Pull ups behind your head/lifts behind your head

[yocan]

Got told the other day that doing pull ups behind your head is bad for you. Something about overpressuring your kneck or something. Is this of legitimate concern? If it is would an overhead press going behind your head be bad for your kneck as well.

 

[Tosa]

Most people don't have the flexibility/mobility (and may never have it, due to individual skeletal structure) to do most behind the neck exercises without bothering the shoulders. The exception is a behind the neck push press, or jerk, because the first part of the ROM is done primarily with leg drive. And there aren't really any Pros to balance out the potential Con to behind the neck exercises.

And I don't know what a kneck is.

 

[Laduger]

Meh, I did pullups to behind my neck a lot when I used to body build. I also did it just to hang, make sure your neck never feels compromised and make sure your movements are controlled. If you go up too quickly, sure you could hurt yourself. Controlled and deliberate lifting is the main thing when doing anything of that nature. Bad form, too quick and little control is always a recipe for disaster.

 

[Morganation]

Ive never had a problem with it so I cant advise against it.

 

[Standard]

And there aren't really any Pros to balance out the potential Con to behind the neck exercises.

That pretty much sums up why i never do any behind the neck work. Even though it may not cause trouble, it does have a higher risk

 

[Cratos]

That pretty much sums up why i never do any behind the neck work. Even though it may not cause trouble, it does have a higher risk

A wild Standard appears!

 

[Origins]

A wild Standard appears!

Someone catch him before he escapes!

 

[Dogstarman]

Kneck?

 

[yocan]

Kneck?

english bastards

Only time I do the pull ups behind my head is when I'm on one of those cages that have the handles for pull ups so I can't hit my neck on it (did that once, it does hurt) I'm more flexible than most people, its never bothered me in the least.

 

[Searcher]

I do behind the neck presses and wide grip benches during my warm-up to help my shoulder flexibility. I usually don't go higher than 95lbs on presses (max 160lbs).

 

[VoodooPlata]

I do behind the kneck presses and wide grip benches during my warm-up to help my shoulder flexibility. I usually don't go higher than 95lbs on presses (max 160lbs).

Fixed that for you. I've knever had any kind of kneck pain doing exercises behind my head, but my shoulders usually pop so I don't do it. Also, ROM is almost knever as good behind the kneck as it is when you pull to your chest - something like 90% of the population can't pull as far down without hurting their shoulders behind the head as they can in front - I'll see if I can find the exact knumbers.

 

[uncookedpork**]

I'm 40 now, but when I was around 20 and starting out, I listened to an older, experienced lifter and did behind the neck, heavy seated shoulder presses. I strained and stretched my right shoulder and it still bothers me to this day. A lot of popping and pain, it went away to a great extent and felt much better, but it took many years. Later, this lifter also admitted that behind the neck moves bothered him, oh well, lol. As soon as I switched to front of the neck shoulder presses and other moves, I made good progress with no injuries. I would strongly recommend to you that you do all moves to the front of your neck, other than the squat, and with those warm up and carefully put the bar in position behind your neck. I usually grab a door frame or some type of upright, and twist forward slowly to stretch out and warm up my shoulders now.

 

[TrevorRoss]

If you have good posture, no shoulder problems, and have no pain while doing the exercises you should be fine, there are no poor exercises, just poor performance.

 

[Tosa]

If you have good posture, no shoulder problems, and have no pain while doing the exercises you should be fine, there are no poor exercises, just poor performance.

There are plenty of exercises where a person would be better off doing a safer and/or more effective version. Furthermore, the absence of pain doesn't necessarily mean you aren't doing damage to the joint. So, unless someone can present a case for there being any real benefit of behind the neck presses or pull-ups, why not just do the regular versions?

 

[TrevorRoss]

There are plenty of exercises where a person would be better off doing a safer and/or more effective version. Furthermore, the absence of pain doesn't necessarily mean you aren't doing damage to the joint. So, unless someone can present a case for there being any real benefit of behind the neck presses or pull-ups, why not just do the regular versions?

With that argument you're saying strength training is one size fits all, and lemme guess you're against upright rows too? Done with dumbbells they are awesome, or you can do hang pulls too. Back to the point of there's no bad exercises, just bad performance, some people can do them, some people can't. You got your point of view and I have mine.

 

[MASShole]

With that argument you're saying strength training is one size fits all, and lemme guess you're against upright rows too? Done with dumbbells they are awesome, or you can do hang pulls too. Back to the point of there's no bad exercises, just bad performance, some people can do them, some people can't. You got your point of view and I have mine.

So the people who are doing exercises that they shouldn't be are just "performing badly?"

It sounds more like they are doing incorrect exercises, not "performing badly."

 

[Tosa]

With that argument you're saying strength training is one size fits all, and lemme guess you're against upright rows too? Done with dumbbells they are awesome, or you can do hang pulls too. Back to the point of there's no bad exercises, just bad performance, some people can do them, some people can't. You got your point of view and I have mine.

And since you can damage the joint/tendons/ligaments etc before you feel any pain, there's no way to know for certain whether you are able to safely perform behind the neck lifts with having your shoulder mobility tested, and an X-Ray. So, unless someone can tell me a real benefit to do behind the neck exercises instead of the regular versions, I don't see why it's worth the risk, even if I may be able to do them with no problem.

 

[scoopj]

When I think of BTN Presses, I think of Pudz.

I think you mean BTK Presses.