A few weeks ago across all my social media I posed a question, I asked “What is the reason behind tummy time for babies?” ONE HUNDRED percent of those that answered said, “to strengthen the neck.”
Well, there we have it, they are correct. There are other reasons and benefits to tummy time of course, however the first thing that comes to mind is the neck. Why then as we age do we forget all about the musculature of the neck? Physiologically speaking it’s a very important part of the body and strengthening it as a baby is vitally important to the developmental process.
Spending time on the tummy requires that infant to hold the neck up and gain strength in that region. As they lay on their stomach with head up, that also strengthens the low back and glutei exactly like the “superman” bodyweight exercise. Yet another thing occurring while participating in tummy time is the activation of the psoas muscles and other hip flexors by the wiggling around on the tummy.
All of these things are happening during tummy time setting your baby up for rolling over, pulling knees under them for the beginning of crawling, crawling, cruising, and eventually walking, running and exploring their world’s through movement.
Seems that neck strength is quite an important thing…so why do so many people stop training the musculature of the head and neck as they get older? I don’t know, I’ve been fortunate to have started training the muscles of the cylinder (neck) since I was 12-13 years old and have continued that trend to this day.
Stay tuned for more on the importance of neck training.
#COMMIT to NO BULL in your LIFE
