Developing A Thick Bull Neck Without Weights

In sports and in life it is critically important to keep your head on your shoulders yet many neglect to train the area that is attached to the head which is the NECK. The people with thick necks are usually football players & wrestlers and that is because of the full contact blasts they take especially pro wrestlers who get tied up in headlocks, rolling out and even kicking out have to have a strong neck otherwise it could be disastrous. Same thing with football players that tackle head on like fighting bulls, buffalos & rams; they're necks need to be a key factor in winning a fight otherwise you can shatter your spine and be paralyzed from the neck down.

For over 12 years, I have studied, trained & learned various aspects on training the neck. Off and on and a lot more on lately, I have been working on building a strong neck for practically any occasion. I rarely ever touched weights for neck training and that's mostly because most weights or machines isolate only a small portion of the neck in a specific position so unless you need to fix a weak area you don't necessarily need a machine to build a powerful neck. Because of the methods I have practiced, I have developed a thick 20 inch neck without ever touching a single pound.

Some exercises even for bodyweight can be debatable or controversial depending on who you talk to and how certain methods are applied. When I had my very short stint training in high school wrestling I was taught to bridge on the top of my head and because I never heard of the bridge then I didn't know any better. It turns out years later, it wasn't the best type of bridge to do. I really began my style of bridging from learning from Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning Book and applied the more stretching component of bringing the nose to the mat. This was my first taste of learning how to handle my neck in awkward positions and the experience just kept growing. Eventually within a short period of time I was able to hold a bridge for 3 min. with feet flat, arms off the floor and nose touching the mat.

I wanted to learn more on how to make my neck stronger not just from bridging. One of my favorite methods came from Jim Forystek's Book Flexercise where it taught how to build a strong neck using self resistance exercises where you applied pressure to really make the neck work as you went through a movement. It had a specific level of repetitions that you progressed to so you can safely build the neck without straining. I hit level 3 status for those exercises quickly and my neck was getting sculpted but the funny thing was I didn't really care how sculpted my neck looked, only cared about making it stronger, durable and flexible.

The neck is a fist impression of a strong and powerful individual. It doesn't need to be sculpted like a bodybuilder which to me is more counterproductive because most bodybuilders today don't have that strong of a neck. A neck with power shows confidence and gives off a strong vibe that tells a person that is full of vigor and posture. If you have a weak neck, you have a greater chance for injuries and very hunched over. The course that settled it for me to really develop the neck I wanted was none other than Advanced Bridging by Logan Christopher; this alone taught me the true value of neck building and honing a thick bull neck that screams strength. From holding specific positions to rocking gave my neck the fuel it needed to develop size.

If you're interested in learning the deepest aspects of building a thick neck, look for the man with the world's strongest neck Mike Bruce who developed his neck in ways that cannot be matched by anyone. His neck is so strong, he's literally lifted hundreds of pounds while moving his head up and down, has had steel bars bent across his throat and even a horseshoe. This was all done by applying methods he used in wrestling and Martial Arts while utilizing strongman techniques and firmly applied bodyweight style conditioning.

You can apply weights for neck training but you have to be extremely cautious and be safe at all times. The neck is a set of muscles and tendons like everything else but its a lot more delicate than practically any other part of body because its in congruent with the spinal cord and that electric power from the brain to the spinal cord is firmly in the neck. So train with intent, purpose and able to apply with proper technique. There have been countless injuries due to spinal cord breaks and hitting the neck in the wrong spots. One of the most famous is from the injury that put legendary Superman actor Christopher Reeve in a wheelchair until the day he died. Another athlete that had a major neck injury but had someone or something on his side that had pull out of being a vegetable was pro wrestling technician and high flyer TJ Wilson aka Tyson Kidd. He had a match a while back and landed really badly on his head or his neck I can't remember which one and it was so bad he had to be carried out on a stretcher and put in a severe neck brace. The upside to this is that because of his training building that neck, it was so strong it kept him from being in a wheelchair for life or worse killing him.

I'm not trying to get you thinking the worst scenarios but I'am being honest on how important it is to train the neck with proper technique and developing a strong foundation that can help prevent disastrous circumstances. Here are my key ingredients to developing a powerful neck.....

Bridging (Front, Back)

Bridge Rocks (Front, Back, Side To Side)

Self Resistance Movements (Side To Side, Turning Of The Head, Up, Down, Circular)

(Advanced Movements)- Bridging Gymnastics (Kicking Over & Back), Headstand Neck Stretches, Circular Walks In The Bridge, Front Bridge Plank

I personally do the majority of these almost daily alternating a couple exercises. Don't jump into some of these right away, build up to them and progress to advanced variations & exercises. It's not going to happen over night and some of these are extremely difficult especially if you're someone of a heavier size. When I first kicked over in the bridge I was 230+ lbs. and I had to have solid form in order to pull it off, you can be far smaller and kick over with not so good solid form but its vastly important to have the best form possible to safely do this. Build the best neck you can and pay attention to weaknesses & the ability to progress.