It's Never A Good Time To Lose One's Head

It's easy these days to forget that keeping your head in tact is a literal and figurative centerpiece of what keeps us alive. Having a strong neck isn't just about sculpted muscle, it is the strength of the tendons, ligaments and joints that keep everything together. If you have bad posture, chances are you have a weak neck so it is important to train that area the best ways possible. 

Our neck holds up our brain and is holding on to the spinal cord that is the electrical power in our back. If you ever had an injury where you broke your neck, you're also putting severe strain and injury to the spine. Our spine is our lifeline so we must check-up from the neck up. There are great ways to strengthen the neck and the very best is by bridging exercises. Now don't be afraid, I was too the first time I even saw a bridge being done, it can be very scary and downright intimidating but from a health standpoint, it is actually one of the best things you can do.

Bridging not only strengthens the neck, it stretches the back, strengthens the legs and provides incredible lung power as you stretch and open up the rib cage as you breathe deeply which in turn creates incredible endurance. The main three bridges are the Wrestlers (Back) Bridge, Front Bridge & The Gymnastic Bridge; each one develops incredible flexibility and all three strengthen the body from the inside out. You can say they are literal Body Builders. 

I do realize not everyone is meant to bridge due to severe problems like bone spurs and have had surgeries that wouldn't allow them to get into the positions regardless of progression, so what can you do to strengthen the neck without the need to bridge? My personal favorite is doing Self Resistance Neck Exercises where there's no impact on the joints and you are in complete control of how much you strength you put into it. The big 4 are as follows:

Side To Side (Moving The Head like a Rainbow)

Side To Side (Move The Head like an Equator)

Up And Down

& Circling The Neck For Mobility and Dynamic Flexibility

These alone are foundational for building a powerful neck and keeping your tendons and muscles strong. Start with 5-10 each way and build up to no more than 25-30. Another incredible way to train the neck especially for those over 40 is what's called Neck Chi Kung; it is a series of exercises that virtually anyone can do and it teaches how to breathe and relax (hardly strenuous) the muscles and focus on building energy and life into them. These take only a few minutes a day to do and helps realign your body from the head all the way down to the toes. You can learn about this type of training and many other forms of Energy Training & Conditioning by signing up at Matt Furey's Furey Faithful Website.

If you're really ambitious and want to take your neck training to the next level than I suggest you check out Advanced Bridging by Logan Christopher. This course gave me the best tools to strengthen my spine and neck and still use them to this day. It helped make my neck so strong that I will bend tough spikes with my bare hands in the Back Bridge. Imagine what it can do for you.

So get aHEAD in life and become literally HEADstrong. Never neglect the one thing that can keep you alive and possibly prevent you from becoming a vegetable.