Good neck positioning: Why should anyone even care? It’s certainly not thrilling or sexy sounding… but it will reduce headaches and shoulder pain, maybe even help with vision, and definitely help us to be safer lifting heavier loads – and hopefully even PR!

We’ve Already Addressed a Lot of Ground-Up Issues

Oh, my, top of the food chain now! My experience is that the upper body will never fall into place if the hips and lower body are really messed up. So being top strong, in my world, assumes we’ve already looked at the lower body and done what we can. (If you need to brush up on that, here’s an article on maintaining a neutral spine, as well as one on rib flare and how to fix it.)

The Paradigm

Pretty much as always, I’m going with the FMS paradigm of mobility → stability → strength.

Mobility: The Maybe

Some soft tissue release may be required first. If so – and assuming that we’ve already mostly addressed the rest of the body, from our t-spines down – common targets would include the chest muscles and subclavius (just under the collarbone), upper traps and/or suboccipitals.

The eventual goal, however, is to move away from needing so much release as posture improves over time, including strength training or working under load.

Ways to provide some soft tissue release would include:

• Chest muscles and subclavius: Ideally, a Yamuna ball up the front line, against a wall or on the ground. (For this, I really do stick with the Yamuna brand name. They are more expensive than most other balls, but they are both super soft and burst-resistant.)
• Upper traps: a Theracane or knock-off is one approach. Another is to double up with your Yamuna, or another ball that’s large enough, leaning sideways into the wall. Finally, it’s pretty darn awkward, but you can use an Indian club, bowling or rolling pin, or even a barbell flush against the wall at almost ground level, and back your way into it from a supine (face up) position
• Suboccipitals (base of the neck): a good registered massage therapist is worth their weight in gold here, but supine (face up) self-massage will make a dent in the meantime

(Click here for video demos of the above.)

Mobility: The Definite

As always, almost everyone needs to draw down the scapulae (shoulder blades) somewhat. It’s very rare to find people who don’t carry their collarbones close to the ears! Think of an “anti-shrug.”

If you want to split hairs as far as where the scaps should be positioned, this guideline (at 1:45 ) suggests about 1 cm or half an inch above maximum depression.

One postural subtlety to tie in here is that often we want to draw the lower portion (only) of the scap forward in the body.

Once that’s in place properly, then mobility-wise, in this instance, we want the intersection at the very top of the spine, where it connects to the skull, to be able to move smoothly and independently. It’s actually a very sensitive joint, but thanks to so much texting, desk work, and just plain life being in front of us, it often gets very stuck.

To demonstrate how finely tuned it is, try blocking your neck and doing a gentle nod or head turn from that joint only. (Bonus points for cueing into its visual input: shut your eyes, turn your eyes side to side, and notice the corresponding changes in your suboccipital muscles.)

Now use that mobility to draw the back of your head up very gently, without jutting your chin. And right there, that would be good head posture. It can feel like an extraordinarily subtle move, and is often practiced more easily from a face up position (perhaps with neck support if you have pronounced forward head posture), then at the wall, before bringing it to an unsupported standing position. Just be sure that the back of the head stays connected to the floor, and the chin does not jut upward.

(…and click here for video of the above.)

Stability: In It for the Long Haul

Be aware that your lovely new postural improvements may last about half a minute, if you’re lucky, before your neck gets tired. That’s okay! The suboccipitals, for example, are usually both tight and weak. These are endurance muscles, in it for the long haul, and they aren’t used to working in this manner yet. It will probably take a long time to consistently meet the task you are asking them to do.

This is the time for you to promote the power of habit, and that’s another article for me! In the meantime, consider drawing on approaches such as those that are scientifically reviewed by Katy Milkman in “How to Change.”

So yeah, walk around with that lovely posture as much as possible. (It will make you feel better all around!) When you’re texting or typing, try and connect with some of that lovely posture too. (And because everything muscular is usually a two-way street, yet more bonus points for not letting your vision get so stuck. When typing or texting, follow the “20/20/20 rule” — every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds.) When you feel yourself getting tense or stressed, as much as possible, reset into that lovely posture. Bring that lovely posture into any and all strength work that you do.

Where It Can Get Really Ugly

I tend to see the most challenge with this in movements where the spine is horizontal to the ground, such as planks and pushups. At some point, sadly, we all turn into a chicken kissing the floor. I’ve even noticed this in myself once I hit a fatigue wall near the end of one of the videos in my follow-along cardio playlist.

Strength Work: Here It Gets Interesting

Here’s where it gets really interesting! It’s the postural muscles that we’re challenging here, and especially based on the fact that we walk upright, they are muscles that always have to be “on.” (They may be contrasted with “phasic” muscles, which can contract more strongly on demand in response to specific tasks that are asked of them.)

So while we’re doing strength moves, the postural muscles basically have to do their regular job a little harder, even, to resist being pulled forward, say, at the top of the spine (with the resulting typical backslide into forward head posture).

You can try a StrongFirst drill, the “static stomp deadlift,” which is especially effective standing against a wall, to see which muscles will need to be targeted to achieve this.

A bear hold, particularly one where the knees are ever-so-slightly elevated off of the ground, will be similarly instructive.

Within the context of normal training sessions, we can support the need to maintain close-to-impeccable posture while under load by training the upper back specifically.

Great examples include:

• Bodyweight or isometric work such as prone back extensions (squeeze those glutes hard to protect your low back), batwing holds, elbow reverse flys, or “luge” position
• Cables, band, or free weights can be used for any type of row, reverse fly or face pull. Typically, we’ll do the rows within the body of the training session and leave the reverse flys or face pulls for near the end.
• Dumbbell or kettlebell high pulls (make sure to keep those scapulae depressed / shoulder blades down thoughout)
• At the gym, lat pulls and/or pullups work the back at a different angle. You have to be a little more careful with your form than with the horizontal pulls, I feel, to really work the back… which might also be the focus of a future article.

(…and again, click here to view the above as video.)

 

When It Gets Really Heavy

Same deal: keep half-decent posture, as much as possible. Use that, and ability to breathe well, as your guide. Do be aware that the more that you’re aiming for something like competition mode instead of ADL, as they say (“activities of daily life”), the more that you may fall short of ideal form, but it’s best to train with as much precision as possible so that when you need it, at least the baseline is good.

As an example, here’s how I did my best to maintain good posture during my last set of warmups for my deadlift this morning… and here’s the working set, where it turns out that the upper body focus helped me to hit a training PR. Whoo-hoo!

And for those gym rats who may want an even more in-depth dive, here’s a guy who knows what he’s talking about discussing scapular cues during bench press, military press, and rowing.

All right, there we go, lots of food for thought! Input is always welcome, and do be in touch  if you would like input back on your own form, whether it’s the quiet and focused stuff or hitting a powerlifting PR.