Is this pain in my neck -- after Smith Machine squats -- just DOMs or something else?
Last Thursday (so, 5 days ago), I did a short leg workout, centering on finding my maximum weight for squats. I used a Smith Machine and, for the first time ever, I did not have a pad on the Olympic bar, as my gym only has one pad and someone else had it. I only had a small towel to pad the bar and no training partner that day to watch me to make sure I wasn't rolling the bar up my neck as I squatted down (a form problem I have). I don't remember the bar rolling up, but I fear it might have, because of this pain in my neck and shoulders (specific muscles feel like they are traps, the splenius muscles, rhomboid minor -- that whole area).
The pain itself is an achy type, not sharp or shooting. The feeling led me to ask my partner if he saw any black & blue marks on the area. He said no. But if he'd said yes, I'd not have been surprised, because it feels like I've been thumped around there. It's an odd achy feel that I'm not used to getting after squatting.
I'm a hair's breath shy of being an outright hypochondriac, so I don't feel that I have actually sustained an acute injury. If I had any thought at all that I'd seriously hurt myself, I'd have been at the doctor's in a shot. But, short of a keen injury, what could I have done? And what should I do to alleviate these aches and pains? Should I just ice/rest for a while? work through it to 'loosen it up'? Is this just DOMs -- (it's been suggested by a friend that maybe I was actually hefting the heaviest weights up with my shoulders a bit, recruiting muscles I shouldn't have)? Or something else? Should I be concerned or not fuss too much and move on?
Just never experienced anything like this before.
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The first question is where is the bar? The single most common problem I see with people squatting is placing the bar right on the back of the neck. The neck is not designed to handle all the weight, but your back is. In fact, it's much more comfortable to have the bar on your back without any padding or towels than it is to have it on your neck. This common problem is many times caused by personal trainers. I know the PT I had told me to do it wrong.
Take a look at Mark Rippetoe's platform on bar position and determine if you have the bar too high.
Also I do recommend learning to squat with free weights instead of the smith machine. Take some time to look at the ExRx.net article on squats if you are nervous about them.
The pain itself is an achy type, not sharp or shooting.
Achy pain is usually just DOMS. However, if the bar was set up too high, it can be the pressure of the bar on your muscles. Without being able to check your form (in person or in video), it's really hard to say exactly what it is. These are the two most likely explanations given your description.
You probably aren't injured, and will never find out what happened. If it's uncomfortable instead of painful when you work out, just ignore it and keep on working out normally. Keep an eye on it during warm-ups.
In the meantime, try front or back squats with a barbell and get away from the Smith machine. Barbell squats are better in general, but they also will make it harder to roll the bar onto your neck without knowing there's something seriously wrong. This should help improve your form.
To expand upon @Dave 's answer, you should get away from the Smith machine and start using barbells. Here's why:
Smith machine is less effective at engaging muscles and building strength than barbells, because it balances the weight for you. In fact, you'll find that when you move from Smith to barbell, you'll be doing only 50-70% of the load because it is that much harder.
Smith machine forces your body into an unnatural straight vertical movement. Since this movement is unnatural for your body it will end up stressing your joints and back (especially if you are doing heavy weights, which is what you were doing when you hurt your neck).
Smith machine, like all other machines, balances the weight for you, and thus takes your stabilizer muscles out of the picture. The result is you have stronger muscles that cannot resist lateral/rotational forces because your stabilizers are underdeveloped. This is a recipe for throwing out your back when lifting heavy objects.
In contrast, barbell squats engage more muscle groups, allow for a natural movement, and engage your stabilizing muscles; in other words, barbells are both safer and more efficient at building muscle than Smith.
Based off of the points above, the fact that the Smith machine forces your body into unnatural positions plus the fact you were testing what your maximum squat weight was leads me to believe the Smith machine is the direct result of your injury/discomfort, and the problem will only get worse with continued use of the machine.
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