2023 Live Q&A 4: Should you be doing direct neck strengthening exercises?

Live Q&A 4 2023: Should you be doing direct neck strengthening exercises?

SHOULD YOU DO NECK STRENGTHENING EXERCISES? BARBELL STRENGTH TRAINEES OFTEN WONDER IF THEY SHOULD BE INCORPORATING MORE THAN JUST BARBELL TRAINING INTO THEIR PROGRAMS. USUALLY THESE QUESTIONS BOIL DOWN TO WHETHER OR NOT SMALL ISOLATION EXERCISES HAVE ANY ADDED BENEFIT OR NOT.

PRS PODCAST LISTENER QUESTION:

THE BASIC SQUAT, BENCH PRESS, OVERHEAD PRESS, AND DEADLIFT ARE THE CORE EXERCISES FOR THE BARBELL TRAINEE AND POWERLIFTER.  HOW WELL DO THEY ADD STRENGTH TO THE MUSCLES THAT SUPPORT THE NECK AND HEAD?  WHAT ARE THE BEST ACCESSORY EXERCISES FOR ADDING STRENGTH TO THE NECK?  HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE STRONG MUSCLES SUPPORTING THE HEAD?

In this episode of the PRS Podcast, Drs Rori Alter, PT and Alyssa Haveson, PT discuss how the neck musculature functions in everyday activities and how they are strengthened through the main barbell lifts.

They further discuss direct situations where people tend to add in accessory exercises for their necks and situations in where the neck experiences high velocity forces.

However, in most cases, the answer they recommend is that no additional neck accessory exercises are needed.

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GET IN TOUCH WITH THE SHOW!

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:00] All right. So our next question comes from Doug. Like we mentioned, Doug is an in-person client with me here in New York. We interviewed him on the podcast. So if you can check that episode out, that inspirational interview. Doug loves Alyssa and Alyssa loves Doug as well. They have a long we've got a thing going on, a long distance relationship. But just for reference, Doug, if you haven't listened to his episode, he's not Alice's age. He's 78 years old. It's not like a real relationship. It's just like very friendly and cute. We love our little old men clients. They're just one of our favorite populations to work with outside of the competitive powerlifter. So when Doug hits PRs , which is every day in the gym here at the training center, I tell Alyssa what he did and she cheers him on from Pennsylvania. So anyway, the next question, and he also asks me multiple questions every training session he gets his own little private podcast in my gym. So this question is for Alyssa. Okay. The basic squat bench press and deadlift are the core exercises for the power lifter or the strength lifter. How well do they add strength to the muscles that support the neck and head? What are the best accessory exercises for adding strength to the neck? How important is it to have strong muscle supporting the head?

Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:01:33] So, Doug, you're already doing the best exercises to strengthen, whether it's your neck or what we think of as the core and think that those types of questions come up a lot. With the people who are doing the lifts and don't see a ton of accessories in their program.I don't know what Doug's program looks like. But yeah, so you are strengthening your neck. The other thing is that your neck is holding your head all day. I actually might defer to you here because I don't know why he's asking this or if he has concerns about his neck.

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:12] He's concerned about me because my neck is.

Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:02:15] He's probably asking a question for you.

Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:21] He said the cutest thing in the gym. I was like, Oh, Doug, you're annoying me. Why are you saying this? But he was like, Oh, I probably know more about the neck than you do because I and I was like, okay, so what should I do for my neck? Doug? And he's like, Well, my chiropractor told me to do this and this and this exercise. I was like, okay. Just for reference, that's not what I need to do. I was like, So I don't know, maybe it comes. He might be. He might be asking this for me, like, you know, whatever. 

Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:02:52] You're doing the lifts, especially when you're doing them properly, which I know that you are because you have a great coach. You're keeping your neck in a neutral position, you're isometrically contracting those muscles. You are maintaining tension and you're using them. They're not left out of.


Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:03:12] The load that you're lifting. So every two and a half pounds we add to the squat and to the deadlift and to the bench and the overhead press. That's two and a half pounds of resistance that we're adding to your neck as well. And Doug and I had this conversation. I don't remember when he asked this, but he asked about like. Like. I think one of the things that he struggles with is that okay, like squat is a leg exercise, deadlift is a leg in a back exercise and upper body is like an arm exercise. And I think that this is a concept that a lot of newer people to barbell trainees who are coming from other types of resistance training or exercise, believe that or feel that these exercises only work a certain portion of your body. But the main barbell lifts work Every single muscle is involved in moving the bar from point A to point B and back to point A. In every barbell lift and they function directly or indirectly. So we have movers and we have stabilizers and the stabilizers have to match or slightly exceed the load that's on the bar in order to keep your that area of the body stable while you're moving the bar. So. The argument then could be, well, if we're isometrically stabilizing the neck, what about situations where we're we're moving the neck, you know, in space, right. Like but actually, our heads very rarely push against an external resistance. So the only external resistance that our necks really work against are our head.