Why I Never Used Weights With A Neck Harness?

 For the longest time in my journey, training my neck was nothing more than Bridges & Self Resistance Movements. I never even thought of a Neck Harness until I got one in late 2025 because in most cases, guys used weights for them using chains and so forth. I was already content with what I built in my neck.

I avoided the harness really because I only thought it was used with weights. Sure it looked bad ass but you can't really travel with weights plus, I wasn't fond of trying to control weight while moving my head in limited directions. There weren't many movements to work the neck using weights and it's not ideal to use the same weight for every direction, it could put a kink in things. 

As you know, when it comes to weights, I do things more unconventionally and although aspects of weight training are great and have promoted them with the courses that Brooks Kubik has published and want to give people that option of how the old timers trained. The best weights I have ever reacted well to have been hammers, sandbags and kettlebells. Can still do a solid level of barbells and dumbbells like heavy shrugs with more than 315 and can curl in the 60's along with benching around 300 but they just never gave me the type of strength I craved.

Neck Training is essential for many reasons beyond the mats and the gridiron. Having a strong neck isn't about the muscle that is built, it's the strength of the bones and tissues that keep it mobile and elastic. You can have a thick neck but if you struggle to turn it or have stiffness that causes spinal issues, it's not worth developing that. You'd want to train the neck in every possible angle that makes it durable, strong, flexible and strengthens areas of the spine. Hell, when I was doing Bridging Gymnastics (Kicking over on the head), it was fun and I loved being able to accomplish that while not being a wrestler or a fighter but eventually, I drifted away from that and merely kept up doing Self Resistance Exercises up to 200 Reps working in different directions.

I understand the reasons to use weights with a harness or a machine and they have good intentions, but they're not meant for everybody. It just never entered my mind to do them that way. When I finally got the Neck Flex being inspired by Mike The Machine Bruce, I figured it was time to give something like this a chance. Since it came with a Resistance Band, that was just up my alley. It was a little tricky to understand at first since I'm not used to wearing equipment on my head. I trusted Mike and his judgement because our mutual mentor Bud Jeffries took a chance on us, Mike's reputation in fighting and knowledge of Neck Work was also a major factor. I got better and better at it to the point where I'm doing 300-400 Reps per session working my neck with the Band hitting every direction I can think of and learned. 

Since using the NF, my neck is just as strong, durable and mobile than ever before. The Bridges and other things still work well but there's something about the NF that those other things haven't quite caught on. Because of the use with the Band, I can control the resistance with greater efficiency and work a pace that's comfortable yet challenging at the same time. 

I highly encourage you guys to grab one or either of the bundles. You can still work weights with it as you wish and still get bad ass benefits but I personally believe the Band does wonders especially since its portable and you can train your neck anywhere you want. Shit, you can even get a discount of them on me using my coupon code POWERANDMIGHT, even with the affordable pricing the company already has compared to other places. 

Fun Fact: The Legendary Powerhouse Mike Tyson used a Neck Harness along with Bridging to develop his 20 inch neck for absorbing punches. At his age now, he may bridge a little but if he had a Neck Flex using a band, it could help with those old injuries. 

Be amazingly awesome. What has been your experience with a Harness and how have you managed to build your neck with one? Let me know in the Comments or DM Me using the contact form.  

The Value Of Conditioning In Your 40's And Beyond

 Strength Training should be a priority regardless of your age but it does become crucial to keep at it especially if you're over 40. Its cousin, conditioning is just as valuable and should be treated with respect. In our younger years, we don't treasure fitness as much even though we give ourselves the idea that we can be invincible and can take on workouts we shouldn't be doing. We recover faster in our 20's because around those years, according to studies, we peak at the highest level of what our bodies are able to handle. When we reach 30-35, we are taught to believe it becomes a downhill slope and we need to slow down because we don't recover as much and our bodies are starting that infancy stage of becoming fragile.

Over 40, things become interesting but the truth is, if you've been training a good portion of your life and know the ways of adapting and understanding what your body's capabilities are, their weaknesses and what challenges you can take on, you can withstand quite a bit. However; it is important that as we do get older, we do need to be aware. Now there are guys who's level of strength and conditioning even beyond 40 are insane and often times inspiring. Take someone like Slim The Hammerman for example, the king of sledgehammer levering and other strongman feats, has said that in his years of 40-50, he felt like he was dangerous. Invincible as well and was doing things that is practically impossible for men even today. This was saying something cause this was a guy who worked in a Rock Quarry shattering and carrying stone 10+ hours a day often 6-7 days a week and that's backbreaking work as it is.

The Great Gama is another example of being able to do things most men couldn't even fathom and wrestled for more than 50 years at a level that would make Frank Gotch blush. His strength and conditioning is legendary and inspired even the likes of Bruce Lee. We are all capable of doing incredible things. We may not have the strength of Slim or have the stamina and power Gama had, but we can condition our bodies to withstand many things beyond certain ages. When you're over 40, those in their 60's will still call you a young man. As complimentary as that is, on the other end of the spectrum, a number of folks in their 20's will call someone over 40 an old man which if you're not used to it, can be a stab in the heart. Shit I'm at a stage in my life where remembering what it was like before google and having the Black Box in my room. When my parents were that age, it was in between JFK the headlines of Charles Manson. 

Now that we've taken little trips down memory comparing being a teen in the 90's and parents being teens in the 60's, let's get back to what I wanted to talk about. Having strength is an asset nobody can afford to lose but real physical strength isn't benching 500 lbs (although it's cool if you're a powerlifter or strongman), it's being able to get up without pain and to do things like carrying groceries, walking up stairs fluidly, handling furniture, loading boxes in awkward positions, it's about having strength that can keep going.  That's where conditioning comes into play, it's to be able to stay strong when it counts in the most crucial times. It doesn't matter if you're into weights, bodyweight, bands or whatever, if you can keep going and have that wind, you're above the majority. 

This is where I believe circuit training is by far one of the best methods for conditioning. It leads up to a total instead of just doing hundreds of an exercise in one shot. Doing hundreds of push-ups and squats at a time is great, essential even in some cases but that shouldn't be your only option to get in solid condition. With circuits, you learn to do small steps that lead to a bigger outcome. When I do my Circuits with the Dopamineo Band, I have it planned out for what I want to accomplish; I pick a certain number of exercises, do 10-20 reps and take as little rest as I can until I'm finished hitting all the rounds I want to do. Really when I do rest, it's just a few seconds. I've done this with Bodyweight Training as well where I've lasted as long as 45 minutes with less than a couple minutes total resting. My totals have ranged from 500-1500 reps at the end. 

You don't have to go that long when it comes to circuit training, 30 minutes even would probably be better suited. Sometimes if you picked out a hard circuit of exercises, resting until you caught wind again is an option but i believe at your very best, do what you can to work more with less rest. That's from a circuit POV, if it's Sprinting or other HIIT styles, then rest as long as needed to be efficient for your next round or set. Although I've done workouts doing HIIT for 30 minutes but it's on a 45 sec on/15 sec off protocol doing 5 exercises 6 times, that's a different level of conditioning. 

What makes it valuable to be able to have great conditioning beyond 40? It gives you a lasting impression on being an asset to yourself and to others. It's inspiring and even admirable at times but deep, deep down, conditioning with the right mindset and knowledge, goes a long way to having a quality of life to be proud of. Being able to keep up or even outwork those younger than you has its perks for sure especially on the ego, but that's where it stops. Don't try to prove to others in a manner where it compromises your personality and be an asshole. Prove to yourself that you can be capable of doing things others would never expect you to be capable of. It's not always what others think, what they think is their problem; you on the other hand learn what YOU can do and make a habit of being fit and healthy to live long and prosper (did I really just quote Star Trek even though I'm a Star Wars nerd?). 

The value of conditioning goes beyond the physical, it's a matter of pride with humbleness that you are in the kind of shape that would drop jaws. When others feel the need to tear down people who aren't in the shape THEY'RE in or call people losers and whiners because they don't follow their style of training, that's not someone to be trusted. That's someone who doesn't know the true value of inspiring others. Sure they may be in "decent" shape (even claiming to be the very best in the world when they're REALLY not) but if they also smoke like a chimney, drink enough caffeine to put others in the hospital (and call it being healthy) and tell others to go extreme all the time, that's nothing more than a sales pitch to guilt trip you into buying something from them. It's not realistic or even good for the body, it's degrading and wastes everybody's time. 

Be amazingly awesome and do what's possible for you to be in the best condition you can be in while staying healthy and living a quality of life that brings purpose to you and for others.    

Simple Supersets Aren't Always Easy

The overwhelming amount of information out there today have made fitness routines look and seem so damn complicated that it turns many away who are doing what they can to better themselves. Very few people even teach and preach the simplicity of exercise anymore. Even when it comes to calisthenics, they often show the more advanced exercises that aren't sustainable for realistic health and strength. It really is a pain in the ass. 

Why make exercise so damn hard to understand? Mostly due to marketing and catering to a specific audience that is gullible enough to buy into the crap that many try to pan off as the ultimate program and you'd be a fool to not get your hands on it. The truth is, many "influencers" today don't have a fucking clue what real simplistic training is, hell I can guarantee that more than 95% of people who "teach" fitness today care more about how their ass, arms and abs look in comparison to knowing and understanding the training principles of past strongmen and women. For men, look to guys like Brooks Kubik, Arthur Saxon, Otto Arco, Maxick, Bill Pearl, Reg Park and a few others. For Women, the list might be a bit less but if I had to pick one woman of the old timers that represented strength, femineity, power and grace it be someone like Peggy Stockton. In today's world of women's fitness, less than a handful really have the ability to showcase realistic strength and the three I can think of are Kirsten Tullock, Melody Schoenfeld and Tera Scott. 

Now, when it comes to simplicity and a good routine, a favorite of mine is doing Supersets or doing exercises back to back and continuing that for a period of time instead of just sets and reps schemes. It's a different dynamic to formulate a workout that doesn't take a ton of thinking but it does take a certain mentality and the ability to harness a good level of conditioning that's foundational. In this case, it takes inspiration from one of the greatest pro wrestlers and that's Bob Backlund. I've written about him a time or two so I'm sure you can find those. This routine is based on his foundational exercises; the Step Up & the Ab Wheel. He would do hundreds of these exercises a day sometimes more than an hour each in the same session and it made him one tough son of a bitch and one of the most underrated conditioned men of his time. 

You can do different formats of training with these exercises but some of my workouts lately have been just doing a few reps of each back to back but I keep going for an extended period of time. This is by doing 10 Step Ups per leg and immediately do 5 reps of the ab wheel. Sounds too damn easy right? After all that's really a pathetic looking superset meant for beginners but I can assure you, it's anything but. It's one thing to do a few sets, it's way different when you continually do it without taking a break for up to 20 minutes straight or longer. When you're going that long, the reps not only add up but you're testing your strength and conditioning as well. They become more than just a few reps each, they become a brutal aspect of a session you wouldn't expect to be hard to do. Give it a go, try for ten minutes and see what's possible. The objective is to keep going without a break or even with as little rest, for this case, if you need a rest, you only have 10-20 seconds per set. Work at a pace that isn't Speedy Gonzales but enough to get the heart rate up and keep going. Speed will come naturally but the longer you go, tougher it can become.  

There you have it, no complications, no need to think too much on what to do, you just do it and see what you're capable of. You can do more reps of each per set if you wish but also keep your form as smooth as possible so you don't hurt yourself. The faster you do these exercises, the greater risk to becoming sloppy, it's not a sprint. Again, let the speed come naturally, form doesn't have to perfect but it does make a difference in how you apply the tension and the awareness of the exercises themselves. If you really want to take it to another level, take a deck of cards (Black Cards for Step Ups, Red For Ab Wheel Rollouts) and do these until the deck is done. Try to do a total of 500 Step Ups & 250 Rollouts, that's really going to test you. 

Have fun and keep being amazingly awesome.