For years I have been preaching about the importance of neck work for injury prevention, getting a strong neck and just looking yoked. Recently a couple of people have told me about how they liked my 20 inch neck article, but they said that they didn’t have access to a 4-way neck machine and doing neck curls/extensions with plates on their head hurt them a lot! They also complained about how they end up getting a big circular imprint on their forehead from the plate and that is why they are not even bothering training their neck or they are just half-assing it with light weight.

These are not good ways to resolve the problem and today I am going to break it down for you and make neck training as simply efficient and manageable as possible.

This isn’t going to be the longest article because I have a few simple answers so I am just going to get straight to the main points.

1. USE RUBBER PLATES INSTEAD OF METAL ONES

The number one rule for making your neck training feel better on your forehead is that you want to stay the hell away from metal places. The only plates you want to use are the rubber ones and if you don’t have access to those in your gym then simply resort to tip #3. Rubber plates are hands down the most comfortable way to train your neck because even though its the same weight as the metal one, it just feels more manageable.

2. ALWAYS PUT A CLEAN AND THICK SHIRT (FOLDED 1-3 TIMES) ON YOUR FOREHEAD.

If you aren’t putting a thick and clean shirt on your forehead then not only will you get a huge circular mark on your forehead, but it will also hurt you a lot in the process. The more the weight hurts your face and gives you a headache then the more your intensity will go down the drain which will limit the weight you could use which will mean that you won’t be able to train your neck effectively.

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I’ve learned that folding a big, thick and clean t-shirt 1-3 times and then placing it on my forehead makes the weight feel a lot more comfortable when it is placed and I don’t get headaches either. In other words, it feels like a 4-way neck machine except my body is horizontal instead of vertical.

Also I say put a CLEAN shirt on your forehead because of the obvious reason that you don’t want a bunch of germs to be on your face. I also change the shirt that I use to place on my forehead every workout just for obvious hygienic purposes.

3. IF YOU DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO RUBBER PLATES THEN USE THICK BANDS INSTEAD.

This last tip is great for people who don’t have access to rubber plates, but its also good for people who want to train their neck in a different way. For example, if you want a big and strong neck then you can’t progress optimally if you are always using the same exercises. You need a multitude of different exercises with a variety of rep ranges in order to really make progress.

The band is even more comfortable on the forehead than a rubber plate and if you are also applying tip #2 then it cannot be matched. Heck, you could even use rubber plates with band tension too if you want, get creative.

CONCLUSION

SEE ALSO:  101 Tips Injury Prevention Ebook

So there you have it, some simple and effective ways to train your neck in more comfortable and manageable ways. I hope that these tips have helped you out because I know that they have sure helped for me. The fact that you don’t have a 4 way neck machine doesn’t mean that you can’t get a big and strong neck because you still can!