# Neck exercises?



## Duncans Donuts (Oct 1, 2004)

Without specialized equiptment, does anyone have some interesting neck strengthening exercises?


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## madden player (Oct 1, 2004)

The only exercise that I do for my neck is done lying on my back with my head hanging off a bench.  I curl my neck, bringing my chin to my chest (hits the sternocleidomastoids).  I never let my head and neck go below parallel with my body.  I do a couple high rep sets with no resistence to warm my neck up, then I place a folded towel on my forehead and add some weight.

Headstraps used to be common but have fallen out of fashion...Most people never directly train their neck..I love training my neck..A pump in the sternocleidomastoids is an outrageous feeling.


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## mino lee (Oct 1, 2004)

duncan: i only train sterno. never the splenius. i used to lie on my back with my head hanging off and curl it up.  however, and this is totally in my opinion, instead of doing what madden player does, i let my neck all the way down and ONLY bring it up to parallel.  this is extremely contraversial. the way madden player does it, he will get a burn in the sterno, quicker and so intense that you feel like screaming. the way i do it, u can up the weight more and it'll take longer to get that screaming burn.  

the reason i do it this way is because it is my believe that from all the way down to parallel, will work the lower sterno more, and from parallel to chin, will work the upper sterno more.  most people will probably say this is bullshit and just like the bicep, you either work the whole thing or not at all, you cannot isolate.........but this is the way i do it. 

in the end, and after warmups, i just sit upright on a chair and put my left and right fists flat on my forhead (so that it doesn't hurt) and in contracted position (meaning the chin is already tucked fully forward) i try to uncontract or "push the neck back to an upright position.  the neck is never strong enough to resist for more than maybe 8 seconds.  but i always do this at home, cuz as you can probably imagine, this looks pretty fucking freaky if you do it at the gym. shit if i saw someone do this at the gym, i would probably break out laughing. and for other people who might not even know what this guy is doing, they might just complain that there is an insane person in the gym. 


neck excercises have always been one that i've analyzed more than any other bodypart.  i've always said for years that the #1 body part i want to stand out is my neck, and then my trapezius.  when i learned boxing, it was the believe of most guys that the thicker the neck, the more punches one can absorb, which is important, because it doesn't matter how good your offense is, if your defense ain't worth shit. nowadays, i only work the sterno for appearance.


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## CowPimp (Oct 1, 2004)

ExRx has a couple of possibilities listed for you.


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## solid10 (Oct 2, 2004)

I lay down flat on a bench grab a dumbell and place it on my forehead with a towel underneath it to cushion it. Then I move my head up by flexing neck until chin touches upper chest.Return by hyperextending neck and repeat.


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## solid10 (Oct 2, 2004)

Thats only if I don't have a strap.


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## madden player (Oct 3, 2004)

mino lee said:
			
		

> ..i've always said for years that the #1 body part i want to stand out is my neck..


I also want my neck to stand out.. There is a great novel by Tom Wolfe ' Bonfire of The Vanities '  and one of the characters in the book is an attorney that uses his well developed streno to intimidate witnesses in the courtroom.  

A neck that is as thick as your head or thicker creates a powerful look.  I think everyone should include some neck work into their routine. Most people would be surprised how fast their neck responds to direct training.


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## Vieope (Oct 3, 2004)

_I don´t really buy anymore the effectiveness of any neck exercise.  _


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## Vieope (Oct 3, 2004)

_Although you may try:  _


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## madden player (Oct 3, 2004)

Vieope said:
			
		

> _I don´t really buy anymore the effectiveness of any neck exercise.  _


Do you have a Pencil neck??..Your neck won't respond to direct work??


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## Vieope (Oct 3, 2004)

madden player said:
			
		

> Do you have a Pencil neck??..Your neck won't respond to direct work??


_I can´t explain why they are not worth it. *LAM* was the one that convinced me.  _


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## madden player (Oct 3, 2004)

Vieope said:
			
		

> _I can´t explain why they are not worth it. *LAM* was the one that convinced me.  _


You shouldn't let anyone but yourself convince you that an exercise is worth it or not.  Everyone that I know of that trains their neck directly sees some improvements.


