Stop being a bobble head

Your body follows your head!  When you get your motorcycle endorsement, one of the big things they emphasize is to look where you want to go.  Don't look directly down at the pavement in front of you or way up in the air checking out the birds.  Seems obvious and simple right? 

This same principle applies in the gym.  Your head placement directly effects your midline stability.  Believe it or not, it is NOT good mechanics to crain your neck up at the ceiling in the bottom of your squat.  Nor would it be ok to have your head tilted all the way down.  So what exactly is midline stability?  Kelly Starrett has a great series of videos on the CrossFit journal talking about this concept.  Let's talk about the head portion and take a look at it visually.

Your spine has a natural curve to it.  Whenever possible, you want to keep your spine in this natural position when applying a load to it .  The reason is that this is the safest and strongest position for your spine.  Line d. represents the straight line that can be drawn between hips and head when your spine is in its natural curve.  When you tilt your head up excessively (angle a increases), or overarch your back, you are taking your spine out of its strongest position.  This greatly increases your chance for injury and lowers power output.

The reason many people tilt the head back can often times be tracked to the lower body.  If your hamstrings are tight, tilting your head back gives them just a little more length in the bottom of your squat.  But this is NOT a good solution.  Instead, try some PNF stretching on your hamstrings.  This will result in increased power output from your newly lengthened hamstrings AND from your spine now being where it should be.  The goal in whatever lift you are doing is to keep your head in proper alignment. 

Additional resources:  Mark Rippetoe explains proper mechanics in his fantastic book Starting Strength.

Don't be a bobble head.