Why You Should Train Your Neck

It’s always seemed odd to me that people will neglect training certain parts of their body while strongly focusing on building other parts up.

The guy with pencil thin legs and massive arms comes to mind when I think about it.

First of all, it just looks silly when you train your body like that.

Secondly, it throws your body out of balance and makes it less efficient as a unit.

At the end of the day, the body is meant to function as one solid unit.

As much as I love the gym, most modern machines and exercises create massive imbalances within the body.

If you couldn’t care less about your body being functional in real life situations—such as having to defend yourself at a gas station from some hopped-up dummy, then move along.

You probably won’t like this post if you look at training that way.

Coming from a wrestling and martial arts background, I look at training as a means to make myself stronger, faster and more capable of handling dynamic situations in everyday life.

That means focusing on training the entire body. Not just picking and choosing certain body parts.

One body part that is almost always neglected by people training today is the neck.

You might even be asking yourself after reading that “why bother training my neck?”.

I’m going to tell you exactly why you should train your neck!

What do people see first?

Picture this.

You’re out with some friends and you spill a beer on the wrong guy.

Now you have this guy inches from your face looking to repaint the wall using your face as a paint brush.

Perhaps you’re a smooth talker and can convince this guy there’s a better way to handle the situation, but it’s unlikely.

He’s probably had a few too many Johnnie Walker’s and isn’t thinking at his clearest.

What do people like this understand? They understand power.

The second he (or anyone) lays their eyes on you, they’re making judgments.

In this situation, the guy is judging whether he can manhandle you or not.

Your pumped-up pecs and biceps are hiding under that overpriced shirt and won’t help you.

One muscle that will definitely be showing unless you favor turtlenecks is going to be your neck.

When this guy is deciding to himself if he wants to make you pay for ruining his favorite shirt, you don’t want him to lay his eyes on a pencil neck.

You want him to see a densely muscled and thick neck proclaiming that your body is a total unit of power.

A neck that makes him rethink going any further.

A strong, thick neck portrays power.

I’ve met people who were pretty weak with a huge chest and arms, but I’ve never met someone weak with an impressive neck.

A strong neck tells everyone that you’re built for go and not just show.

A big neck equals power

Four sports known for building the strongest and toughest athletes are football, boxing, wrestling and powerlifting.

Look at the strongest athletes of all those sports across the board and you’ll usually find impressive necks.

Especially wrestling and boxing.

These athletes know how important having a strong neck is.

In boxing—a stronger neck helps you to absorb punches better.

Look at a picture of Mike Tyson in his prime and you’ll see that his neck was massive.

In wrestling— a strong is pivotal for bridging off your back and overpowering your opponent.

The same is true for football. Lineman typically have the biggest necks and their sole purpose is pushing other guys around and dominating them more or less.

I use these examples to show that training your neck isn’t about aesthetics.

Sure, it looks intimidating which is very helpful in the above situation with the drunk guy at the bar, but it also helps protect you if violence can’t be avoided.

Sadly, it can’t always be avoided.

There will be a time and day when you’ll be forced to defend yourself.

Having a powerful neck will make you more likely to get through it in one piece and come out on top.

Neck training can prevent injuries

Let’s assume you don’t go out to bars and don’t participate in one of the four sports I listed above.

Why should you train your neck then?

If looking and being powerful isn’t enough reason to motivate you to train your neck, I have one more for you.

Injury prevention.

Spinal injuries are more common than you think.

I know a guy who tripped down some stairs, fell the wrong way and probably messed up his spine for life after hitting the wall with his neck.

Being in sports all my life, I’ve seen people injure their neck quite a bit.

In any sport where you risk running into someone, which is most, you are likely going to make contact with your head or face first.

Think of two outfielders running into each other in baseball.

It’s very possible that this can happen to you during any sport or just everyday life as I listed above.

Having a stronger and thicker neck is going to protect you from most run of the mill mishaps involving your neck.

With injury prevention, the best thing to do is play offense instead of defense.

That’s the reason why athletes lift weights and strengthen their bodies to begin with.

Yes, they want to be faster and stronger, but they also want to prevent injuries.

A stronger body is a tougher body and is less likely to get injured.

From the neck down

A strong and powerful body starts from the neck down.

If you want to build a body that’s built for go, you can’t ignore the neck.

It’s one body part that will separate you from the pack as most people simply ignore it.

Once you invest some time into training your neck, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start years ago.

You will see and feel results quickly with proper training.

You’ll love what you see when you look in the mirror.

Think about what most people see as they look at you.

Appearances are important and you want to be seen as someone of power.

A thick and strong neck will convey that message to people.

Stay pumped,

Dan

P.S. Do you train your neck? I’d love to hear any questions or comments below about neck training!