Common Mistake
The neck is flexed/bend and the eyesight may be down while bringing the kettlebell overhead.
Are you making this common mistake? Assign this common mistake to your account so you can keep track of things to work on and fix. If you are a trainer, paying members can assign common mistakes to their clients.
Solution
Straighten the neck and keep the cervical inline with the rest of the spine.
Description
A flexed neck weakens the strength of the upper back and can put stress on the cervical. A flexed neck can result in or promote a rounded upper back.
You can identify a flexed neck when you look side-on and draw a straight line following the torso and the head is positioned in front of the line rather than the ears or middle of the head on the line.
A flexed neck is usually also paired with inactive scapulae, i.e. they are elevated when they should be down (scapula depression).
Leading with the eyesight or looking slightly up will promote a straight neck or even slightly extended until the kettlebell nears its overhead position. In other words, if leading with the eyesight, don’t end up overhead while looking at the ceiling and only use this technique for part of the movement.
Some of the exercises where this can occur are snatches, jerks, presses, squat thrusters, etc.
Related Exercises
Register or Log In and Suggest a new solution to this common mistake.