How to Reduce Neck Strain during Abdominal Exercises
Centerworks Health & Fitness:

One of the biggest complaints I hear from new Pilates students is that their neck hurts when they are doing some of the exercises. And truly when I started learning Pilates, my neck was a weak link too!
Avoid Looking at the Ceiling during Sit-Ups and crunches to reduce neck strain. Instead, look at your abs to see that they are working well and pulling in towards your spine.

Whats the difference you might be asking there are so many fitness classes that you go to where the instructor constantly reminds you to keep looking at the ceiling while you’re doing your crunches and ab curls. And, yes that’s an option. But from a Pilates standpoint, here’s why I’m going to encourage you to change that habit and perhaps stop following that not-so-hot bit of advice for your neck.

Do you agree that when you’re standing with good posture, your head is nicely stacked over your shoulders, and you really don’t notice or feel much strain in your neck? That’s because its balanced and supported on your spine along with the help of gravity.

If you’re standing and you let your head fall off-balance in any direction, forward, backwards, or sideways, all of a sudden you’ll notice that your neck muscles have to work much harder against the weight of your head which is now basically falling off your spine! Can you feel the difference?
Now take that same thought process back to your Ab work! If you’re laying on the floor and do a small-range of motion curl up while you’re looking at the ceiling the weight of your head will be very noticeable, and while your abs may be working, chances are your chest and arms are doing quite a bit of the pulling to lift you up, your back is hinging more than curling, and there is a really good chance that you are leading the lift with your chin, which can shear the head forward off the neck creating even more neck pain and problems.

If you make the choice to look forward towards your belly when you begin a curl up, your back actually bends and stretches more to peel your head and shoulders up off the mat. The muscles that have to work while the back bends are the abs! And with your eyes focused on your abdominals, you can actually see if things are working!

Yes, there is a bit of neck strength involved here, but it is secondary to the huge amount of work going on in the abdominals. If your neck hurts, don’t do it. Find exercises to help you get stronger abs without the stress or strain on your neck. If your neck gets tired take a break. If your neck muscles are screaming at you while you’re doing sit-ups, roll-ups, crunches, or curls you wont really be able to focus on using your abs well and are probably starting to involve other muscles that shouldn’t be working anyway. So rest, move on to another exercise, and go back and do more when you’ve recovered enough to do them well with your eyes looking at your belly!
Aliesa George, Q