No Neck?
So I’m in the middle of a festival; the sun’s out, music’s blaring, everyone’s hammered drunk… And this is what goes through my head…
“There’s a lot of people here who don’t have a neck…”
A few years ago I would have been the guy vomiting on the cobbled streets, but now, even half cut, I’m spotting dysfunction left, right and center…
For normal people - and by that I mean people who don’t lift - the no neck thing is a result of stress, 99 times out of 100.
This is quite a big topic, but in brief, here’s what’s going on: these people are chronically stressed. More stress means more time in our fight-or-flight state, and with this comes an increased reliance on our accessory respiratory muscles in the neck rather than breathing via our diaphragm. We evolved these accessory respiratory muscles to help us breathe faster in times of stress - like when you see a bear or something - only these days, we face stress 24/7… Traffic, work, elections, you name it…
If you’re stressed all the time, you’ll chest breathe more and more, your neck and shoulders will get tighter and tighter, and pretty soon you’ll be one of those poor dysfunctional ****s without a neck...
Here’s how to solve it:
- Breathe in deep through the nose via the diaphragm [into the belly]
- Exhale through the nose
- Pause until you feel the need to breathe again
- Repeat for 2 minutes
It’s a good way to relax and it comes with a whole pile of physiological benefits that you can find here: http://www.crossfitblackbrook.com/losebellyfat.html… If it doesn’t relax you, breathe out through the mouth. On completion, go about your day trying to breathe lightly through the nose via the diaphragm.
As for people who lift, chances are high that the above still applies, but there’s also another avenue to explore - being all traps and no lats - but that is a topic for another time...
“Sit the f*** down and have a beer”
~ Coach Collins
Copyright 2017
So I’m in the middle of a festival; the sun’s out, music’s blaring, everyone’s hammered drunk… And this is what goes through my head…
“There’s a lot of people here who don’t have a neck…”
A few years ago I would have been the guy vomiting on the cobbled streets, but now, even half cut, I’m spotting dysfunction left, right and center…
For normal people - and by that I mean people who don’t lift - the no neck thing is a result of stress, 99 times out of 100.
This is quite a big topic, but in brief, here’s what’s going on: these people are chronically stressed. More stress means more time in our fight-or-flight state, and with this comes an increased reliance on our accessory respiratory muscles in the neck rather than breathing via our diaphragm. We evolved these accessory respiratory muscles to help us breathe faster in times of stress - like when you see a bear or something - only these days, we face stress 24/7… Traffic, work, elections, you name it…
If you’re stressed all the time, you’ll chest breathe more and more, your neck and shoulders will get tighter and tighter, and pretty soon you’ll be one of those poor dysfunctional ****s without a neck...
Here’s how to solve it:
- Breathe in deep through the nose via the diaphragm [into the belly]
- Exhale through the nose
- Pause until you feel the need to breathe again
- Repeat for 2 minutes
It’s a good way to relax and it comes with a whole pile of physiological benefits that you can find here: http://www.crossfitblackbrook.com/losebellyfat.html… If it doesn’t relax you, breathe out through the mouth. On completion, go about your day trying to breathe lightly through the nose via the diaphragm.
As for people who lift, chances are high that the above still applies, but there’s also another avenue to explore - being all traps and no lats - but that is a topic for another time...
“Sit the f*** down and have a beer”
~ Coach Collins
Copyright 2017
