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Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture
Neck strengthening

Hi All

Do you do neck strengthening? I was introduced to this rutine by my wrestling coach. Strong neck is a great asset in martial arts, there are opinions that this type of training is questionable and too dangerous. I have found that this type of training helpful, with neck pain and thorasic spine problems after my injury. I know many Polish wrestlers who do this workout and most of them have no problems with the neck.  

This type of training is not recommended to some people, after injuries (it helped me), also taking in to account strength of the neck. In boxing preffered method is use of the weights.

Kind regards

Les

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Good video! I’ve done very similar exercises during my time in Judo. They are widely used in grappling circles and would seem to be effective and relatively safe (they would not be so prevalent if that was not the case). They also have direct relevance to groundwork where the neck is often used as a kind of “fifth limb”. However, I think it would be fair to say that most health and exercise professionals would advise against bending the neck in such directions when under load. When I did my fitness instructor qualification (which was many years ago) even bending the neck back and forth (while standing and with no weight) was discouraged due to the structure of the spinal column. Of course, martial arts can never be 100% safe and remain marital arts. Getting hit isn’t particularly good for us either. The safety / function balance is one to always be mindful of.

For me, I don’t do such neck strengthening any more (for safety reasons and a desire to avoid injury now I’m in my mid-40s and injuries take longer and longer to recover from). My main one is to simply lie on my back, lift my head off the floor (just enough so my head can turn) and turn if from side to side until a sufficient “burn” is achieved. I then lie on my front, lift my head off, and do the same for the back of my neck. You can also do it while lying on a weights bench. It’s surprisingly simple yet effective. Certainly not as martially specific as the bridging type exercises, or as effective for that purpose, but safer and it still strengthens the neck muscles.

All the best,

Iain

Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture

Iain Abernethy wrote:

 However, I think it would be fair to say that most health and exercise professionals would advise against bending the neck in such directions when under load. When I did my fitness instructor qualification (which was many years ago) even bending the neck back and forth (while standing and with no weight) was discouraged due to the structure of the spinal column.

Sure, on other hand I done qualification as PT in 2015 and I had bridging on the assesment. There was no problem,  I've been told that in judo now you cannot move your head from left to right in one motion, you have to stop in the middle, as people got injured.

Iain Abernethy wrote:

My main one is to simply lie on my back, lift my head off the floor (just enough so my head can turn) and turn if from side to side until a sufficient “burn” is achieved. I then lie on my front, lift my head off, and do the same for the back of my neck. You can also do it while lying on a weights bench. It’s surprisingly simple yet effective. Certainly not as martially specific as the bridging type exercises, or as effective for that purpose, but safer and it still strengthens the neck muscles.

This is a great one, when I was doing BJJ it was all what we done for neck, I'm using this exercises for begginers to strengthen their neck, so they can safely move to more advanced stuff. I never force my students to do this routine, I just like it in my own training :)

Kind regards

Les