Build bigger traps with shoulder shrugs

I’ve gotten a ton of questions from my subscribers about shoulder shrugs to build neck strength and neck size. Lots of people want to know how to get bigger traps (trapezius muscles).

So here’s part 1 of some Q&A about shoulder shrugs . (If you have any questions, email me or leave a comment below.)

QUESTION: “Sometimes at the gym I see people doing shrugs straight up and down and some shrug up and roll their shoulders back before bringing the weight back down. Which way is better?”

ANSWER: Keep it simple. Go up and down. And go LIGHT – at least at first. Once you build your neck up slowly, you can start gradually adding weight and increasing the intensity.

Beginner/Basic Tips For Shoulder Shrugging To Build Neck Size & Neck Strength

QUESTION: “I just got into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I’m just starting to do some shoulder shrugs because I want to get my traps and neck bigger and stronger. Which versions of shrugs are the best to do? Any suggestions and/or tips for me since I’m just getting into shrugging?”

ANSWER:

There are all kinds of different versions of shrugs you can do, too. Since you’re just starting out, there’s no reason to do all kinds of different shrugs. Just keep things simple.

Dumbbell shrugs develop big traps

I suggest starting off with standing dumbbell shrugs, because since you’re a beginner, you can keep your spine more aligned a little more easily with dumbbells (you want to keep your back completely straight) and you can keep the dumbbells at your sides which will help to keep you from hunching over.

Make sure your posture is good and straight. Don’t hunch your back or roll your shoulders or let them tilt forward; keep your shoulders back and your abs tight. Stand about shoulder-width apart and don’t lock your knees; you want to stay tight but keep your knees bent slightly.

As you hold the dumbbells, keep a tight grip on them so you don’t drop them. Your arms should be pretty tight, but just enough to hold the dumbbells in a fixed position.

Then you just raise up the dumbbells as if you’re trying to touch your shoulders to your ears. Exhale as you raise the dumbbells, pausing and squeezing your trap muscles at the top. Inhale in as you lower the weight slowly back down. Don’t keep your elbows locked straight, bend them slightly, but don’t bring the weight up with your arms; lift the weight straight up with your trap muscles.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to get a good warm-up before starting your actual neck/shrug workout!

Start out with 3-4 sets of shrugs, with your reps in the 8-12 range. Rest about 45 seconds to a minute in between sets to start off.

Later on, we’ll work on upping the intensity, but now, you need to build a firm base, so pick a weight you can use comfortably for the first few shrug workouts. Don’t go to failure yet on any of your sets.

Recovery is just as important as the workout itself.

You need to give your body ample time to recover. I wouldn’t do shrugs more than 2 times a week starting off. You want at least 3 or 4 days rest in between shrug workouts, at least in the beginning.

In addition, if you’re on the mats wrestling or doing any kind of grappling, you’ll be working your neck during practice. So if your traps are really sore and you have a shrug workout scheduled, don’t worry about using an extra day for recovery. Make sure you’re fully recovered for each shrug workout.

Make sure you’re thoroughly warmed up then start light and work your way up in weight slowly. I don’t suggest you go heavy for while though until you get your form down and build a good foundation of strength in your neck and traps.

Shoulder shrugs are a great way to build a lot of size and strength in your neck and traps.

Remember, keeping things simple and slow is the best way to go when you first start training your neck.

If you have any more questions or suggestions, just email me or leave comments here on my blog.

Protect Your Neck!

James Kelly, Founder of GrapplersProtectYourNeck.com

Lloyd Irvin: “I was paralyzed from a judo throw and you should….”

As I laid on the ground and couldn’t move my arms or legs, I started thinking about my family, my life, my son and what it was going to be like to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.

This is exactly what I was thinking after I got thrown on my head in a Judo tournament in 2003.

Talk about a scary experience!

Doctors telling me I needed to have spinal fusion the very next day (don’t forget this was in 2003). Even after spending the next year off the mats, doctors told me that life as I knew it would never be the same again.

After my injury, the entire martial arts community reached out to me and the support was tremendous. People from all over the world were sharing their neck injury stories with me, what they did to recover, what different types of procedures they had and all kinds of alternative strategies.

Then I started to realize how many people in the grappling world get neck injuries. No one shared this with me when I first started. I then started asking myself questions…

“Why don’t people in the grappling/MMA world condition their necks more?”

“Why don’t grapplers and fighters make neck training a PRIORITY?”

I know I didn’t make neck exercises a priority before I injured my neck and was forced off the mats for what seemed like forever. Big mistake.

Then I met a guy named Jim Kelly whose neck injury was just downright sad!

