Why would one bother to train the neck? Aside from just enhancing the appearance, a strong neck is a huge asset in many contact sports. We often overlook training this vital area for two main reasons. We either don’t know how to do it, or we don’t have the equipment to do so. With a little improvisation, we can perform some exercises to cover all the bases without using anything other than some plates, a towel, a bench, and surgical tubing.

The Rotators. A 4-way neck machine will not work the rotators properly so you are going to want to go back to some simply manual resistance in order to work those muscles. Of course, you will not be working the rotators with weights, but you will be applying resistance to your neck with your hand while you are slowly turning your head to the left or the right.

I would strongly suggest that you ease into this and don’t use a great deal of resistance. Once you reach the limit of your range of motion, slowly increase the resistance and hold an isometric contraction for 5-10 seconds.

Repeat the process, turning your head in the other direction, again holding the contraction when you can no longer turn the head further. Three to five sets of this should be more than sufficient to give ample work for this often overlooked muscle group.

You may want to try the exercises while you are seated so that your upper back muscles are relaxed. Since you are only working the extensor group for the moment, you will want to make sure that you are relaxing the muscles.

Flexors: As for the flexors, you can use the neck machine if it is available for you to use. If it is not available for you, you can do some simple things and end up with the same exact exercise. Remember, the purpose of this is to tilt the chin forward and down towards the chest.

You might want to simply lie on your back on a nice and flat bench, facing up, with your hand hanging over the end of the bench. Place the folded towel on your forehead and place a weight plate on the towel while you hold it in place with your hands. At this point, you will want to relax your head and allow it to drop down.

Then, you will want to raise the head slowly as though you are trying to tuck your chin into your chest. You will want to make sure that both of your hands are holding the weight in place, while making sure that you are not helping the muscles perform the movement.

As with all neck work, start light and work slowly into the motions. I would not suggest using extremely heavy weight for low repetitions due to the fragile nature of the neck structure, especially if you aren’t used to training the neck with weight. Several sets of 10-15 reps should easily give enough work to start building this muscle group.

Another option is to take a simple piece of surgical tubing that’s available at any medical supply house or home improvement store and tie the loose ends into a knot. Now, you simply have a loop or circle of tubing.

To work the extensors, all you need to do is sit on a chair or bench and place the tubing on your forehead. Take the other end of the loop and hook it on a doorknob, power rack or anything similar. Now, you simple let the head tilt back, then forward, where you’ll begin to feel the resistance. Once you’ve reached the limit of your range of motion, tilt again backward and so on. Again, several sets of 10-15 reps will suffice.

Once you are ready to increase the resistance, you will want to move further away from the anchoring point. To do this, add another loop of tubing. You can even use a heavier gauge of tubing as well. Wrap a washcloth or towel around the part of the tubing that will rest on your forehead. This will make you much more comfortable and you will not have to worry about the tubing slipping as you go through your range of motion.

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