understand it, the neck actually does assist with this lift, because the muscles along the back of the neck actually belong to the trapezius. Therefore even something like the deadlift wroks the neck muscles. Unfortunately I don't know how to absolutely prevent it either, but I've got an idea.

Perhaps experimenting with the position you hold your head while doing the lifts would be a place to start. I noticed early on that if I looked at the cieling while lifting, as you often hear from various coaches, my neck would get sore more often. We are often admonished to "keep the spine straight" when lifting, this should apply to the neck as well. I now try to keep my jaw square with my collar bones (i.e. skull level), and I experience little issue with neck pain anymore.

Thoughts?

[TenTigers]

I do my shoulder presses with dumbells and immediately do a set of shrugs after each set=same weight. As I pyramid up the shrugs seem to compensate.