A massive neck

A Strong Neck Contributes to Overall Power and a Proportional Physique. Every physique that screams raw functional power has one thing in common: a big strong neck.

Baggy shirts can hide arm development on a par with Justin Bieber’s; sweats might camouflage “forgotten” leg days. But a pencil neck, forget it! No running, no hiding, it’s exposed.

Today, the vast majority of athletes does not realize the importance of training the muscles of the neck, and it is not the trapezius muscle, which only partially affects our appearance. We are talking about the real muscles of the neck. Many believe that the basic movements such as squats, dead lift, etc. contribute enough to the development of the neck muscles.

Yes, of course, basic compound exercises cause muscles to grow throughout the body, and the neck is no exception. But did you know that in the absence of stressful conditions that occur when performing specific exercises the neck those muscles gradually become weaker. Of course, the chance of getting hurt instantly increases several times.

Why would one want to strengthen the neck muscles?

Needless to say, that strong neck muscles, when necessary, keep the head in place and work a shock absorber in many sport disciplines, like motocross, auto racing, boxing, martial arts, and even in a normal (car) accident.

Neck bridges, a common exercise in combat sports like wrestling, boxing, etc. It’s not dangerous if done properly, it’s the most widely used type of neck exercise for those and other sports. How to perform them can be read later in this blogpost.

A big and strong neck acts as a shock absorber. Stronger neck muscles can help prevent knockouts. A knockout is usually caused by a lateral snap of head movement (like nodding 'no').

Strong neck helps stabilize head movement therefore making you less vulnerable to KOs. Mike Tyson was known to have a huge neck (20.5" at 5'10" and 215 lbs), as evidenced in this picture.

Of course, specialized training of the neck may not be necessary for all men. Some genetically gifted athletes neck have a big strong neck from mother nature. But that’s very rare, and most of us are forced to train it a lot.

Unfortunately, some bodybuilders believe a large sized neck does not look aesthetically. They think they will develop a condition called “NoNeck.” A rather dubious condition which can be observed in people with a large percentage of body fat, or in athletes who developed such a body posture, often boxers or wrestlers. But as with naturals, some are born with large neck other with a small one and a so-called pencil neck is of course often genetic also. Well is for those reasons gyms are made. The majority of people has to work hard to develop the physique they desire. Just as I wrote on the development of the trapezius (traps), you must make sure to develop an esthetic, well balanced shoulder girdle, with the traps, the neck and the deltoids (delts –shoulders) in proportion. For those of you that train for raw power (lifters – strongman) and for the MMA fighters and boxers the neck is trained to develop “functional muscle” and not for esthetic reasons.

Think about it, like on other underdeveloped small muscle groups, such as developing the forearm or calf, it has to be trained separately to bring it into par with rest of your body. Some musclegroups don’t respond to AAS and training as well as other muscles. In the article about the traps, the science about this was discussed

Bodybuilders have to work to get a thick neck

The neck is a weak point in the human physique – and all martial arts have a few dirty tricks that rely on this fact. But some wrestlers and power lifters have a neck of such impressive proportions that it can hardly be regarded as a weak spot. Do you want to acquire a bull neck too? Dead lifts and neck presses won't help much, American sports scientists discovered back in the 1990s. You'll have to train your neck muscles separately.

The researchers, at the University of Georgia, did an experiment with a couple of dozen of male students, divided into three groups.

One group had to do weight training for twelve weeks. They got a training routine that focused on basic exercises like squats, leg press, bench press, Romanian dead lifts, bent rows and shrugs (b).

Another group followed exactly the same training routine, but in addition performed neck extensions with a harness three times a week. and They lay on their stomach and put a brace round their neck that they could attach weights to so that they could train their neck muscles (a).

Lastly, a control group of students did what students are best at. Absolutely nothing (c).

After twelve weeks a scan was made of all the test subjects to see which neck muscles had grown in circumference. That produced the figures below. Few dots: before the training period; lots of dots: after the training period.

The neck muscles of the control group (c) had not grown. More of a surprise was that the neck muscles of the subjects in training group (b) had not grown either. Only the neck muscles of the students in group (a), who had done separate neck muscle training, had grown in circumference.

The muscles that had grown were the splenius capitis (SC) [shown in red in the picture], the semispinalis capitis (SEC) and the semispinalis cervicis/semispinalis multifidus (SCM).

The resistance training group that did not train neck extension did not increase neck strength compared to subjects that performed neck extension work that increased neck extension strength by an impressive 34% over the 12-week duration of the study. The group that performed neck work increased the cross sectional area of neck musculature by 13% compared to no increase for subjects that did not directly work the neck.

“The researchers don't exclude the possibility that long-term general training increases the neck muscles, but think that the message is clear: if you want to strengthen your neck quickly, for whatever reason, you'll have to do separate neck training exercises.” Bottom line, if you want a big, strong neck, you have to train your neck!

How Quickly Can this Happen?

The Naval Health Research Center demonstrated, in a 2006 published study, that significant increases in neck strength were evident in both static and dynamic strength assessments with a month of neck resistance training. Total neck size increased by 13%; this can be the difference between average and projecting a persona of power.