Jim BROKE HIS NECK at a wrestling camp – amazingly, finishing the camp and earning the “Most Dedicated Wrestler” and “Outstanding Wrestler” awards (not knowing his neck was broken). Before his emergency C1-C2 neck fusion surgery, the doctors told him that if his neck wasn’t so big and strong, he would be “dead.” The docs said the only thing holding Jim’s neck stable were his dense neck muscles. (You have to see the story written in the newspaper about him — click HERE to see it.)

The doctors also told him he’d NEVER be able to train on the mats again. But now they call it a “miracle” that he’s back on the mats training BJJ, submission grappling and wrestling — he’s also the head wrestling coach here at my MMA academy and assistant coach of our youth grappling team who are the 2010 IBJJF Juvenile World Champions.

So the reason I’m writing this article is because you need to know the truth about the sport you’re involved in. You need to understand that protecting your spinal cord all starts with protecting your neck. It’s critical.

Jim recently set up a website where he’s giving away information on how to protect your neck, how to use simple neck exercises to make sure you don’t end up in a wheelchair, how to build neck size and strength in your neck to make you a better stronger grappler, and more.

I sure wish I knew about this when I first started!

I never knew the importance of building a strong neck until I suffered my injury and was forced to.

Neck training saved Jim’s life and also allowed him to come back to the mats stronger than ever.

Now Jim is on a mission to help as many people learn how to protect their necks. If you grapple, fight MMA or are involved in any contact sport, you owe it to yourself to see what Jim is teaching.

It won’t cost you a single dime and Jim is really passionate about this topic.

I’ve been using Jim’s neck training tips, and I feel great!

“Discover How To Protect Your Neck” right now. Just use your name and valid email to get access to this valuable neck training information – then click the “Get A Strong Neck” button to get it along with a report titled, “3 Killer Mistakes Almost All Grapplers Make In Training” – and he’ll send it to you completely FREE. (All information kept 100% confidential and you can unsubscribe at any time).

I can’t recommend this enough! As Jim says, you gotta “protect your neck!”

Lloyd Irvin

Head Coach of Team Lloyd Irvin MMA & BJJ Academy in Camp Springs, MD

In submission wrestling (grappling), Brazilian Jiu- Jitsu and mixed martial arts (MMA), the ultimate goal is to finish your opponent. One of the most common ways to finish an MMA fight, submission wrestling grappling match or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) match is with a choke.

A strong neck will improve your choke defense and make it harder for your opponents to submit you with choke holds. Note: nobody is “choke proof.” Everybody, and I mean everybody, is susceptible to chokes. However, people with strong necks are often tougher to choke than people with tiny, weak “pencil necks.”

Mike Tyson had a huge neck in his prime!

In boxing and MMA, a big strong neck will help you take punches. Look at the thick necks of boxers such as Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. Many boxers train their necks directly with neck exercises like neck bridges, neck extensions, etc.

Evander Holyfield has a big neck with high traps

As a combat athlete, chances are you’ve heard the common phrase, “Where the head goes, the body goes.” It’s very true. So as a combat athlete, it’s your job to make sure your opponents don’t control where your head goes. One of the ways to do that is by having a strong, powerful neck.

If you’d like to learn more about how to develop a big strong neck for combat sports like wrestling, submission grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), boxing, Judo or mixed martial arts (MMA), just use your name and valid email to get exclusive access to this valuable neck training information – then click the “Get A Strong Neck!” button to enter (All information kept 100% confidential)…

Killer Mistake: Not dealing with neck pain, back pain and any possible spinal injury the first time you feel it.

Many grapplers and combat athletes will experience neck pain (stingers, strains, sprains, etc.) that lasts anywhere from a few minutes to a few days (or more). But many times, because of the “tough” mindset that is required for combat sports, many will overlook the pain or simply “forget about it” when it eventually goes away (if it even does go away)… rather than making the effort to identify and address the cause of the neck or back pain right away.

Here’s an example…

The summer before my senior year of high school, I went to a wrestling camp and during a practice where we were drilling throws, I noticed I felt dizzy and nauseous. My left arm was numb and shaking, and I couldn’t walk straight. I wanted to go throw up to make myself feel better. I figured maybe I had a concussion or something.

I went to one of the clinicians to let him know I had to go throw up real quick and he noticed how I looked. He grabbed my arm and asked, “Why is your arm shaking like that?” He told me, “Jim, you don’t look so good… you should sit the rest of this practice out.” I told him I’ll be fine, I just felt a little sick. (I didn’t tell him I couldn’t feel my arm.) I downplayed the whole thing to make sure I’d be allowed back on the mats.

