Neck Training in 1946
by John Wood
I'm flipping through the June 1946 issue of Strength and Health
magazine (with Sam Loprinzi on the cover) and there's a great
article on page 24 entitled "Building the Strength of Your
Neck" by Bob Hoffman.
Let's take a look:
"... You must determine what sort of neck you desire. At
one time there was a fad of displaying the largest possible
neck, the bull neck or wrestler type, later there was a desire
on the part of most bodybuilders to have a neck only moderate
in size, so many of them did not exercise the neck at all;
instead depending on other exercises to provide for them an
athletic appearing neck. It is possible to bring the neck to
a large size faster than the calf or arm... The best way to
develop the neck is by use of a headstrap and by performing
various forms of the wrestler's bridge... "
I'm in definite agreement with BoHo on this one.
I am also of the mind that one should strive to build the
biggest and strongest neck possible. It not only looks
impressive, it is essential if you are a wrestler or play
football. I would also add into the mix a good neck machine,
that being any made by Hammer Strength or early Nautilus.
The press guide picture from when I was still playing football, yeah, I trained my neck a little...
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The classic neck strap, still a great choice
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The Hammer Strength 4-Way Neck machine
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Those machines are not, however, easy to come by and Bob's
other two exercise suggestions will work just fine. The
neck strap should be straightforward for working the back
of the neck. Regardless of which one you use, try one set of 20 reps in each direction for best results.
Oh, and before I go any further, please do keep in mind that
all neck exercises should be performed in a controlled and
safe manner. This is not a time to let your ego take over.
The point here is to get stronger.
As for the wrestler's bridge, it is an excellent exercise, but
it should be worked into slowly. I've seen some pisspoor
bridging training advice recently.
The fact of the matter is that bridging should be done like
any other lift: progressively and the first step to mastering
the wrestlers bridge is to master the wall walking exercise.
This simple exercise is the best way that I know of to get
used to the upside down feeling as well as work into the upper
back flexibility that will be necessary.
By the way, you can learn how to wall walk and do the basic
bridge movements in Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning Course
Another good neck developer, one that I used all throughout
high school is to simply do a headstand against a wall.
In fact, back when I was a sophomore in high school, I worked
up to being able to hold a headstand for 18 minutes - wow!
Train hard,
John Wood
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