Neck Top
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I love the Wu-Tang Clan and one of my bestloved songs from them is “Protect Ya’ Neck”. And while I don’t think they were talking to combat athletes, protecting your neck is unquestionably of top priority. From using your neck in wrestling to push versus your opponent, to being competent to capable to absorb blows to the head, to resisting chokes, having a strong, thick neck is ultra important in EVERY combat sport. Along with the traps and muscles of the upperback, these muscles are important for your health and success as an athlete! Here are my Top 5 Neck Builders For MMA Athletes (or anyone) 1. Band Flexion and Extension. I like these for occasionally super high reps (50+) to lower reps in the 15-20 range, and I find the variable resistance with the bands to work better than a lot of the awkward neck harnesses that i’ve tried. 2. Manual Resistance. Using a towel and/or your own hands you may work flexion, extension and both sides of your neck. Work these for super slow reps or isometric holds for time. 3. Shrug Variations. I love shrugs and all of their variations – there are in a literal sense dozens if not more! While olympic lift variations and pulls normally get the nod for the uttermost trap developers, shrugs are still priceless for direct trap work, not to mention the grip benefits. My 2 favored shrug variations, which I stole from Joe Defranco are - Dumbbell Iso Shrugs. Shrug and hold the primary rep for 10-15 seconds, and each rep after for a 1 or 2 one thousand count. Sets of 8-15 are in general good here. - Timed Towel Barbell Shrugs. Grabbing on to a towel (similar to a gi in jiu jitsu or judo) over a bar, shoot for greatest or most complete or best possible reps in 30 seconds (25-35, generally). 4. Direct Upperback Work. You actually may never get sufficient upperback work. Aside from helping rectify our terrible posture from sitting at a computer all day, having a jacked up upperback is just cool. Here are my bestloved direct upperback movements (aside from rowing and pull up variations) - Band Pull Aparts. Joe Defranco and Zach Even-Esh have their athletes (especially throwing athletes) do 100 of these a day with a mini band. Great for an “extra workout”, or even as a filler amongst sets, pull aparts are a outstanding movement. - Band Face Pulls. Make sure to round your shoulders at the beginning of the motion and retract your shoulder blades at the completion (row to your eyes/forehead!). Sets of 15-50 work great as part of a superset with other upperbody movements or as a finisher. - Blast Strap/Ring/Tow Strap Scarecrows. Like a body weight rear delt raise, these may be very difficult depending on how you position your feet. Sets of 8-15, or from time to time more work best - Blast Strap/Ring/Tow Strap Face Pulls – row your body weight up by pulling to your forehead. Same reps as scarecrows. - Scarecrow-Face Pull Combo. Perform one scarecrow + one facepull. That’s one rep. Repeat. 5. Full Body Movements! You must already by doing this stuff, but squats, dead lifts, rack dead lifts, bent over rows, sandbag clean and presses, shouldering, and loading, not to mention FARMER walks and tire flipping are all tremendous neck builders and bestow to growth all over your entire body. So there you have it – a hand full of neck movements that may without apparent effort be done at the end of workouts or as mini sessions through out the day. No excuses, pencil neck! |