I went to puke, but nothing really came up, I just dry heaved. Still a little nauseous, my left arm still numb and tingly, I sat against the wall, pissed. I had to get back in there… I didn’t think too much about what could have caused the numbness in my arm. All I could think about was how pissed I was that I had to sit out of practice a few minutes. I waited until the throwing drill was over, and luckily, most of the feeling in my arm came back. So I went back in and finished the practice with some live wrestling and conditioning.

The next day (the last day of the wrestling camp) I finished out the final training session of the camp. I still felt a little dizzy, I had a headache, a little bit of numbness in my left arm, but other than that, I felt pretty good. I was in the best shape of my life, agile, mobile and hostile. I was strong as a bull and felt like my wrestling was starting to come together.

I finished the camp and earned the “Most Dedicated Wrestler” and “Most Outstanding Wrestler” awards (the only 2 awards given out at the camp).

What I didn’t know though, what I didn’t realize… was that my neck was broken.

To make matters worse, my neck was broken at the C1-C2 level. That means that at any moment I could have been paralyzed… or even dead. The ONLY thing that held my neck together was the dense, thick muscle I developed from my extensive neck training.

The doctors told me all of this after I had to be rushed to the hospital after the entire right side of my body, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, went numb in my mom’s car after she picked me up from my coach’s house… I had that “pins and needles” feeling and I couldn’t control hardly anything on my right side. That’s when I started to get nervous.

My speech was slurred… I was drooling out of the right side of my mouth… and when I tried to get out of the car when we got home, I fell over onto the driveway. It felt like all at once I lost all the strength I worked so hard for. My mom had to pick me up off the ground… she had no idea what was going on… I told her my right leg just fell asleep in the car, that’s all… she didn’t believe me.

She told me I should go to the hospital. No way. She told me I’m gonna have to take a break from all the hard training… that I probably won’t be able to go to the next wrestling camp the following week. No way. I didn’t wanna hear any of that. I insisted I was fine, just needed some rest, and in the morning everything will be back to normal.

I wanted to be left alone and I didn’t want to hear any “nonsense” about going to the doctor to get checked out. It wasn’t until she put my wrestling coach on the phone I started to be more cooperative. He insisted I go to the hospital to get checked out. Under protest, I agreed (I’m not gonna argue with my coach). I was beyond pissed off… I didn’t wanna go to the hospital because I knew that if the docs diagnosed me with a concussion or something like that, I’d have to take a couple weeks off of wrestling. (A couple weeks??!!! No way!)

I couldn’t even hold on to the phone for more than a couple seconds before dropping it… couldn’t poor a glass of milk without spilling it all over the counter… I couldn’t walk in a straight line or walk at all without some kind of extra support… and there I was yelling at my mom for even suggesting I go to the hospital to get checked out.

When I got to the hospital, after all the tests, X-rays and CAT scans, I got the bad news. Horrible news… REALLY horrible news.

As I was strapped to the bed (they had to strap me down because I kept having muscle spasms and the docs didn’t want me moving and damaging my spinal cord any more), I remember what the doctor said to me almost word-for-word. He stood over me, held up the X-ray of my neck, pointed to the break (at the top of my neck, C1-C2 level) and said, “See that space, that separation? That’s where your neck is broken… You’re lucky to be alive… You can forget about wrestling, kid….”

(Warning: If you’re bothered by strong language, do not continue reading.)

I yelled, “NO! Fuck you!” I just kept saying, “No,” over and over again. If I wasn’t strapped down to the stretcher, I would’ve attacked him. Who the hell was he to tell me I was done wrestling, especially with that condescending shit-eating look on his face? Just to say “You’re done,” just like that? That’s just something I couldn’t accept. But what was I gonna do about it then? Strapped to a gurney, wearing a neck brace, the right side of my body numb… I just had to take it. I did NOT take the news well.

The doctors told me and my mother that if it wasn’t for the thick, dense muscle in my neck, I would have, at best, been in a wheelchair with a machine to help me breathe. The doctors said most people die from this kind of injury, that hardly anybody survives because breathing is affected. The docs said how almost no one lives through it. They couldn’t believe I kept wrestling after experiencing symptoms the first time. They told me that my neck muscles acted almost like a natural neck brace, literally holding everything in place, even though it was broken.

The doctors told me that if I would have waited any longer to go to the hospital, it could’ve been bad – really bad. They gave me anti-inflammatory medication to reduce the swelling (which helped to minimize any extra nerve damage) and put me in a helicopter that flew me to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, PA to get emergency C1-C2 fusion surgery.

If I would have waited longer and kept ignoring the glaringly obvious symptoms of spinal cord and nerve damage, I might not have been able to walk again, let alone train.

