Odd Problem w/Handstands

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Demond and I'm 34 y/o and I have always admired gymnasts for the athleticism. I've started down the road to learning handbalancing. I have quite a few goals, but I'm concentrating on only 2 right now: the planche pushup and free handstand, which compliment each other I've noticed.

Here's my problem. I have some muscle tension in the front of my neck that acts up when I do too much volume and I back off when necessary. Unfortunately, it really kills my practice because it doesn't usually take too much before I have problems. One frog stand or a couple of handstands sometimes will do it.

I'm strong enough and my balance has increased by leaps and bounds, but my weakest link is my neck. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Besides laying off?

I highly reccomend hand supported headstands against the wall ( either stomach facing or back facing ). If it's too much load, put your feet at 45 degrees to ease off the true load.

Or hand supported head bridging. Go easy with either of these, but they will build up your neck musculature definitely.

Start with just the top of your head or where the top and back of your head meet. Eventually you'll be able to roll to your forehead one day.

And seriously train easy with the head stuff, I've seen people sore for more than a week during the first headstands.

I always did a Neck Bridge for neck strength.