Neck Prioritization!

The neck is made up of several muscles-ranging from flexors and extensors, to rotators and lateral flexors. Flexors are responsible for moving your chin towards your chest. Extensors are responsible for moving your head backwards so you look up. Rotators allow you to look from side to side. Lateral flexors are responsible for moving your ear towards your shoulder.

The neck is one of the few bodyparts that doesn't get much direct attention in the gym. This is unfortunate, because a strong neck helps lifters and athletes avoid injury. Beyond that, a well-developed neck conveys an appearance of raw strength and power, which are two motivating characteristics that get many men into the gym in the first place.

The weighted neck harness builds the splenius muscle of the neck. Place the neck harness on your head and add the desired total weight on the neck harness chain. Let the weight hang in the air. Sit down on the bench and put your feet in front of you on the ground. Put your hands on your knees. Lift your head up and back by extending your neck. Then, lower your chin down towards your upper chest region by bending the neck down and repeat the movement.

Quote from a trainer :

"Make sure that you have deadlifts, squats, and shrugs (or some people use rack pulls instead) incorporated into your program design. If you want direct neck work, and don't have a 4 way neck machine, a neck harness works the neck extensors very well.

Bridging also works the neck extensors. They still leave side flexion and flexion of the neck. "Back" bridging works the neck flexors statically. I've learned an exercise from Combat Conditioning that allows you to work extension flexion, extension, and lateral flexion. It's called the 4 Way Neck Exercise. You use your bodyweight as the resistance (unless you would purchase a weight vest). If you are interested, I can try to explain it."