If I would have been smart and got checked out immediately after experiencing pain, dizziness and numbness (pain and dizziness happens, but when added with the NUMBNESS and loss of balance, etc., it’s most likely spinal cord damage which must be dealt with IMMEDIATELY), I could have prevented further nerve damage. I’m sure the extra live wrestling I did with a broken neck, along with the extra drilling of front headlocks and more live wrestling the next day, contributed to extra nerve damage; in fact, I’m sure of it, considering I felt the majority of symptoms in the car on the way home from the camp.

So why am I telling you all this?

The whole reason I started telling you some of my personal story is to point out the drastic mistake I made by thinking I was “invincible” and not realizing there was something wrong enough to get checked out immediately after experiencing some pretty obvious symptoms of spinal cord injury.

I downplayed how bad the numbness was to my coaches and I didn’t want anyone to think it was a big deal because I didn’t want to be “that guy” sitting on the sidelines. I have a problem with “those guys” who fake injuries or play up how bad they’re hurting so they can take a break; the last thing I wanted was my coaches thinking I might be one of “those guys.” So I went back out there and kept battling.

I mean, I knew something was wrong… but I still kept wrestling after my left arm went numb. My injury was bad… but it could’ve been a whole lot worse. If my neck wasn’t so big and strong, it would’ve been a whole lot worse… worse than anything I’d want to imagine.

I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes… so my hope is that you’ll learn from my mistakes so that you won’t have to “learn the hard way” like I did.

So please, make sure you take this advice and use it to your advantage. It could save your life.

If you ever feel any pain, address it immediately. Find the problem, and then FIX the problem.

Sure there are times when you just have to “suck it up” and keep going, times in which there will be a lot of desperation and you just have to keep going and press through pain, even injury, but we’re talking about spinal cord injuries here, so I think you would agree that it’s a good idea to be “as smart as you can” with those “possible” spinal cord injuries.

When you have a specific spinal injury or some kind of accident, it’s often easy to figure out why your neck hurts. But in many cases, your neck pain could be caused by any number of things (your neck is affected by your entire shoulder complex as well as your spine, back and hips – they all work together collectively). That’s why it’s important to know what conditions are developing in your body and more importantly what caused those conditions to develop in the first place. Sometimes acute neck pain or back pain might be caused from something obvious, like a trauma of some kind (like if you got your neck popped from an unexpected neck crank) but many times neck pain, back pain or nerve damage like tingling and numbness can develop slowly over time from a variety of different reasons.

So if you have any kind of neck or back pain, address it immediately instead of waiting around and hoping it just goes away… because even if the neck pain does go away over time, it doesn’t mean the problem that caused the initial pain is fixed. We need to do what we can to find the causes of neck or back problems and solve them as soon as possible.

If you’re experiencing back or neck pain of some kind, or have in the past and don’t want to deal with that kind of pain again, click HERE, I think it’ll help you…

And if you’ve haven’t subscribed to my all-new “Neck Strengthening Secrets For Grapplers & Combat Athletes” free ezine, just enter your name and valid email below and I’ll start sending you exclusive neck training tips, articles and videos that will help you get your neck bigger and stronger right now…

Like I always say…

“Protect Your Neck!”

Coach James Kelly
Founder of GrapplersProtectYourNeck.com

P.S.  Keep your eyes peeled for more neck strengthening tips, article and videos that will show you how to develop a big, strong neck for wrestling, grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA or any combat sport. I’ll also open up even more and reveal to you some crucial mistakes I made during my rehab, recovery and training so that you won’t have to “learn the hard way” like I did.

P.P.S.  If you’re a subscriber to my “Neck Strengthening For Grapplers” ezine, you can shoot me an email anytime to ask me a question or share your story with me. (For questions, just write “Question” in the subject line.)

(Video Below)

Question:  How important is “isometric” neck strength for grappling and wrestling?

Answer: Isometric neck strength is VERY important. Isometric neck exercises should be a regular part of your grappling exercise routine. It’s important for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), submission grappling, wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA).

Here’s why.

In BJJ, when you’re inside the guard working to pass, your opponent is most likely working hard to break your posture, either by directly pulling your head down or by pulling your gi lapels.

BJJ rule for maintaining posture in the guard: Keep your head up!

So, your neck better be strong enough to handle that pressure. At the BJJ black belt level, matches are 10 minutes; that means potentially that someone could be pulling your head down for close to 10 full minutes! Are you able to hold posture and keep your head up for that long? Is your neck strong enough to do that?

In wrestling, when you’re in on a shot, good position is hips in, elbows in, back straight, HEAD UP. You better believe a tough wrestler will be working like crazy to stuff your head down and get you out of position.

Wrestling rule for maintaining good position while in on the leg: Keep your head up!

Is your neck strong enough to hold good position while your opponent is trying to push your head down?

