Bodyweight Neck pain stiffness

[JeffW26]

Hey Guys
Im Jeff and am new.
I have been doing NW for a 4 weeks now. I have recently noticed some neck and trap stiffness ( and some headaches)after practicing the breathing stuff by itself. Is this normal? It seems worse if Im doing it while not doing OAPU and squats. I checked my blood pressure, it's within healthy range. Maybe overtraining?

 

[Anna C]

It's probably the novel stress more than anything, but you can work to prevent it as you continue to learn and train.

Work hard to keep your face impassive... keeping tension out of your face and neck while practicing high tension techniques (including the breathing) with the rest of your body is quite a skill in itself! However it is an important part of learning and applying NW so that you can continue to get stronger without causing issues such as the neck and trap stiffness and headaches that you mention.

You can actually practice the necessary skill anytime, anywhere. Consciously tense any part of your body while keeping your face and neck relaxed. Or practice breathing behind the shield with different intensities, also while keeping face and neck relaxed. The more you practice, the better you'll get at it.

BTW, welcome to the forum! Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[JeffW26]

It's probably the novel stress more than anything, but you can work to prevent it as you continue to learn and train.

Work hard to keep your face impassive... keeping tension out of your face and neck while practicing high tension techniques (including the breathing) with the rest of your body is quite a skill in itself! However it is an important part of learning and applying NW so that you can continue to get stronger without causing issues such as the neck and trap stiffness and headaches that you mention.

You can actually practice the necessary skill anytime, anywhere. Consciously tense any part of your body while keeping your face and neck relaxed. Or practice breathing behind the shield with different intensities, also while keeping face and neck relaxed. The more you practice, the better you'll get at it.

BTW, welcome to the forum! Keep us posted on your progress.

Thank you. It's easy to over do it when not training to failure. I noticed I had been more tired this week, maybe that was a sign to throttle down.

 

[Steve Freides]

@JeffW26, welcome to the StrongFirst forum.

-S-

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

Hey Guys
Im Jeff and am new.
I have been doing NW for a 4 weeks now. I have recently noticed some neck and trap stiffness ( and some headaches)after practicing the breathing stuff by itself. Is this normal? It seems worse if Im doing it while not doing OAPU and squats. I checked my blood pressure, it's within healthy range. Maybe overtraining?

I don’t know if this helps but I was having neck pain when I was starting S and S and I actually think it was due to sleeping on my side and stomach (which I’m remedying). I definitely thought it was due to the training though but really training just sort of pulled the curtain back a little.

 

[bluejeff]

Dealt with neck pain myself off and on for most of the last year. I thought it was due to a strength imbalance from having a shoulder surgery a while back, but when I finally went to my PT, we discovered that I have a HUGE mobility difference between my shoulders. It turns out I have been compensating with poor mechanics the whole time!

If trying @Anna C 's advice doesn't work, go find a good professional to get a really good movement screening.

I might also add that a common form mistake in OAPU is a shrugged shoulder. If that's your case, it would make sense you are having neck pain. Keep those shoulders depressed!

 

[JeffW26]

Could it be from the hard breathing? Maybe I did something wrong with it?