maratoolChin To Chest Stretch
How to do the chin to chest stretch
- Get into a seated position on the floor.
- Place both hands at the rear of your head, fingers interlocked, thumbs pointing down and elbows pointing straight ahead. Slowly pull your head down to your chest. Hold for 20-30 seconds.
Muscles worked
The muscles under tension are the cervical flexors and extensors, which move the head and hold it steady on top of the spine.
A stretch loads them at the far end of the range they normally work in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.
Nothing travels, but holding the position is not the target muscle’s job alone: the traps anchor the shoulder blade against the load.
How this movement works
Nothing travels once you are in position. The muscle holds a length under tension instead of working through a range, so effort is measured in seconds rather than repetitions — and the honest progression is more time in a good position, not a deeper one forced early.
It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.
What you need
These train the neck too, using equipment this one does not:
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 10 neck exercises in this database, 4 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.