In submission wrestling, BJJ or MMA, if you get into a bad spot and your opponent is working to choke you unconscious, whether it’s a guillotine choke, mata leon choke (rear naked choke), or whatever, sometimes you’re gonna have to hold your neck in a static position for a long time to fight that choke off.

If you have to keep your chin down to fight off a choke but you don’t have the isometric neck strength to hold your chin down while your opponent relentlessly tries to pull your chin up, well, it’s gonna be bad news. Choke in, game over, man! But if you have the isometric neck strength to keep your chin down, it’ll give you a little more time to work an escape.

Those are just 3 positional examples. I could go on and on.

Sure, explosive neck strength is important, but you also need isometric neck strength.

Watch the video below to see an example of how to get a good isometric neck strength workout:

You can also do something like this.

Sit with your back straight, head upright, and just push on your forehead with both hands while you keep your head in the same position, and hold for a count of 10-20 seconds. For the back of your neck, just put both your hands on the back of your head and push, keeping your head in the same upright position. For your right side, push against your neck with your right hand; left side, left hand. Your muscles will contract, but it’s an isometric contraction, meaning your head and neck should not be moving at all. It’s like you’re trying to move your head, but you’re making it so that your hands are like a wall, keeping your head from moving.

Believe me, you do this long enough and you’ll feel your neck muscles working.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

‘Til next time…

Protect Your Neck!

Coach James Kelly

Founder of GrapplersProtectYourNeck.com

A big MISTAKE a lot of grapplers make is going straight for the hard neck exercises, or even dynamic ones like bridging, before doing the basics.

You gotta warm up those muscles BEFORE you train! And you gotta build up your neck muscles and develop a solid base of neck strength BEFORE you start going for the more advanced neck exercises.

Even just a couple extra minutes of direct neck work before you get on the mats is better than NOTHING.

I wouldn’t even think of stepping on the mats to train without DIRECTLY warming up my neck! Now, this is coming from someone who’s had a serious neck injury and has been through major neck surgery. And one of the best ways to PREVENT neck injuries, even the little ‘kinks’, is to directly warm up your neck EVERY SINGLE TIME you hit the mats.

If you’ve been going to practice or training without first warming up, then NOW is the time to start. Even if it’s just a couple minutes, then you can gradually work your way up.

So here’s another exercise you can work on, and you don’t have to lie on the mat to do it.

I like this both for a warm-up and for a workout.

For this one I like to use one of those big stability balls, (there’s a bunch of them here at Lloyd Irvin’s MMA Academy in Maryland). You really don’t need one though. You can use a folded up towel, t-shirt, your gi, basically whatever will give you some padding. BUT – I recommend using a stability ball, a rubber exercise ball or anything that has a little bit of give to it. One of my “Neck Training Secrets For Grapplers” ezine subscribers, Antoine M. from Switzerland, said he uses a kids beach ball and likes it even more than the stability ball; so you can try that too (thanks Antoine!).

Simply stand up against the wall, place whatever you’re using for padding at head-level, and put your forehead on the padding. Now just slowly push your head forward into the padding as you breathe, and as your neck gets stronger you can start leaning more of your body weight into it (just be careful you don’t slip and fall).

You can do short contractions or longer contractions, where you push up until your neck gets really tired. You won’t be able to get as many reps with the longer ones, but either one works well. I recommend trying both; I do both versions depending on how I’m feeling that day. Great isometric muscle work is involved with these.

For the back of your neck, just place the back of your head against the padding and press back with your head so you feel your neck muscles contract. You can hold for a long count, relax for a second or two, then do it again until you reach your desired amount of reps.

Same thing for the sides of your neck. Because you’ll be facing your side, you might want to use a little more padding to take up some more space so you won’t have to lean into it as much (because of your shoulders – that’s why I like to use the big stability ball for these, especially the sides).

I recommend trying out this exercise before you train to see how it feels. Do all for sides (front, back, left side, right side), then take a little break before starting your next set (if you’re going to do more than one set).

Do as many sets and reps as you feel comfortable doing, and if you feel any pain, stop immediately. I recommend doing 1 to 3 sets of 10 reps each side, then gradually work your way up.

Start out slow, and keep things nice and easy, because remember, it may seem easy, maybe even a little ‘too easy’ while you’re doing these exercises, but if you’re new to training your neck and you’ve never done these before, you can expect to be a little sore. Don’t try to kill yourself in the beginning–just work to build up your strength and stay consistent with your training.

So give that one a try and let me know what you think!

I’ll post a video of this routine soon!

Remember: you can always submit your questions to me about neck strength training and conditioning by simply dropping me an email or replying back to any email I send you (just write “Question” in the subject line).

