Trying too hard?

Today I mastered RC PE6 after bearing in mind recent posts about how we don't train hard enough... 

Towards the end of the last set I developed a headache which then lasted about 3-5mins. I was breathing normally (i.e not holding my breath or fast breathing etc) and focused on gripping the bar for dear life. I shut my eyes to ignore the countdown and I think actually went beyond 60s in the last two sets because of this.

What did I do wrong to cause a headache? How I can I avoid it next time? Thank you for any tips.

Hard to say. My guess would be you started to clench your neck when you closed your eyes.

Tight traps.

Laying on your back and then curling your hips up and placing your knees on the ground next to your ears is an effective trap stretch.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Hello 

As Coach Sommer said, thight traps or muscles on the rear upper shoulde (trap, elevator of the scapula, ...) and the muscles of the neck developp some trigger point which can create some referred pain (headache, ...). 

So stretching is a good thing and you can use a ball like "lacrosse ball" to roll under your muscles. 

And take care to the position of your head during the move, "chiken head" is a good thing to developp trigger point and headache. 

Matt.

Thank you very much Joshua, Coach and Matthieu - excellent information. 'Chicken head' described it very well!

Whoa, people seem to forget something here.

Congrats on mastering RC6, that is such a big step! Keep up the good work!

 Heh heh, thank you Ravn! 

Congrats and quick healing to you

Try to keep your head in a neutral position from now on, okay?

Amazing. I have been climbing a while so I've basically mastered most of the RC progressions but I'm stuck on pe/6 ATM and daaaaayum it burns.

Congrats on mastering it

Well done on mastery. I will take a headache any day to master these. I gained 6 seconds in the last 4 weeks.

Matthieu Jeandel said:

 

And take care to the position of your head during the move, "chiken head" is a good thing to developp trigger point and headache. 

 

An excellent point to remember. The proper cue to remember is shoulders to the bar, not chin over the bar. Thinking about getting your chin over the bar just causes you to 'chicken neck'.

Congrats on your mastery LateStarter!

I've already reached my quota of likes for the day, so thank you to all above for your comments