Neck Training - Doug Nassif (1982)

 

A neck of steel could help you place higher in your next powerlifting or bodybuilding meet -- maybe even move up in weightlifting. 

But hardly a soul in today's gyms bothers with neck development; the same guys who design elaborate split routines in hopes of stimulating upper back or bicep growth bounce out of their weight rooms year after year without even looking at their most visible body part -- their neck. 

"It would mess up my hair," whined a novice with a pitiful pencil neck when I asked him why he didn't do anything for it. (This gym was weird . . . an hour later someone else confided that he was afraid to squat because "it would make buying pants impossible."). 

Neck strength is vital in powerlifting, especially in the bench. All great pressers use their neck to really dig into the bench. And look at someone great like Anello or Inaba at their mid-point deadlift; the neck is engaged to help the pull. Your squat will improve simply because your are stronger. 

Although bodybuilders would benefit more than anyone, they generally perform less neck work than powerlifters (power athletes with a wrestling or football bse have at least been exposed to neck movements.). 

Of all the Gold's Gym star posers down through the years, Ken Waller is the only bodybuilder I have seen using a head strap. Tony Pearson's wrestling background sets his neck above others but they all need work. The alleged "animals" living on Santa Monica beach -- Mentzer, Platz, Columbu, Fox -- for all their storied mass, I can't find a decent neck on anybody.  

Bertil Fox?

But a man with a thick, striated neck absolutely jumps out of the prejudging lineup. Imagine stuffing three inches on your neck THEN hitting your crab shot! 

Olympic lifters seem to have good necks. The indirect stimulation of the two lifts creeps up the shoulders and traps to burn the lower neck. Rigert has a neck like a charging rhino. 

As Peary Rader pointed out in an earlier Iron Man, physique experts of an earlier time battled to get identical measurements on their neck, arm and dalf (19" all around was considered perfection). This "golden age" of neck strength reached its zenith when George Hackenschmidt pulled over and bridged 322 pounds. (In 1959, Charles Davis bridged, but probably didn't pull over 375 pounds.).  

Here, with 350. 

Mr. Davis went on to do 400 at 200 bodyweight.

Take care to warm the neck sufficiently before launching into any neck lift. But once you're into it, you'll find the neck responds best to heavy training. Persist and you may find yourself buying a shirt an exhilarating experience . . . watch the salesman's jaw drop. In an age where many list pinball as their favorite sport, a man sporting a 22-inch neck inspires awe. 

Heavy bridges, the ideal neck bulker.

I will sometimes use the Olympic bar here. 

4-6 sets. 

Head-strap work is good but

you must use more than a few pounds. 

4-6 sets. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!