Why Your Neck Hurts After Lateral Raises and Rows (And How to Fix It)
- Metabolic Fitness
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
In the studio, I often see clients working hard on lateral raises or bent-over rows, only to finish the set rubbing the base of their neck.
They’re aiming to train shoulders or back, but instead they feel tightness creeping upward — toward the traps, the neck, sometimes even into the skull.
This is a very common technical compensation. I call it the “shoulder shrug.”
It’s a coordination and strength issue — and once you understand it, it’s surprisingly easy to clean up.
The Shoulder Shrug: When the Neck Takes Over
The shoulder shrug happens when the upper trapezius dominates movements that are meant to be driven by the deltoids or the back.
Instead of the arm moving cleanly on a stable shoulder blade, the shoulders begin to creep upward toward the ears — often before the lift has even started.
This usually shows up in:
lateral raises
bent-over rows (especially single-arm rows)
upright or high-rep pulling patterns
And the giveaway sign is always the same:neck tension, stiffness, or a dull “training headache” after the set.
Why the Upper Traps Take the Lead
The upper trapezius is an efficient, powerful muscle. Its main role is to elevate the shoulder blade.
Thanks to modern life — desks, phones, driving, stress — many people live in a posture where the upper traps are already switched on and ready to work.
When you pick up dumbbells, your nervous system looks for the path of least resistance.
If one muscle is strong, available, and used to taking over, it will do exactly that.
But here’s the crucial part that often gets missed:
This is rarely just an “overactive trap” problem
In many cases, the real issue is underperforming lower trapezius.
The lower trapezius helps:
control scapular position
maintain depression and stability under load
allow the arm to move without the shoulder riding upward
When the lower traps can’t hold their role — especially as fatigue builds — the upper traps step in early to create stability.
The shrug isn’t a bad habit. It’s the body solving a stability problem the only way it knows how.
What That Means for Your Training
When shrugging takes over mid-set, two things happen.
1. The target muscle loses tension
In lateral raises, the medial deltoid loses leverage.
In rows, the lats and mid-back lose control.
You end up lifting the weight — but not training the muscle you intended.
2. The neck absorbs unnecessary load
Repeated elevation under fatigue compresses the area around the cervical spine.
Over time, this is where lingering stiffness and post-session headaches come from.
You can be “strong” and still be inefficient.
The Real Goal: A Stable Shoulder Blade, Not a Forced One
To train shoulders or back effectively, the shoulder blade needs to stay controlled, not pinned down aggressively.
The aim is to resist early elevation, not eliminate natural movement entirely.
Think of the shoulder blade as the base of a crane.
If the base keeps creeping upward, the arm can’t apply force cleanly.
When the base is stable, the arm does the work — not the neck.
This is where scapular control, not brute strength, makes the difference.
The Coaching Cue That Actually Works
Instead of technical language, I use a simple cue:
“Keep your shoulders away from your earrings or simply relax your shoulders”
It’s an easy way to maintain space between the shoulder and the ear throughout the set.
If that space disappears:
the weight is too heavy
or fatigue has exceeded your current control
Either way, the set is no longer doing what it’s supposed to do.
How to Apply This in Real Lifts
Lateral Raises
Before the dumbbells leave your sides:
lightly set the shoulder blades down and back
think “wide,” not “high”
push the weights out toward the walls, not up toward the ceiling
If your shoulders start creeping upward, shorten the range or reduce the load.
Bent-Over Rows
As you hinge forward:
the weight will try to pull your shoulders toward your ears
gently pull the shoulders back and down before the row starts
As fatigue builds, watch for the shrug returning — especially on single-arm rows.
Why I-Y-T-W Raises and Scaption Help
When someone shrugs no matter how much they “try not to,” I often step away from traditional raises altogether.
Movements like I-Y-T-W raises and scaption aren’t about fatigue.
They’re about re-teaching coordination.
They help:
reintroduce lower-trap engagement
encourage upward rotation without excessive elevation
rebuild confidence in shoulder positioning under light load
Once that relationship improves, lateral raises and rows suddenly feel smoother — and the neck stays quiet.
A Note on Hypermobility (This Matters)
Not all shrugging comes from stiffness or tight traps.
In hypermobile clients, the shrug is often a protective strategy.
The body uses the upper traps to create stability when passive joint control is lacking.
In these cases:
aggressive “shoulders down” cueing can increase tension
heavy loads make the problem worse, not better
The solution is:
lighter weights
slower tempo
controlled ranges
gradual exposure to load
The goal isn’t forcing the shoulders down.
It’s teaching the body that it’s safe to move without bracing through the neck.
Moving Forward
Building strength isn’t just about how much you lift.
It’s about what stays still while you lift it.
When you stop the shoulders from shrugging early, you’ll often need less weight to feel a deeper burn in the right place — and you’ll leave the gym feeling worked, not wound up.
If neck tension keeps showing up in your training, shorten the range, slow the tempo, and focus on maintaining that space between your shoulders and your ears.
If you’re dealing with persistent neck tension during your workouts, or you want a second set of eyes on your lifting technique, that’s exactly the kind of work I do in the studio.
You can book a session with us, located inside Cykl Haus studio, and we’ll make sure your movement is efficient, controlled, and built around how your body actually moves — not just how an exercise looks on paper.