Protect your neck!

Coach James Kelly
Team Lloyd Irvin MMA

P.S. I’m excited to see how much stronger your neck gets after using these tips (I have a lot more coming). So thanks again for trusting in me enough to give this neck training stuff a try. I’ll be working my butt off to give you as much value as I can because I know how important neck training is, especially for combat athletes like you.

Join me on Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/jimkelly1

*** This information is not given as medical advice or treatment. Always consult a physician before starting any physical fitness program. Safety should always be your first concern.

Neck bridges are NOT for “everyone.”

I think neck bridging is great, but not for everyone. Neck bridges can be dangerous sometimes. Some people get hurt when they’re not smart about their training. Sometimes people will see a picture of guys bridging with their nose touching the mat, or with crazy weights or people on top of them while in a bridge, and they’ll just go and try that stuff without FIRST having the necessary “foundational strength” built up in the first place.

Big mistake.

(Note: I’m not knocking those versions of the neck bridge. Not at all. I love that stuff too and I teach how to build up to where you can do those more advanced versions. I just get frustrated when people don’t go through the necessary fundamental progressions of the neck bridge so they can build up that strong foundation first.)

Safety tip: a good warm up is needed BEFORE you even attempt to bridge. More or less warm up depending on how strong your neck is. Neck bridging is easy for some who have strong necks and of course for those who train their necks on a regular basis. Plus, if you’re doing neck bridges, you better make sure your back is warmed up too. If you do ANY kind of strenuous physical activity without a good, thorough warm-up, you’re asking for injuries.

With your neck training, it is absolutely crucial that you don’t over-do things. Especially if you’re at a beginner level. We want to build up, not just break down. So we have to train smart and be diligent with when and how we train our necks and also how we recover.

Do I think everyone should be doing neck bridges?

Well, I don’t think neck bridges are necessary to build a strong neck. You can do plenty of other direct neck exercises that stress your neck muscles enough to get bigger and stronger. But having said that, we’re grapplers – and if you’re a wrestler, a BJJ’er or a mixed martial arts fighter, you’d better have a good neck bridge because the fact is, if you don’t, you’ll be at a significant disadvantage to your competition—and even the slightest advantage can be the difference between silver and gold.

Go slow, train smart, make sure you get a good warm up, and if you try to bridge and it starts to hurt, stop. See a sports doctor who specializes in the neck before you begin any kind of training program and let them know exactly what you’re doing. If you have neck pain, explain to your doctor where and when you’re getting neck pain and find out what your next step should be. (That’s my disclaimer.)

I have a warm spot in my heart for neck bridges, because they were a HUGE part of my neck training before my injury, and I was able to build up my neck a lot from doing them, at first with my own bodyweight, then I’d start adding weights (just like those “crazy” neck bridges I mentioned in the beginning of this email.

You’ll make good gains in size and strength if you stay consistent with these exercises.

If you haven’t seen the video of me doing a short neck bridging routine during a workout, you can see it here:

Neck bridging, on top of the other neck training I did, saved my life. After breaking my neck the doctors told me I’d NEVER be able to train hard again, do any kind of neck bridging, and they said to forget about ever setting foot on the mats again because I wouldn’t be able to wrestle or do BJJ much less walk normally without a significant limp. They were DEAD WRONG!

Here’s a tip: don’t just hold the position on the top of your head and stay there, not moving. That’s one way to do it, but you should be doing neck bridges with movement, too. (If you’re a beginner, stick to a limited range of motion and only go up and down, not side to side.) You’ll work your neck muscles more if you move rather than just stay in one spot.

Don’t push it too hard as far as range of motion goes with regards to neck bridging. For example, if you go all out and try to touch your nose to the mat the first few times you work on neck bridging, you may experience some pain. There’s really no need to push it that far when you’re starting out.

For beginners: Don’t just start neck bridging without first building up your neck with easier neck exercises. Always warm up, go slow, be careful with your range of motion and make sure to stop if you experience any pain.

Protect Your Neck!

Coach James Kelly
Team Lloyd Irvin MMA
Founder of GrapplersProtectYourNeck.com

PS. I love feedback and I value your opinion, so please let me know what you think about these tips, and especially what YOU would like to know specifically.

Send me a friend request on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/jimkelly1

*** This content is not medical advice. Always consult with a physician before doing any kind of physical activity whatsoever. If you experience any pain, stop immediately and go see a doctor. ***

14 years ago at a wrestling camp in Virginia, I got to train with a 4-time Pennsylvania state champion and NCAA champion named John Hughes. What I didn’t realize at the time was how that experience would end up literally SAVING MY LIFE.