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## Vieope (Oct 3, 2004)

madden player said:
			
		

> You shouldn't let anyone but yourself convince you that an exercise is worth it or not.  Everyone that I know of that trains their neck directly sees some improvements.


_Ok, starting now. I won´t let you convince me that other people can´t convince me. 
I will try new exercises for neck though, the thing is that I really never saw any improvement and somebody saying that they don´t work was just what I needed.  _


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## Duncans Donuts (Oct 3, 2004)

Why won't neck exercises work?


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## Vieope (Oct 3, 2004)

Duncans Donuts said:
			
		

> Why won't neck exercises work?


_That is the thing I can´t quite explain. More people here think the same though. _


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## madden player (Oct 3, 2004)

Vieope said:
			
		

> _..I will try new exercises for neck though, the thing is that I really never saw any improvement _


It's all good..Resistance training is like that. We all have a lagging bodypart or two or three that just seems to lagg behind the rest ..I guess it could be a genetic thing.


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## Duncans Donuts (Oct 3, 2004)

Would someone tell me why neck exercises don't work?


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## DeadBolt (Oct 3, 2004)

I do the same as madden but then I also do them on my sides.  I find that when i stick to em my kneck grows very nice.  I have to start them up again, a nice set of traps and a thick neck make the wholoe package just look so damn beefy.


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## Luke9583 (Oct 3, 2004)

Duncans Donuts said:
			
		

> Without specialized equiptment, does anyone have some interesting neck strengthening exercises?


Take a look at a college wrestler... MONSTER NECKS.

My good buddy wrestles for MSU. He is my height, maybe 10lbs heavier, 4% less bf and has a 18" neck. It's disgusting, lmao. But I'm tired of my 15.25" neck. 

Have somebody push down and just try to force him up 6 times. Do the same thing sideways against somebody's knee. I ony do 6 of each, but 3 times a week. Seems to help me and my skinny ass.


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## racoon02 (Oct 3, 2004)

Dont heavy shrugs indirectly make your neck thicker by having bigger traps?


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## DeadBolt (Oct 3, 2004)

Yes shrugs help to enlarg your neck but not as much as dierct work.  Compare the neck to your tri's and your traps your chest.  Indirectly the tri's grow with benching but not nearly as much as if you were to directly work them....same goes for the neck.

Make sense?  Sorry its the only thing I could think of off the top of my head.


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## Mudge (Oct 3, 2004)

Unless your traps come really high up on your neck, I can still tell if someone has a scrawny neck. I remember a big guy who was lean at an old gym I used to go to about 5 years ago, and he had a skinny as neck, but great development everywhere else traps included.


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## min0 lee (Oct 9, 2004)

I see.


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## min0 lee (May 8, 2005)

*Lying Face Up Place Neck Resistance*













> Tips: Lie on your back with your shoulders about even with the end of the bench. Place a flat barbell plate on your forehead and hold in place with your hands. Raise your head in a semicircular motion as far as comfortable. Return to starting position slowly.




This what I do, does the job when there's no harness or machine around.


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## Mudge (May 8, 2005)

I need more than a plate to get my neck worked, unless I'm doing 30 reps or something. My favorite neck machine ever was the Nautilus unit. The way it was setup though, I had to load 4 and 5 plates on there, but it was by far the most comfortable I've ever used.


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## min0 lee (May 8, 2005)

My old gym had those, I actually use dumbells now Bally's does not have neck machines unfortunatly.


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## Mudge (May 8, 2005)

Since most gyms have everything else I want, thats the first thing I look/ask for is a neck machine. The one I'm using now is my second favorite, I never go over 75 pounds on it. The last one I used was I think made by Flex and had the worst pad setup ever, really nice for ripping your face up. I wrap my towel twice on the current one, works ok. The pad is round though which kind of sucks.


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