Why Does My Neck Hurt During Ab Workouts?

Short answer: Your neck hurts because the deep neck flexors that hold your head up are smaller and weaker than your abs — they fatigue first, and you compensate by yanking your head forward with your hands or leading the curl with your neck instead of your core. It's a form and strength issue, not usually an injury, and it's fixable.

Why it happens

The deep neck flexors are a small group of muscles that run along the front of your cervical spine. They're responsible for keeping your head stable and slightly tucked during movements like crunches — but they're chronically undertrained compared to the abs. When they fatigue mid-set, your neck starts to feel the strain and your body looks for a shortcut.

That shortcut is usually one of two things: pulling your head forward with your hands, or leading the curl with your chin and neck rather than initiating from your abs. Physiotherapist and Pilates instructor Lilly Sabri explicitly flags "straining the neck" as one of the most common crunch mistakes she sees, and her coaching consistently returns to two cues: support the head without pulling it, and actively press the head back to engage the deep neck flexors. Fitness coach Eugene Teo adds a related point — jamming the head and neck into an unnatural position doesn't just cause pain, it compresses the cervical spine and actually dulls the signal to the muscles you're trying to train.

Chloe Ting's cue cuts to the same thing from a different angle: "don't pull on the neck, let the core do the work, not momentum." When the neck is doing the work, the abs aren't — and the neck pays the price.

How to fix it

The short version: support your head lightly, cue your head back into your hands, slow the rep down, and initiate every crunch from your abs — not from your head. Do that and the neck strain drops almost immediately.

Here's how that looks in practice:

• Support, don't pull. Rest your hands lightly behind your head. Lilly Sabri recommends this explicitly for anyone feeling neck strain — the support takes load off the flexors while they're still building strength. The mistake is using your arms to haul your head up; the cue is to let your abs do the lifting.
• "Head into an imaginary wall." This is Lilly Sabri's deep neck flexor cue: as you crunch, imagine pressing the back of your head into a wall behind you. It activates the deep neck flexors, takes the strain off the neck, and keeps your chin from jutting forward.
• Slow every rep down. Lilly Sabri is direct about this: slower reps are harder and safer. Rushing a crunch turns it into a momentum-and-neck exercise. Slower tempo forces the abs to own the movement.
• Exhale on the crunch. Both Lilly Sabri and Chloe Ting cue the exhale at the top. It deepens the core contraction and keeps you from bracing through the neck.
• Keep your neck neutral, not jammed. Eugene Teo's principle applies here — don't cram your chin to your chest or wrench it toward the ceiling. A neutral cervical position keeps the muscle signal clean and the compression off.
• Reduce range or swap the exercise early on. Lilly Sabri uses double-leg tabletop toe taps as a way to train the core with a high crunch demand and less neck strain — a useful bridge while the deep neck flexors catch up.

The deep neck flexors will get stronger with consistent, correct reps. Early soreness there is normal and it fades.

Run your own experiment

1. Film a set from the side. Look for whether your chin leads the movement or whether your chest rises first. If your head is going up before your shoulders, you're leading with the neck.
2. Do a set with hand support + the imaginary wall cue. Rest hands lightly behind your head, press your head back into them as you crunch, and exhale at the top. Note whether the neck strain drops.
3. Cut your tempo in half. Count three seconds up, one second down. If your neck still pulls, reduce your range of motion — a smaller crunch done correctly beats a full crunch done with the neck.
4. Check again after two to three weeks of correct reps. The deep neck flexors respond to training. If you're applying the cues consistently, the early soreness should reduce as the muscles strengthen.

FAQ

Is it bad if my neck hurts during ab exercises? Usually it's a fatigue and form signal, not an injury. Muscular soreness along the front or side of the neck from a hard set is normal. What's not normal: sharp pain, pain that radiates into the shoulder or arm, or anything that lingers after the session. If you're getting those, stop and see a professional.

Should I hold my head during crunches? Yes — light support is fine and recommended. Lilly Sabri cues it explicitly for anyone with neck strain. The distinction matters: support your head without pulling it. Hands behind the head with zero traction on the skull is the goal.

How do I stop leading with my neck? Use the "head into an imaginary wall" cue from Lilly Sabri: as you crunch, actively press the back of your head into your hands. Pair it with a slower tempo and a deliberate exhale at the top, and let the abs initiate the lift.

Will my neck get stronger so this stops? Yes. The deep neck flexors respond to correct, consistent training just like any other muscle. Lilly Sabri notes it's normal to feel them early on — the soreness is a sign they're working. Keep the form honest and it fades over weeks.

Related reads: Is Soreness a Sign of a Good Workout? · Do Bodyweight Workouts Build Muscle?

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