Appearance of Strength: Build a strong neck

Appearance of Strength: Build a strong neck

Sure, building large muscle groups will make you bigger overall. But it takes a long time to get there. On the contrary, if you develop a thick neck, it will quickly change your entire appearance. The same goes for the traps and forearms. These are the "power look" muscles. Developing them will instantly make you look more annoyed.

Since these are smaller muscles, you can train them frequently without causing much central fatigue. Additionally, most lifters never train them directly, which makes them very sensitive

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Why Build The Neck 

A thick neck is one of the main visual signs associated with strength. During the golden age of bodybuilding, weaker or frailer individuals were often called "pencil geeks".

I remember watching Prison Break and thinking, "This guy Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) looks like a beast." Upon further analysis, the guy wasn't actually horny. He just had a super thick neck that gave that impression. Science backs it up. A wider neck is associated with the perception of imposing and masculinity (1).

A stronger neck also has health and performance benefits. It protects the spine, reduces the likelihood of concussions, and can even reduce headaches and mid-back pain by supporting the weight of the head more easily and reducing the likelihood of head tilt.

Another bonus: A strong neck helps stabilize sports skills, especially rotational skills like hitting a baseball, throwing, or swinging a golf club or racquet. 

 High frequency neck training

Training the muscle more often guarantees faster progress if you are fully recovered. High frequency training works, but you will still need a sufficient training stimulus for it to be effective.

So if you don't exercise enough often, you won't see much growth. If you know Dr. Fred Hatfield (or Dr. Squat), you may remember, figured this out a long time ago. He found that muscles like the neck and forearms can be trained more often than larger muscle groups.

Although there are exceptions, the smaller the muscle, the more often you can train it. In addition to creating less central fatigue, the best exercises for these smaller muscle groups cause very little muscle trauma.

You can exercise your neck 3-5 days a week. You can still progress at a lower frequency, but your progress won't be as fast. 

Exercises For The Neck