your neck is supported by muscles like the sternocleidomastoid the traps and deep tissue fibers like the erector spinae training these muscles will not only increase the strength and thickness of your neck but it'll help increase attractiveness and provide many other benefits like improving your posture reducing the risk of neck injury concussions and even nagging neck pain neck pain is actually something that affects one in three people most likely because we sit and stare at screens all day and just like having a weak lower back can cause lower back pain a weak neck can also cause neck pain so today i want to go over the best exercises that you can do to get a stronger thicker neck in no time and first let's start with a simple body weight neck specific exercise that targets multiple layers of muscles that run along the back of your neck isometric neck bridges now if you can't do these or you don't feel quite comfortable enough to doing these just yet you can skip to the next exercise that can be used as an alternative and may be easier for some beginners but you've probably seen neck bridges done by athletes like wrestlers and boxers before and although you can perform these kinds of bridges on a stability ball or a mat there is a concern that it can lead to an injury since your neck is extending while the discs in your spine are compressed so instead a much safer alternative that many people swear by is the simple isometric hold to do this you would start by sitting on a bench and then you would slide your whole body forward off the bench and then position the back of your head and your neck on the bench and all you'll do is hold that position for as long as you can the goal is to work your way up to being able to hold it for at least one minute and then you can even go higher from there to two minutes or you can hold a weight on your chest instead and just stick to increasing the weight load within a one minute hold time now instead of this isometric body weight exercise it might make much more sense for you to use a neck harness for neck harness extensions you can buy one of these neck harnesses for super cheap on amazon and they really work great especially for targeting your entire neck you would take the neck harness and adjust it so that it fits well around your head then you would loop the chain through plate weights and hook the chain on the other side so that the weights are hanging off from the middle and from there you're simply going to lower your chin towards your sternum and then extend back up until your head is straight then repeat for reps this is actually one of my favorite neck exercises because i can directly control the weight load and that gives me the ability to apply progressive overload by focusing on incrementally increasing the weight that i'm using over time there is also another way that you can do this exercise without using the harness prone weighted neck extensions here you would lay down flat on a bench with a towel and a plate weight nearby make sure you slide to the edge of the bench so that your head is hanging off then take the towel and the plate and place them on the back of your head from there you're just going to lower your chin down towards your chest then extend back up and repeat for reps so the bridges and the extensions will help target the back of your neck what about the front of your neck well for that we're going to do stability ball neck crunches to do this one you'll start by grabbing a towel and a dumbbell and then take a seat on a stability ball from there walk your feet forward and roll your body down until your shoulder blades are on the ball and your head is hanging off as you're doing this you're also going to take the towel and the dumbbell and place them on your forehead make sure that your chin is tucked back before starting your reps so imagine pushing your jaw straight back towards your spine before beginning then you're just going to lower your head down while supporting the dumbbell with your hands and then flex your neck to crunch your head back up and you're just going to repeat that for reps remember your hands should not be lifting the dumbbell instead of your neck the work should be done entirely by your neck muscles your hands are just there to help balance the dumbbell so it doesn't fall off using the same concept we're going to also do an exercise that involves side neck crunches so you're going to start by laying sideways on a bench you want to be positioned high enough up the bench so that your head can hang off then take a dumbbell or a plate weight as well as a towel and hold it on the side of your head i prefer to hold it like i'm answering a telephone then slowly lower your head down to the side and raise back up repeat for reps and make sure that you do both sides for this one now all the exercises that i've gone over so far can also be done with a resistance band including the forward and side neck crunches as well as the neck extensions you would take a resistance band and tie it around something sturdy like a squat rack i also recommend that you either wear a hat use a towel or use the head harness from before because the resistance band can pull on your hair or your skin without using one of these regardless of which one you use you're going to wrap the resistance band around your head and turn your body into the direction that you want to target so you can face forward and do forward neck crunches then you could turn to the