Now John Hughes only wrestled at 142 pounds, but he was built up for his size–he had that “farm boy” type strength–and he had these gnarly cauliflower ears with this big, thick neck. When you wrestled him and tried to get him out of position, he felt like a brick wall–just about impossible to move (at least for me). His stance was solid as a rock and you couldn’t get him out of position or snap him down because his neck was so strong (aside from his wrestling skills).

I wanted to train with John Hughes ever since my coach Mr. Denny gave me some video from the years Coach Hughes won the PA state title along with his twin brother Russ and fellow 4-time PA state champion Cary Kolat. I would study those videos every day with the goal of one day winning the PA state title in high school. So, needless to say, I looked up to him a ton.

When I got to meet him and train with him at a wrestling camp the summer before my junior year of high school, i had no idea how those few days of working with him would literally end up saving my life.

I already knew a little bit about weightlifting and was built up pretty well physically from years of body weight training, martial arts and football. But after seeing Coach Hughes’ neck and feeling how ridiculously strong he was, I knew there was something I was lacking in: solid neck development.

One night at the camp, my coach Mr. Denny told me I’d better go see what he did to build up his neck like that. So I did.

When I approached Coach Hughes and asked him if he could show me some stuff I could do to build up my neck more like his, he really opened up and spent a good amount of time showing me some of his neck training secrets. Some of the exercises were so advanced I couldn’t even do them at the time (I had to work up to it). I just stood there in awe while he went through the different neck exercises he used; he made it look easy (even though I knew the advanced neck exercises he was doing were super tough).

After he showed me his neck training secrets, I did them every single day. I was 100% committed to building my neck strength and staying consistent with my training –- to the point of obsession.

I learned not just how to build up the muscles in my neck to be bigger, but also to have endurance and more “functional” strength for wrestling.

From that day in the summer of 1996, I have practiced the neck exercises Coach John Hughes taught me, as well as many others that I learned throughout my athletic and martial arts career–and I have never looked back.

Since I started sharing these neck training secrets with other fellow grapplers online, I have now passed my knowledge onto ’students’ all over the WORLD. (Gotta love the internet!) Many people started out only being able to do the bare bones basics(and sometimes even less than that); some people couldn’t even do a full neck or back bridge; but in each case, no matter how little the person could do in the beginning, if he or she sticks with the program — results come, and often quickly, too.

Today, my neck strengthening secrets and neck health tips are being followed by men and women of all ages and professions. From the hardcore seasoned competitor to the still-wet-behind-the-ears beginner grappler… from world class BJJ black belts to white belts who are giving it a try for the first time… from top-ranked competitive wrestlers, to wrestling coaches, to brand new students of the sport. The advice and stories I share in my ezine and blog are used by people in the U.S. military, it is used by many in law enforcement, by men and women who participate in all kinds of sports as well as the martial arts and combat sports fanatics.

The neck training secrets I’ll be providing you with will help you get your neck stronger, you’ll learn ways to eliminate back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain, you’ll discover how I can still train hard on the mats after breaking my neck and you’ll get to find out about other grapplers’ success stories and comeback-from-injury tales of triumph.

I’m going to open up and share with you even my biggest and most embarrassing mistakes I made when trying to come back from my neck injury during training — I don’t want you making the same mistakes! So you’ll be getting the good and the bad — and both will help you with your neck training, whether you’re doing it just to gain more neck strength or you’re trying to come back from a neck injury or you just want to protect your neck and stay in the sport longer as a wrestler, grappler or fighter.

Plain and simple, my neck training program WORKS and I’m here to help you. If you take this advice and train smart, it WILL change your life and who knows — it might actually end up SAVING YOUR LIFE like it did mine.

Thanks again for being a part of this with me. I look forward to seeing how I can help you.

Protect your neck!

Coach James KellyFounder of GrapplersProtectYourNeck.com

Add me on Facebook —> http://www.facebook.com/jimkelly1

No neck training equipment? No problem. No mats to use for neck bridging? No problem. No weights? No problem.

Here’s a basic neck exercise routine you can do using your hands/arms as resistance. (Watch the video below to see me take you through it.)

This neck strengthening routine works great as a warm up, a separate neck training workout, or as extra strength building after a tough wrestling practice.

If you’ve been wrestling for years or already have a strong neck, it’ll take a bit longer for you to get a good burn in your neck muscles doing these exercises. For me, I do these more as a warm-up before practice. If I’m riding on the Airdyne for a warm up, I make sure I hit all four sides of my neck with these manual resistance movements. For example, I’ll ride for 2 minutes pumping my arms and legs, then do the manual neck resistance for 2 minutes while pumping the pedals, then keep rotating back and forth for 10-16 minutes.

