As all us who have ever served in the military know, the physical fitness requirements that we have for our jobs are very different from what a weekend, or even a professional athlete requires. In fact, I could write another book on this subject. But, to make a long story short, today I want to focus on one important area that is probably the least exercised body part we have, our neck. Obviously your neck is important to help you support heavy protective gear like a Kevlar helmet, but another thing to think about is how important your neck is to help absorb impacts to your head. Football players and wrestlers know this and consequently they train their necks. However, they don’t have to worry about TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) from IEDs. I’m not saying that a super strong neck will totally protect you from the concussion of an Improvised Explosive Device, but I think it can help. A few years back when I was stationed in New Orleans, some non-driving a-hole ran a red light and slammed into my truck while I was sitting at a stop light. Due to the point of impact, (right front corner) none of the air bags came out. I smacked my grape right into the windshield. The truck was totaled and I cracked the windshield. Even though I had a pretty good bruise on my forehead, I was uninjured. I didn’t even have a headache (I did have a serious headache later dealing with the insurance company). I can only credit many years of conditioning my neck, and a very hard “Jarhead” Haha. A strong neck is also important in helping keeping your back healthy. The bottom line is you need to condition your neck. This can be done with a neck harness, a neck machine or neck bridges. In my book I outline many ways to condition your neck and I work mine at least twice a week. Just go slow and easy when training your neck or you’ll end up injuring yourself.
Good luck and Semper Fi, MGunz
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