This dude's neck is thick as hell, he is a world class wrestler and has been his whole life so I would guess wrestling has something to do with his neck/back developement. He is also the prime example of what I want to look like muscularly (aesthetic goals), it just so happens that he is brutally strong as well so I think there is a definate connection between his strength and physical developement. These guys are always in and out of chokes and have to learn how to fight chokes off of their neck so I would guess that may have something to do with it as well.
I am curious if anyone knows of any methods or techniques to improve one's neck strength and to increase neck width. I figured someone would say deadlifts or shrugs, I am not totally certain to how well those play into neck strength and neck width (hypertrophy) so maybe someone could give a few words on it. All I know about deadlifts increasing neck hypertrophy would be that I've done deadlifts for about a year and my neck has gotten thicker, but when I cut body fat my neck width decreases even while I'm still doing deadlifts which may have just been an error in diet and a loss of mass so you can see how I can't really go by this...as far as neck strength I don't know. I do know that after performing snatch grip high pulls I would experience soreness from my upper traps up into my neck, but again what that is doing for neck strength or neck hypertrophy I don't know, I didn't stick with it long enough to find out. Maybe Kuri will stumble upon this thread and give his two cents on the wrestling/grappling effects on neck strength and hypertrophy. Thanks for reading!
I don't know if you're familiar with this site or not: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/MMale.html click on the neck and then follow this "movement" links for each set of fibers. I hope this helps.
1. Took a weighted dip belt
2. Attached a weight to it
3. Leaned over as if he were going to do a BB Row
4. Put the weight belt around his head and tighted it up
5. Nodded is head back and forth with the weight strapped to his forehead.
I was laughing so hard, I had to take a break. I wanted to go ask him what the functional purpose of that lift was. I understand the need for a stronger neck in something like wrestling, but the way he was doing it was hilarious. Anway...
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emartin10-
Acutally, a guy that I played football with in high school brought something specifically designed to do that. It looked like the lining for a hat, with a chain attached to it. He stuck a 25 on the end of the chain and went to town. It was hillarious.
This guy was an All State wrestler, so I have a feeling he knew what he was doing.
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"It's what you've got inside that matters. The details and technological things will take you only so far. You still have to pedal the bike. Some people are always looking for the magic secret. There's no secret. Just bust your ass." -Dave Zabriskie
Yeah, that's exactly what it was. So funny. Although, this guy was NOT a wrestler at all. He looked like a leprechan.
__________________
"It's what you've got inside that matters. The details and technological things will take you only so far. You still have to pedal the bike. Some people are always looking for the magic secret. There's no secret. Just bust your ass." -Dave Zabriskie
__________________
"It's what you've got inside that matters. The details and technological things will take you only so far. You still have to pedal the bike. Some people are always looking for the magic secret. There's no secret. Just bust your ass." -Dave Zabriskie
Those neck belts that had a pocket kinda thing for your head used to be common in gyms and I think wrestlers and boxers still use them.
Nate, have you checked out any books by Matt Furey? matt Furey site
One of my old grappling instructors swore by his neck bridge excercises.
Basically if you do alot of grappling your neck will get strong due to the bridge positions you will constantly be in. A common warmup in most any grappling system are neck bridges - but you've got to take it slow, real slow, and do them right so as not to injure yourself. And you don't need to go all the way to your nose either, thats more a function of back flexibility than neck strength.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
But looking at the pic, it looks like he's an Ultimate Fighter, so I'm sure he doesn't care too much. He just knows he could kill a dude about 100 different ways.
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"It's what you've got inside that matters. The details and technological things will take you only so far. You still have to pedal the bike. Some people are always looking for the magic secret. There's no secret. Just bust your ass." -Dave Zabriskie
i'm not talking about his martial art training or skill i'm talking about his phsique which was originally the intent of this thread i beleive.
his chest looks falt to me which looks odd.
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Originally posted by vandamme: i'm not talking about his martial art training or skill i'm talking about his phsique which was originally the intent of this thread i beleive.
his chest looks falt to me which looks odd.
Well I was mainly directing thought traffic towards having a strong neck and traps. I also think the thicker the neck, traps, and back in general the better!!!! A couple of my buddies say the same thing about his pecs, oh well, these guys aren't bodybuilders, just tough and strong dudes. I've read he squats and benches insane numbers for his weight of 170-190.
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"It's what you've got inside that matters. The details and technological things will take you only so far. You still have to pedal the bike. Some people are always looking for the magic secret. There's no secret. Just bust your ass." -Dave Zabriskie
looks almost like his delts come infront of his pecs. just looks like his shoulders and traps overpower the rest of him which to me is not very pleasing to the eye. also what are "insane" numbers?
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\"100 percent of the shots you don\'t take don\'t go in\"
Originally posted by vandamme: looks almost like his delts come infront of his pecs. just looks like his shoulders and traps overpower the rest of him which to me is not very pleasing to the eye. also what are "insane" numbers?
