How to Train Your Neck (and Why You Need It)
We may pay more attention to our biceps or glutes, but every part of our body is filled with muscles that exercise will help. Our necks are no exception.
If you spend a lot of time stretching your neck forward — say, looking at a computer screen — you may be missing out on other movements that will support the muscles in and around your neck. Because just as we can train our legs , we can train our neck.
Try yoga for the neck
Yoga is for everything, and of course our buddies like Adrien haveexercises that focus on the neck and surrounding areas like the back and shoulders. (The muscles in the neck connect to other parts of the body, so many of the “neck muscles” actually belong to the back and other parts of the body.)
Stretch your neck in all directions
These stretches from physical therapist Dr. Joe will help you move your neck in all directions, potentially relieving spasms or that general feeling of stiffness we call a neck stretch. (Dr. Joe notes that you should consult your doctor if you think you may have health problems.)
Do a strength workout
Neck training is sometimes ridiculed as a stupid thing that dumbheads do, and it’s true that wrestlers and footballers often want to have their necks as arched as possible in order to protect themselves in their sport. But one thing I noticed while researching the best neck strengthening exercises that I would like to share with you is that thick-headed and slender physical therapists look equally silly with elastic bands wrapped around their heads.
So take a group and follow along with these guys (or Dr. Jo, as she also has a video doing similar exercises) as you train your neck in all directions.
Do normal exercise
The great thing about full body exercises is that you don’t have to consciously think about every muscle and body part when you use them. If you participate in a regular resistance training program – with weights or complex body weight movements like strength forms of yoga – you will end up using all the muscles attached to your neck, even if you don’t. consider what you are doing as neck workout.
To give a few examples, crunches require you to engage the muscles in the front of your neck to stabilize your head and prevent it from hitting the ground. Your trapezius muscles run from your skull to the middle of your spine, which means that many back exercises, such as the upper leg deadlifts, use at least some of your neck muscles. And any movement when your body is in a lateral position, such as the side planks, requires some work from the neck muscles to keep your head from plopping.
Likewise, exercises that make you move aerobically, such as hiking or dancing, will also make your neck muscles move a little. As a bonus, half an hour spent lounging with the kids in your backyard is half an hour without hunched over at your computer. Give yourself a chance to get out and move around and you will feel better about everything.