Tip Fix Your Cranky Neck and Traps Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Fix Your Cranky Neck and Traps Lifting weights can be a pain in the neck Like literally Here' s how to fix it and prevent future problems by TJ Kuster September 26, 2019May 9, 2022 Tags It Hurts Fix It, Training Whether it's due to explosive Olympic lifting, tons of shrugging, or just straining under the bar, your neck can become irritated due to overactive traps. Although this is a problem in and of itself, it can also lead to worse problems down the road, like tension headaches or migraines. Your upper traps, after all, are attached to the base of the skull. Making things worse, overactive upper traps will "take over" during rows and other pulling exercises which will lead to poorly developed middle and lower traps, rhomboids, and lats. If you're ready to ditch your neck pain, use these mobility, stretching, and strengthening exercises to loosen your traps and retrain your mid-back. Begin your workout by doing a little soft tissue work on the traps. Releasing your overactive traps first is a must if you want to fix your neck pain. It's tough to foam roll your traps, so try applying pressure with a barbell. Once you've released your bound-up traps, do the following stretch on your neck/traps to restore your range of motion. Side Tilt Neck Stretch with Shoulder Depression Attach one end of a band to a low anchor and the other end to your wrist to depress one shoulder. Use your other hand to pull your head in the opposite direction. First, bring your chin to your chest, followed by taking your chin toward the ceiling. Stay in the range where you feel the most tension. The goal here is to both depress and retract your shoulder blades. Strengthening and activating your mid-back will help balance out your upper traps. To make sure your mid-back is doing the work, you'll want to go much lighter and do more volume than you normally would for these exercises. One-Arm Lat Pulldown Visualize your shoulder blade sliding down your back with each pull. The goal is to pull your traps down by activating your lats. One-Arm Seated Cable Row Visualize squeezing your shoulder blade so that it moves closer to your spine each time you pull the handle towards the bottom of your rib cage. This will keep the shoulder from elevating and the upper traps from taking over. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip Build or Preserve Muscle At All Times Losing fat doesn't have to mean losing muscle. And building muscle doesn't have to mean gaining fat. Here are the facts. Tips, Training Benjamin Liu June 15 Training The Four Types of Movements Simple adjustments to both your style and speed of training can take you closer to your goals, whether you're an MMA fighter or a powerlifter. Bodybuilding, Powerlifting & Strength, Training Tim Henriques January 25 Training More Thoughts From the Weight-Room Floor A veteran lifter weighs in on building bigger arms, how to assess your weak points, and overcoming the tyranny of bad advice. Powerlifting & Strength, Training Jack Reape March 19 Training Tip How to Build Mid-Back Muscle Most lifters have underdeveloped mid-backs. Here's how to really attack that weak area to bring it up. Back, Tips, Training Nick Tumminello June 28