425 lbs. held in a wrestler’s bridge
There are many ways you can strengthen the neck. Here are a few basic exercises you can do.
Bridging – To me this is the king of neck strengthening exercises. But it gives you much more than that. It build flexibility and works the spine as well as the whole body. In fact, I devoted an entire course to bridging exercises and many variations. Work into it slowly, but over time you’ll build a neck strong enough to scare people. (And I mean STRENGTH, not size.)
Shrugs – Shrugs of many variations (my favorite is the trapbar) primarily work the trapezius muscles. Being that this is right next to the neck and the muscles cross over this is a good neck exercise. Go heavy!
Neck Isometrics with Hands – You can work your neck quite well with just your hands. To the front, to the back and to the sides. Resist with your hand as you move your head back into place.
Plate lifting – I learned this one from Mike Bruce. Lay across a bench, placing a plate across your forehead (you may want to fold up a towel as a pad to make it comfortable), using your hands to keep it balanced, but drive with the power of your neck. You can do this from the rear and to the sides as well.
Harness lifting – If you have a head harness or lifting strap you can lift weight in a variety of ways.
That’s a number of neck strengthening exercises I’ve given you now let me tell you how I do it. While I gave you many exercises I mostly just do bridging variations. I’ve done a 10 minute wrestler’s bridge on a couple occasions. But that took too long plus it wasn’t as much resistance as I wanted so I started adding weight. My current best is the 425 lbs. pictured on this page.
I typically train my neck twice a week. I usually do a single set each of two different exercises. All my neck training in about 5 minutes a week.
Simple exercises = BIG results. This is a missing key to training almost everyone neglects. Don’t let that be you.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Comments
impressive bridge man. am going to get started on this soon as it is feasible.
For neck strength and general health I like bridges, but as a boxer I also do isometrics with a rotational component applying force to the jaw (with clenched teeth obviously). I also try reverse-bridges like in Farmer Burns’ old instructional course, again to strengthen my neck for a blow.
If I may ask where can you get Farmer Burns’ instructional course for developping a strong neck?
On amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Wrestling-Physical-Culture-Farmer/dp/1468103245/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456612259&sr=8-1&keywords=farmer+burns
Or if you do a search for it online you should be able to find it free in some places.
Those are also great isometrics. Definitely a must for boxers. Farmer Burns knew something about neck strength, that’s for sure.
-Logan
You look absolutely ridiculous! xD