side and work the sides same with the back of the neck as well i personally prefer to use weights but i did want to show you guys the resistance band as well as another option another thing that the resistance band helps us do is train rotational strength to do this you would set up the resistance band just like before and wrap it around your head then while facing forward you would make sure that you eliminate any slack so that the band is nice and tight to your head and then simply turn your head from left to right you can also do the same movement facing the other way as well and i would actually recommend doing both to balance it out this exercise is really good at targeting the large sternocleidomastoid muscle and personally i feel it works much better when using the head harness you can of course do it without the head harness but for rotation specifically having a tight head harness can work much better also unlike the other exercises that you'll be doing 10 to 20 reps per set for with this exercise it's better to just time it aiming for 30 to 60 seconds of rotations per set now since the upper traps are actually one of the major muscles that surround your neck they also contribute highly to the appearance of a thicker looking neck there's no doubt that one of the best exercises for the traps is barbell shrugs to perform barbell shrugs you should load up a barbell with heavy weight and grab it with your hands a little wider than shoulder width then after unracking the barbell you're simply going to stand up nice and tall and shrug your shoulders up towards your ears then lower back down slowly and repeat make sure that you avoid the common mistakes when doing this exercise for example you shouldn't be rolling your shoulders instead you should be raising them straight up and down you'll also want a full range of motion so don't load the barbell with so much weight that you wind up barely raising your shoulders during each rug next we have an exercise that pretty much works your whole body but it's often overlooked for how amazing it is at building up the traps and helping you develop a thicker looking neck and that's the deadlift since this exercise is so intense and requires so many large muscles to work together you should position it early on in your workout to really push the weight load that you're lifting but once you've loaded your barbell step up to it with your shins close to the bar and plant your feet a little wider than hip-width apart hinge your hips down bend down and grab the bar grip the bar slightly wider than where your shins meet the bar stick your chest out and drop your hips down while squeezing your shoulder blades together to pull all that slack out of the bar don't lean too far forward you want your shoulders in line with your hands then take a deep breath hold it and lift the weight up when lifting the weight don't pull with your lower back instead lift the weight by squeezing your abs pushing your feet into the ground and hinging your hips by driving them forward until you're standing upright then repeat for reps another great exercise that can work just as well for your traps as the barbell shrugs are dumbbell shrugs and even though they look very similar they are actually different for one you can actually shrug with your hands in a neutral grip with dumbbells with a barbell you can only either have your hands internally or externally rotated to take a grip unless of course you're using a t-bar which not every gym will have so it's great to supplement with dumbbells as well and it's done just like regular shrugs with your hands in a neutral position so grab two heavy dumbbells hold your hands at your sides and raise your shoulders straight up and down for reps keep in mind whenever you're doing shrugs i recommend first starting with barbell shrugs and then doing dumbbell shrugs later since you can load much more weight with the bar belt than with the dumbbells so those are 10 of my favorite exercises to help build up the neck and the traps that surround your neck ultimately helping you build a thicker more powerful looking neck in regard to how to set it up for a workout exercises like shrugs and deadlifts i would incorporate separately into your routine most likely with my back workout as far as the rest of the exercises that specifically target the neck i would only choose four or five of them tops and perform 10 to 20 reps for three sets of each and then i would save the others for another neck training day during the week as long as you focus on upping your weight load and you stay consistent hitting the neck anywhere from two to three times a week that should be more than enough to see some quick progress in terms of growth and strength so that about wraps it up if you enjoyed this video make sure you subscribe to my channel also if you want a done-for-you plan to help target other muscles in your body for growth like your chest your arms back and legs then try my six week challenge that includes a fully customized diet plan based on your preferences a complete workout program with a full video exercise library a recipe book and of course a coach to help answer any questions that you have you can read the reviews and see how my clients are dropping 20 pounds or 5 percent of their body fat while building a whole bunch of muscle in just a few short weeks the best part is that as long as you stick to the plan we're going to 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