I think the powerful back look is badass. I'm sure he would fail bodybuilding competitions misserably, but who cares about bodybuilding? KIDDING vandamme, lol [img]tongue.gif[/img] . I don't know any actual numbers sadly (I probably shouldn't have mentioned him lifting "insane numbers"). I'd love to know what kind of weightage he moves around in the gym. I've just read quotes like, "Incredible brute strength" by all the anouncers and by his past competitor Frank Trigg "He may be able to bench and squat all the weight in the world but, etc etc".
Applied strength in grappling and lifting are 2 different things gentlemen.
That said I think Hughes walks around at 190 and I heard something about him leg pressing 390 for 30 reps. I'm impressed.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
"leg pressing 390 for 30 reps" is not what i would call an insane feat of strength.
when someone is refering to brute strength in fighting that usally doesn't mean they have "brute strength" inside the weightroom.
I donno...with all the stress put on balence and not having weak areas i am surprised a physique that imo has a very weak front compared to its frame would get so much positive attention.
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\"100 percent of the shots you don\'t take don\'t go in\"
Originally posted by vandamme: "leg pressing 390 for 30 reps" is not what i would call an insane feat of strength.
Neither would I, and since we know no actual numbers of his in the weight room other than that I retract what I said.
Quote:
Originally posted by vandamme:
when someone is refering to brute strength in fighting that usally doesn't mean they have "brute strength" inside the weightroom.
That could be true, although I would bet someone with a more powerful posterior chain could have a greater ability of picking their oppenent up off the ground and body slamming them half way into a fight. I think it's a little too black and white to say one totally helps with the other, or they have zero carry over whats so ever. I'd think there would have to be some sort of connection in there somewhere, I could be wrong though.
Quote:
Originally posted by vandamme: I donno...with all the stress put on balence and not having weak areas i am surprised a physique that imo has a very weak front compared to its frame would get so much positive attention.
Well when you say weak areas are you meaning that in an aesthetic sense? These guys most likely don't put as much value into being symetrical and aesthetically pleasing as they do performance. I think if he had physical weaknesses as far as strength embalances then I'd agree that it would be a huge issue. I don't know if it would be safe to assume he has strength embalances based off his aesthetics, but who knows.
He's a great fighter, again I used his picture to mainly point out his neck and traps. I do think his physique is cool, he just looks built strong to me, we may disagree on muscular looking physiques, I'm personally not into bodybuilding really at all or anything like that so I'm sure we see things differently. Think of it this way, when I say I want a physique like his I am saying I would like to have neck and traps be strong and look like that guy's and I think his back is awesome, that's what I was getting at when I started the thread. A big wide back with thick traps just has this strong look about it which I think is really cool, but more importantly to me personally is having a strong back.
Theres a host of variations grapplers use - do a search. It can be fun once you can flow them into other techniques.
Another movement you can do is use your hands, much like a neck harness in adding resistance. Alot of grapplers do this in warmup.
Keep in mind that a strong neck in contact sports in mainly for injury prevention, not aesthetics. Hughes in genetically predisposed so some people, no matter what they do, may not get similar results.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
We did the same sort of thing for football in HS...front and back neck bridges with the pots on...made my neck grow two sizes in one season...it'll get the results you're wanting Rev.
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Originally posted by kuri: So have you tried doing bridges yet Rev?
Theres a host of variations grapplers use - do a search. It can be fun once you can flow them into other techniques.
Another movement you can do is use your hands, much like a neck harness in adding resistance. Alot of grapplers do this in warmup.
Keep in mind that a strong neck in contact sports in mainly for injury prevention, not aesthetics. Hughes in genetically predisposed so some people, no matter what they do, may not get similar results.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tin Man: We did the same sort of thing for football in HS...front and back neck bridges with the pots on...made my neck grow two sizes in one season...it'll get the results you're wanting Rev.
Thank you gentlemen, I will implement these in a couple weeks when I start a new bulk phase. I really appreciate all the excellent advice in this thread, priceless stuff! I get my long neck, narrow face and high cheek bones from my mama, doesn't look the most masculine. These will surely help the pencil neck action I've got going on right now. I need to gain mass in general but a big back, traps, and thick neck are up high on the want list right now! Thanks guys!!!
I'm sure he would fail bodybuilding competitions misserably, but who cares about bodybuilding? KIDDING vandamme, lol [img]tongue.gif[/img] . I don't know any actual numbers sadly (I probably shouldn't have mentioned him lifting "insane numbers"). I'd love to know what kind of weightage he moves around in the gym. I've just read quotes like, "Incredible brute strength" by all the anouncers and by his past competitor Frank Trigg "He may be able to bench and squat all the weight in the world but, etc etc".
:p 
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