Weight Lifting Exercises For Your Neck
When you look at a bodybuilder who has been working out for some time and someone who has not, there are some noticeable differences. The bodybuilder who has been gaining mass, but not a lot of mass will have a much more developed neck than someone who has not. When you have strong neck muscles, you will be preventing some of the injuries that can occur from a weak neck. This will help when you are doing some of the exercises in your workout routine.
The shrug is the most common exercise that you can use to improve the muscles in your neck. There are variations on the shrug that you can use to help give the exercise a little more intensity, but it is a very simple exercise to perform.
You can choose to use dumbbells or a barbell when you are doing your shrugs. There can be a great amount of weight used when you are doing the shrug. You will only be required to use a short range of motion and this can be accomplished with more weight. You should hold your weight near your waist and shrug your shoulders. It is as simple as that. The control that you use is what will add to the intensity of the exercise. Make sure that you lift and lower your shoulders slowly to exercise the most amount of control.
You can develop loads of strength by working with your ideal weight rep range between about 5-7. But be careful. You should make sure you’re well warmed up before you start. Even before you attempt to find out what your best rep range is, you should do a couple of workouts using less weight. This is because the neck is a horrible place to get an injury. Just be careful if you’ve not done much neck work before. Injury in this area is the last thing you need.
There are some other exercises that you can add after you have begun to develop the muscles in the neck.
It’s called the Weighted Neck Flexion and it goes like this:
1. Take your weight plate and wrap it up in a towel.
2. Lay back on the bench with the head off the end of the bench.
3. Put the plate on your forehead and use your hands to support the weight.
4. lift your body in a situp style movement using your neck muscles till your chin touches your chest
5. Bring your body back down to your original position.
6. Repeat until you’re done.
This can be done in the reverse style too when you’re on your stomach.
There are many exercises that can be used to strengthen your neck muscles. You can even use your own body to perform a simple exercise when you are trying to increase the strength. Place your hand on one side of the head and push your head in the opposite direction against your hand. You will find that this is a great way to start off with neck exercises. Do not attempt a neck bridge unless you have been working the neck muscles for some time. Most of the people who use this exercise do so because there is a need such as for wrestling or martial arts.
The neck is a small part of your upper body workout and should be strengthened along with your chest, back and shoulders. Make sure that you are working on the muscles in your neck to gain the strength that will benefit you in other parts of your workout routine.
Filed under: Training