The study also showed that military personnel that regularly trained the neck had fewer injuries and far less sick days. So, significant increases in neck strength and size can be realized in as little as 1-3 months according to scientific literature.

Neck Exercises

If you thought legs were the most neglected muscle, think again! I have literally never seen anyone train their neck at the gym, making it the number 1 least trained muscle out of all of them. This muscle is so neglected and unheard of that people often give you strange looks when they see you train it, as in "What is that guy doing!?". The thing is however this muscle is just as important as any other muscle in our bodies, and having a small neck can ruin a physique in my opinion. What is the use of having huge shoulders and bulging traps if you then look up and see a pencil neck?

The neck is one of the most imposing muscles found in our bodies; having a thick neck represents power and that is the look we want to achieve. It is also the most visible muscle since it is most often exposed, so why many people neglect it is beyond me.

Anatomy

For bodybuilding purposes the neck is split into two muscles: the front called the Sternocleidomastoid, and the rear called the Splenius.

The Sternocleidomastoid is further split into two heads, the Sternal Head and Clavicular Head, and is located as shown in the diagram left:

The Splenius is also split into two parts, the Cervicis Splenius and the Capitis Splenius. Only a portion of the latter muscle is actually visible which is shown below; the rest is hidden behind your other muscles.

As you can probably guess, the Sternocleidomastoid is the most prominent of the two and is what affects you the most visual-wise. Having a well-developed version of this muscle will give you a much stronger and thicker neck, such as this guy for example:

This doesn't mean that the Splenius has no effect of course, it's just that this muscle is mostly hidden and the part that shows is overshadowed by the Trapezius muscle that sits close to it.

Let us now look at how you can actually train your neck:

IMPORTANT – Getting Started

Before starting the program, it is imperative to understand that if you haven’t done any prior neck work, you will experience stiffness, a bit of a sore throat, and lack of neck mobility for the first couple weeks. This is completely normal and should pass as the neck is worked.

For all beginners I suggest you work the neck with all 3 ranges of motion 3 times per week.

Start with the neck curl, then side neck lift, and finish with the standing neck lift.

Warming up the neck with circular movements of the head

At the beginning of training it is necessary to stretch and warm up the muscles of the neck. Safety is paramount. Even if you have a back or neck injury, you probably will be able to alleviate their condition with this warming and stretching. Training the neck with heavy weights, without a proper warming and stretching, will surely cause a very painful almost immobile neck, then it will be very difficult to drive a car, read, watch TV, sit at the computer, so the warming and stretching of the neck muscles should be treated very seriously.

Slowly and softly circle the head back, forward and sideways. Then gradually follow the circular movements of the head. During the warming-up, the rate of movement can be increased. Make about 30 circular head movements in each direction.

Put static load on the neck muscles

The most simple and safe exercises will most likely static exercises to strengthen the muscles of the neck. Push your palms on the forehead, trying to resist the pressure, you give the neck isometric exercise. Then put your hands on his head and perform the same actions, has made efforts to your head. Then press your hands on the head by one side. Reduce or increase the power of resistance based on your feelings. Stay in each of these positions for a few seconds. If you perform light swinging, you will put a dynamic load on the muscles of the neck. It is also possible to use a towel or a rubber band to perform static muscle training.

The training of the muscles of the neck

There are many ways to work the neck. I believe in using 3 movements to build your foundation. These movements will cover the 3 ranges of motion:

Flexion

Extension

Lateral Bending

It is important to note though the neck can be twisted, I don’t believe in working the neck in a circular motion as it does not target the neck muscles and is also not good for the cervical spine. This is why I feel it is more efficient to target the 3 ranges of motion mentioned above.

The exercises we will use are:

Neck Curl with Weight Plate: This movement works the neck flexion, which is the first part of a nod, bringing your chin to your chest.

When performing the Neck Curl, my hands only serve as handles, I’m not pulling the weight up, I’m providing stability while the neck does all the work in an up/down motion.

The Neck Harness Lift

Seated or standing, this is bringing the chin away from your chest.

My hands are on my hips, while I focus on raising my head up/down as strict as I can. I do not use any hip power to raise up the weight. You can do this seated. The only difference is that the hands should be placed on your knees.

Side Neck Lift: Bringing your ear down toward your shoulder, the lateral bending.

Wrestlers Bridge

Bridge exercises are quite dangerous, so make sure you are properly prepared before attempting them by building a strong neck foundation first using other, safer exercises. Once you are advanced by all kind of other neck exercises, you can start by using your bodyweight to a wall. When you are convinced your neck is strong enough you are now ready for the real deal.

I don't recommend bridge exercises because I think it's quite dangerous, especially since you can train your neck in much safer ways. But for the advanced bodybuilder/fighter they are very effective and can be performed everywhere, thus also outside the gym. You can do these for the front, side, and rear of the neck using nothing but your own bodyweight. As far as I know there are 3 types of bridges, but it's quite hard to explain these exercises with words so instead I will link you to a YouTube video //www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPiqpLtQbvc