After my newsletter on looking more built in clothes by getting a beefier neck and forearms. I got an interesting, albeit troubling response from my friend Bill.
He’s the guy I began training with way back in the ‘70s, now an avid mountain biker, skier, and outdoorsman hellbent on an adrenaline rush whenever possible. With those activities, neck training could be a protective measure for him…
In an attempt to better protect himself in a crash or fall, he began including neck-strap work a while back.
While his neck felt stronger, he eventually started having neck pain. His wife Pam said it was the strap. Bill refused to believe it. Neck extensions were a manly exercise done by many macho professional wrestlers, and that was that.
When they had a physical therapist friend over to consult with them on another injury, Pam immediately grilled him about the neck strap…
His analysis pretty much shit-canned the apparatus as dangerous—too much strain on the discs in the neck…
Bill had to relent and stopped using the neck strap. His pain went away—at least the one in his neck…
In my newsletter on neck work, I used these photos…
I do this exercise face up with a small amount of weight, and then facedown, like the pics, with no weight. I should’ve mentioned that I move very slowly up and down, first to the right, then forward, then to the left, then forward and so forth for about 20 reps.
And I never raise my head up past parallel to the ground to avoid disc-crunching compression.
That last point is key and the big mistake most people make—raising their head too high, especially with a neck strap. In most cases it’s that disc-crunch that can trigger a pain-in-the-neck punch.
Note: For a chart of stretch-position exercises for each muscle, as well as the ideal and contracted-position moves, see pages 42 and 43 of Old Man, Young Muscle.
Sculpt your perfect physique: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best stretch and contracted add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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