I also like to do these neck exercises while sitting at my desk working. It feels good getting the blood to flow through my neck and get a bit of a pump in the muscles. I make sure to work all four sides of my neck every time I do this exercise routine (front, back, left, right).

Here’s a video of a basic neck exercise routine using manual neck resistance that you can do by yourself:

As you can see, you can still work your neck muscles even if you don’t have any access to any kind of workout equipment, weights or mats. I do this exact routine all the time and it really helps me out. Hopefully it can help you out too.

As a wrestling coach, I make sure all the combat athletes I work with understand the importance of neck strengthening. When I see people getting to practice early, I like seeing them doing stuff like this to prepare their necks a little bit extra. Even an extra couple minutes a day can make a huge difference!

Protect your neck!

Coach James Kelly

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for my neck training e-zine for grapplers if you haven’t already. I’d hate for you to miss out on anything!

Sign Up For FREE Neck Training Tips & Videos:

Name:

Email:

We respect your email privacy

Part One

“Is Neck Bridging The Best Neck Exercise?”

That’s a good question!

Here’s my opinion:

It’s definitely one of the best… however, there are so many great neck exercises, I wouldn’t wanna pick just one as my favorite. I do ‘em ALL.

That being said, the neck bridge should be a MANDATORY exercise for all wrestlers, submission grapplers, and fighters.

Neck bridges are definitely at the top of my list of the best neck exercises for combat sports.

Why?

I’ll tell ya why…

“7 Reasons Why You Should Be Doing Neck Bridges If You’re A Combat Athlete”

1.  Neck Bridges Are “Sport-Specific” (If you can’t perform a good neck bridge, you’re putting yourself at a significant competitive disadvantage. There are a variety of techniques, both offensive and defensive – like sweeps and escapes – that require you to have an explosive neck bridge. If you can’t do a neck bridge or aren’t strong enough to do one, you’re gonna be in big trouble.)

2.  Neck bridges can be used to develop strength (In grappling, your opponents will be constantly working hard to control your head. Some are gonna be beat on your head pretty hard. The stronger your neck is, the harder it’s gonna be for your competition to control your head.)

3.  Neck bridges can be used to build muscle (Who wants a skinny pencil neck? Not me! In fact, the amount of thick, dense muscle I had piled onto my neck is what literally save my life!)

4.  Neck bridges can be used to gain explosive power (A powerful neck bridge will allow you to explode off the bottom from a variety of specific positions.)

5.  Neck bridges can keep you from getting pinned (In wrestling, you can’t let your opponent pin your shoulder blades to the mat… if you do, you lose. In submission wrestling or BJJ, if you can’t bridge out to make space when your opponent pins you, it’ll be easy for him to tap you out.)

6.  Neck bridges are one of the best “all-in-one” type of neck exercises (Once you get the basic movements down, you can do neck bridges to work just about every area of your neck.)

7.  Neck bridging can prevent injury (Neck bridging, when done properly and safely, can help to prevent injury by conditioning your neck, making your neck muscles bigger and stronger, and making your neck tougher. I’m not paralyzed right now as a direct result of all the neck bridging I did, so it’s pretty tough to argue with me on this one. As long as you’re careful and do the proper neck bridging progressions, you won’t have any problems doing a neck bridge. However, if you’ve had surgery or have a pre-existing condition, you better consult with your doctor to see if bridging is safe for you to do.)

I could go on and on… and I will… (this is just part one)… but there you have 7 great reasons to start building your neck up to be able to perform this valuable neck exercise.

If you’re a wrestler, mixed martial artist, BJJ grappler or any kind of combat athlete, you’d better know how to bridge!

Here’s a clip of a neck bridge workout that I do a lot once I’m sweating and my neck is warm.

Press the “Play” button on the video below to watch…

Neck Bridging Workout Video Clip:

WARNING!

There are specific neck bridging progressions you should follow in order to stay safe while you build up your neck. Start off slow and be careful.

Never go from doing nothing for your neck to all of a sudden trying to do a full-blown neck bridge workout like the one above.

Always consult a physician before trying any kind of neck exercises or any physical activity whatsoever. These videos and tips are not meant to be used as medical advice. Use these neck exercises at your own risk.

To learn more about how to build a big, strong neck and to get free access to the neck training secrets I’ve learned over the years, go to my website at

www.NoMoreNeckProblems.com

Protect Your Neck!

Jim Kelly

Team Lloyd Irvin

P.S. For more neck exercise tips and neck workout videos for wrestling and grappling just like the one above, give me your name and email so I can send you my free “Neck Training For Grapplers” ezine…

Sign Up For FREE Neck Training Tips & Videos:

Name:

Email:

We respect your email privacy