So, today was the third training day in a row this has happened and I’m getting a little worried. It started on Friday;
I was doing chin-ups and after my 4th set(couldn’t finish with clean form) I got this intense pain in my neck and the back of my head. I had to sit down and let it wear off. It felt like I had strained something in the “upper” part of my neck, sort of where the neck actually meets the bottom of the skull, more to the right side if it matters at all. It was accompanied by a pretty intense headache. It passed into a very dull soreness, barely noticeable after a few minutes. I went back to my training and was fine for the rest of the day. The dull soreness stayed for a few hours I think.
Fast forward to Monday. I’ve got 4 sets of deadlifts planned. I finish the second(pretty difficult) set and the pain in my neck is back. It’s not quite as intense as Friday, but it’s the same pain no doubt. I rest for a few minutes, and decide to try another set once it’s calmed down. It shoots right back so I stop the set and rest for a few minutes. I thought it might be because of my neck positioning or something, maybe looking up too much(not sure). I figured leg presses would be OK so I load up the weight and go to it. Sure enough, it’s back, though not as bad as when I was deadlifting. Actually fairly mild to be honest. I finish 3 sets before my good sense kicks in and tells me to scrap the rest of the day, better than risking an injury.
Now today I’m doing flat bench with a fairly difficult weight, and the pain is back again, same place, not terribly intense though. I finish 3 of my 4 sets before saying ‘fuck it’ and moving on. It’s mildly sore for the rest of the day, but I was able to finish the rest of the lifts I had planned. Nothing else seemed to bother it much, if it all.
It seems to me it’s all the big compound movements, whenever I use a very challenging weight, that it pops up. That’s just a guess though, I really have no idea. I’m going to try to just stretch my neck at least once a day, including before I train on Friday. If it happens on Friday despite the stretching, I’m thinking I’ll probably take next week off from training entirely.
Does anyone have any ideas as to a cause or solution to this mystery soreness? Thanks for any help