Who Trains the........

DarkLord · 01-Nov-05, 05:13 PM

The neck? Possibly the most neglected muscle group in the body to which we don't train with weights.I do know there is a head strap to which you can attach weights but the exercise is seldom seen. Any of you out there train the neck muscles? I know I should in the future, being tall. lol

Vas85 · 01-Nov-05, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkLord

The neck? Possibly the most neglected muscle group in the body to which we don't train with weights.I do know there is a head strap to which you can attach weights but the exercise is seldom seen. Any of you out there train the neck muscles? I know I should in the future, being tall. lol

Hi DarkLord, you are from the UK

i watch Fifth Gear, 1 of the two best car shows for car enthusiasts, and on it, Tiff Neddel was up against Vickie, and he was racing in a formula one williams f1 car, and i noticed that he was using a neck training machine.

But i also noticed they said it was one of two in the country... so i dont really know if the neck isn't trained becuase of the rarity of getting the machine to do so, or because i think its possibly sufficiently trained via deadlifts / sqauts / shrugs / rows...? thats my opinion.

:

gcs118 · 01-Nov-05, 07:34 PM

Your neck gets worked from many, many lifts. When you strain or push hard, your tensing your neck muscles. If you use a neck machine or whatever to work it, you are much more likely to injure yourself than to do any good IMO.

Blaze · 01-Nov-05, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gcs118

Your neck gets worked from many, many lifts. When you strain or push hard, your tensing your neck muscles. If you use a neck machine or whatever to work it, you are much more likely to injure yourself than to do any good IMO.

That is true. Your neck is used in almost all lifts. Haven't you eer noticed after a realllly heavy bench, when you get up, your neck is stiff and hurting for a second before it loosens up?

But if the neck machine is that rare, then Im sure lucky. Cuz we have a neck machine in our weight room at school. They call them neck extentions.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...LVNeckExt.html

The key is, though, to not use too much weight. I used a 185 pounds on it last year, and on my second set I really screwed up my neck and right shoulder, I could hardly move for three days...So you have to excercise serious caution when working something as delecate as the neck

**Todd** · 02-Nov-05, 02:29 PM

No need to train your neck unless it does not seem to be receiving enough stimulus from the rest of your training. My neck grows from just lifting heavy.

Dan C · 02-Nov-05, 02:48 PM

Luke and I train the neck a number of ways. I don't agree that training your neck increases your likelihood for injury, in fact I train my neck for the exact opposite reason, to keep it FROM getting injured. The last thing you want is a weak & skinny neck if you ever take a blow to the head, be it a right hook or a car accident. Sure the neck does get a little work from heavy lifting, but I don't think that justifies not training it. That's like saying you don't need ab work because you do squats. Besides, who wants to look like John Basedow?!?!

As for exercises, a head harness is all you need for the front and back, bands or just manual resistance for the sides. Neck bridges are another good one.

gcs118 · 02-Nov-05, 03:59 PM

No BBers or PLers I know work their necks independently. I was referring to the neck machine at gyms as injury-causing more than anything. Most people have a tendency to put too much weight on, or if you slightly turn your neck the wrong way, you can tweak it big time.

Stuff like the teeth pulls Luke does, or the band stuff you mentioned, that is much more realistic and I can see the benefits of it for your neck...but that is not what the original poster had in mind. My neck has kept up with my heavy training so far, but then again I'm not at the level you are Dan. I'm sure you have years of experience on me.

Klinger · 02-Nov-05, 04:14 PM

Try training it isomtetrically. Press your palms into your forehead, keep your arm muscles tensed and press your chin to your chest using your neck muscles.

Vas85 · 02-Nov-05, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan C

The last thing you want is a weak & skinny neck if you ever take a blow to the head, be it a right hook or a car accident. Sure the neck does get a little work from heavy lifting, but I don't think that justifies not training it.

Dan you ever seen every bodybuilders measurements, if their Neck isn't basically the same size as their Calfs' i'm wrong... i seem to strongly believe there is a strong correlation between Neck size and Calf size being roughly the same.

Thats my .02c

Dan C · 02-Nov-05, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klinger

Try training it isomtetrically. Press your palms into your forehead, keep your arm muscles tensed and press your chin to your chest using your neck muscles.

This is good stuff here! You can do this with your head in many positions, stretching the neck and training it to be strong in a stretched position.

If you were to injure your neck, the chances are that it's going to be some kind of strain, which basically is an overstretched muscle.

I think it just makes sense to train your neck. It might not be something you need to do all year around, but a 4-6 week cycle every couple months is well worth anybody's time! And if you've ever done any serious neck work, you know that when you do it, you really feel like your doing something good for yourself. Kinda like a sense of accomplishment.

Try it Darklord, then post back on this thread. You asked the question, now do it yourself and see what you think.

Axion · 02-Nov-05, 10:15 PM

I do, picked it up from some of the wrestlers in the mix martial arts class I was taking.

DarkLord · 03-Nov-05, 04:24 PM

What about bodybuilders who are supposed to have their waistlines the same size as their indiviual thighs? I heard this somewhere. Is it true of a fib?

**Todd** · 03-Nov-05, 06:11 PM

I think it depends on many things, not just waist line size as to how big your legs should be. Everything fits together as a package, so it also depends not only on how big each muscle group should be, but you also have to take into account individual structure....some bb'ers have a long upper torso, some short, some have longer legs, some shorter, etc....so whatever is going to make you look proportionate as a whole is best, despite how big each muscle group actually is.

**.V.** · 03-Nov-05, 08:43 PM

I thought the bicep/tricep circumference was supposed to be the same as the calf?

I wasn't aware of the other measurements. I guess I've got a lot of work to do.

Vas85 · 03-Nov-05, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_welch503

I thought the bicep/tricep circumference was supposed to be the same as the calf?

I wasn't aware of the other measurements. I guess I've got a lot of work to do.

Nope, or i dont think it to be, check Neck mesurements Welch of the top pro's or any other bodybuilder like on bodybuilding.com ameteurs etc... i see the correlation between neck and calf size. Which man have you seen with 20inch calfs and a stick skinny neck? doesnt happen :P