NECK TRAINING

Aesthetics

A bigger neck gives the impression of more overall muscle mass. It brings balance to your physique—like having a big chest but skipping legs, a weak neck can ruin the visual symmetry of your upper body. It’s one of those muscles that, if underdeveloped, will stand out—in a bad way.

Strength

When you're grinding through high-RPE reps, using your entire body, stronger neck musculature can help via irradiation, assisting you in lifting more.

Obviously, the neck plays a more important role in some sports than others. In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a strong neck can be crucial to resist submissions. In boxing or rugby, it helps absorb impacts to the head.

‍Charles Poliquin used to say: "The stronger your neck, the earlier you'll strengthen your upper body."

(It's rare to see someone with a big neck who's not strong.)

Pain & Discomfort

Personally, I used to feel neck discomfort during high-RPE bench presses or tough reps. However, after adding warm-up sets focused on the neck, those sessions became more comfortable and pain decreased.

Now that we've covered the benefits, let’s look at how to train it properly.Just like any other muscle, the neck must be trained through its full range of motion to grow and get stronger.

• Flexion
  
• Extension
• Lateral Flexion
• Anti-Extension
• Anti-Flexion

Volume and Programming

Repetition range is often debated. Some say to train it like any other muscle—8 to 12 reps close to failure. Others recommend higher rep ranges (12+) and staying away from failure due to injury risk.

Personally, I prefer working above 10 reps, but always with controlled, technical movement—not explosive or sloppy. You’ll get the same results without taking unnecessary risks.

Doing 2 to 4 exercises per week is enough. You can add them at the end of your strength session (3–5 sets) or during your warm-up. I personally prefer doing them on bench press days due to past discomfort.

Neck Flexion Exercises

Neck Extension Exercises

Lateral Neck Flexion Exercises

Anti-Neck Extension Exercises

Anti-Neck Flexion Exercises

Anti-Lateral Neck Flexion Exercises

Just to reinforce: do the movements slow and controlled, no explosiveness—like shown in the videos. I’m personally still working on building a bigger neck.