Modified Jefferson Curls

Hello everyone and Coach Sommer,

 

I was recently playing around with jefferson curls and decided to take a stretching strap and hang the weight on it. I then took the strap, placed it behind my neck and held the other ends of the strap with my hands so that all of the weight wasn't on my neck. I still got a great stretch at the bottom because I could transfer the weight into my hands to pull me down, but I felt like the resistance on my neck on the was a good modifier to increase strength as I was going down and up. Thoughts? I was very careful not to use too much weight, and I definitely wouldn't recommend this for beginners. I was just curious on everyone's thoughts. I will post a link to the video as it is too big to attach.

 

Thanks everyone!

Sean

 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g2ytyh81qbuj9zl/Jefferson%20Curls.mp4?dl=0

 

holding onto a plate is also acceptable as long as you can hold it for the duration getting the benefit of just holding onto said object: plate, kettlebell, olympic bar, dumbell, i think it all achieves the same purpose. to hold on and mobilize for dear life!

From my point of you, bear in mind that I am an amateur compared to the some other people on this board, you change emphasis from the strengthening of the spine to strengthening the neck, primarily. Now this makes it a much more advanced exercise, since the neck is more vulnerable and in my opinion needs a serious prehab, as you also stated, in order to take a load similar to what the normal Jefferson curl puts on the spine.

 

A bad thing about how this exercise is performed is that it should be stretching in the pike position. By having the weights more in front of you, you cannot avoid the degree of spinal flexion that happens and there are less focus on the pike. Which is why the exercise is not as good the normal Jefferson Curl in terms of achieving pike flexibility.

 

With that said I think it is a decent exercise for developing neck strength with pike flexibility is an integrated element.

I don't think it's that great an idea personally. What is your goal with this modification?

 

Remember that part of the idea here is also to strength and strength the hamstrings and hips. You're putting all of the load on your weakest link. I think with this modification, you'll find it extremely difficult to get enough weight to challenge your hamstrings and not destroy your neck. Also, you can never get close to a closed pike like this, since if you got deep enough the weight would just fall off.

 

In the bottom of a static pike hold I also feel fantastic decompression of my spine, which is completely impossible with this modification.

I can't really see any benefit in loading the weight on to your neck, what are you hoping to achieve vs holding the weight in your hands?

Hey everyone!

 

Thanks for your input. Let me start by saying this is something that I am still toying with. I haven't set myself on doing them like this first. Has anyone tried it yet?

 

Alexander and Thecolin, I actually felt more of a load through my lumbar spine while doing it. I think it integrated the entire spine more by loading the cervical portion of it as well. Yes you are very correct though Alexander in that you have to go way down in the weight to be able to do it. For that reason alone I will continue to use normal Jefferson curls along with this. Having the ends of the straps in my hands helped with achieving a great stretch and decompression of my spine in the bottom of the motion. As I reached the bottom I transferred most of the weight into my hands to pull me down into the stretch more. Again I have no intentions of replacing my normal curls with this, but I do think that their may be some benefit to using it. I will continue to do so and let you all know. I think y'all should give it a shot!

 

Again thanks for your input!

When you say you feel a load on your lumbar spine it could be the degree of flexion stretch that was contributing to it. Well, I am just guessing here. But it is always fun to play around with the exercises

Very true Alexander. I will continue to play around with it.