Neck Strengthening (for grappling and injury prevention)

Dear S&P,

Due to a persistent neck injury caused by a frontal guillotine, I occasionally have to deal with pain in my neck, sometimes taking time off. From research I've decided that I should really work on some neck strengthening exercises as it would appear this could reduce the amount of shock my neck takes when grappling. I AM seeing a physio about it and have spoken to many friends with a similar injury..
My question is, what neck exercises would you recommend? I am thinking of buying a neck harness like that I've seen on prowriststraps.com (I think that's the website..) and threading a chain through some dumbbell weights I have at home and performing sets/reps with those. Besides injury prevention, having a BUFF neck is incredibly advantageous in grappling and fighting sports in general.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? Cheers!

P.S, Injuries suck, especially nagging ones.

 

neck harness is good, but a practical neck strengthening exercise is a neck bridge


YouTube - Wrestling Neck Bridge: Neck Strengthening

 

yeah neckbridges like at 1:55

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What i do to exercise my neck that i found in "No Holds Barred Fighting: The ultimate guide to conditioning" by mark hatmaker.

Lay on my back with my head barely off the ground and bring my chin into the center of my chest.

Lay on my back with my head barely off the ground and try to touch my left ear to my left shoulder and right ear to right shoulder.

He also has the bridge in there, but it hurts the top of my head so i avoid it.

 

Try doing what Chuck does in this video.

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When I first started training my neck I couldn't even do wrestling neck bridges but after awhile of do these I found I could do the wrestling bridges after no time at all.

 

Damn he's fast!

 

I been tinkering around deadlift w/ neck harness. Back and neck stiff and up right and lift barbell from floor to standing position. Need a strong harness...

 

Yep, front and back neck bridges.

Also, since you grapple, why don't you ask some of your training partners to drill lots of clinch work with you?

 

Holy hell handspeed in that Tyson video!

 

in addition to training your neck, train your traps.

in my limited experience in wrestling (frosh HS) we did manual resistance with our hands, front, back and sides. We also did joint rotations in addition to jogging and dyamic stretching as part of our warm-ups.

 

PHENOMENAL neck strength article over at t-nation:

TESTOSTERONE NATION | World's Largest Bodybuilding and Weight Loss Underground Nation

 

At my MT gym we do something similar to what Jug's Spear described. You start on your back, lift your head off the ground, and perform each of the following 10 times with a 10 second hold (hold neck straight, head off ground) between each one

- nod head forward (to chest)
- nod head backwards
- turn head to the right
- turn head to the left
- touch right ear to shoulder
- touch left ear to shoulder

Then hold for 20 seconds at the end. If you want to make it harder you can do each movement more, or hold for longer in between. Obviously this is more endurance than max strength.
-

 

Shrug with dumbells and focus on the neck flexing.(You can focus the weight onto either the back of your traps or the par that connects to my neck)
Neck harness.
Bridges(with weight on chest when your neck gets stronger). I have also stopped in the bridge position and pressed weight off of my chest.
Laying on your back bring you chin to your chest(lay a plate weight wrapped in a towel on forehead when your neck gets stronger. I have seen great results with this exercise, to the point where I had to stop doing them because the front of my neck was looking out of proportion to my body).

The neck is pretty easy to injure so don't go crazy with the weight. Im not saying use light weights just dont put 2 45s on your forehead. Movements should be slow and have all of your concentration.

 

Neck Harness - $20.00 : MMA Gear, MMA Clothing, MMA Gloves, MMA Shorts at nafightstore.com

 

I'm so proud that none of you went to the "give more oral sex answer".:icon_twis

 

I think you have to be pretty careful with neck bridges. Since you are coming off an injury it may not be the best exercise for you.

 

Bad guillotines suck.

*feels dent on adam's apple*

 

Pulled off my first guillotine for a submission today - partner actually liked it much more than the face/neck cranks I had been serving up.

 

If you're still looking then look no further. I have found the ultimate.

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Great thread!

I've been putting together all my knowledge about neck training over the years, and now it's time to release everything, I'm really excited about it.

About 10 years ago I had what the doctors told me should have been a life-ending injury, but my neck muscles were what saved my life and kept me out of a wheelchair.

That's why I developed my website www.GrapplersProtectYourNeck.com because I'm passionate about helping other grapplers with their neck training, and helping them prevent injuries. Neck injuries really suck, especially neck surgery, as anyone who's suffered neck pain knows.

There are a lot of us out there.

I had to have an emergency C1-C2 fusion and I'm still training, and training HARD, grinding it out in the gym with some killers on the mats here at Lloyd Irvin's MMA Academy in Maryland.

I was obsessed with neck training before the doctors discovered the break in my neck, and that's what saved my life, and naturally, after my injury, I became even more obsessed with learning and doing as much I can for my neck so I can continue to do what I love.

I've seen way too many of my friends, training partners and coaches go down from herniated discs and other neck injuries. So I'm going to do everything I can to help as many grapplers as I can help build their necks up strong so they can enjoy training.

I posted some of the newspaper articles about my neck injury on my blog at:
Grappling With Success so you can see how important directly training your neck is, especially if you're a grappler, wrestler, fighter, or any kind of combat athlete.

Respect. No Excuses! Protect Your Neck!

Jim Kelly
Team Lloyd Irvin

http://www.GrapplersProtectYourNeck.com