Full transcript
0:00This cost me over $1,000, about $600,
0:03and this cost me $20. When it comes to
0:05neck training, there is a big problem.
0:07But before we get into that, why would
0:08someone start neck training? And should
0:10you be training your neck? I started
0:11training my neck after getting a few
0:13sprains in jiu-jitsu. A lot of what we
0:14do, especially in Noi, is about
0:16attacking the neck. Now, if you don't do
0:17jiu-jitsu, you might not find the next
0:19minute that interesting, but bear with
0:20me. Any of you that seen a guillotine in
0:21the UFC, everyone thinks a guillotine is
0:23squeezing the neck, but it's not. It's
0:24actually compressing it. If you take
0:26someone's chin far enough down to their
0:27chest, they'll submit. Even if I talk
0:29right now, as I'm talking out loud, as I
0:30bring my chin to my chest, my ability to
0:32talk is diminished. And the primary
0:34attack is to turn someone's spine into a
0:36fishing rod. And this is where I was an
0:38absolute idiot. When I used to play
0:39rugby when I was younger, one, I wasn't
0:40that good, but two, the only real place
0:42to got injured was my ankles. I used to
0:43roll my ankles all the time, but not one
0:45part of me thought, "Hey mate, why not
0:47train your ankle joint a bit better?"
0:48There's me trying to bench stupid
0:50amounts of weight, thinking that was
0:51going to make me better. You're going to
0:52learn something today. A friend of mine
0:53is an SNC coach for a rugby league team.
0:55And I saw them doing split squats where
0:57they just put the ball of the foot over
1:00the side of a plate. And I said to him,
1:01"Why are you getting them to do that?"
1:02He goes, "Well, in rugby when you're
1:03running fast, really it's a sport spent
1:05on the ball of your foot." And he goes,
1:06"By getting them to weight train, they
1:08can work a bit propriception, a bit of
1:09balance, and that can only benefit their
1:11ability to run and reduce their chance
1:13of injury." So I train with a lot of
1:14people that have got chronic neck
1:15problems. I say to them, "Did you do any
1:17neck training?" They're like, "No." And
1:18it's a bit stupid cuz if you kept coming
1:19in and going, "Oh, I've got recurrent
1:21hamstring injuries." And I go, "Well, do
1:22you train your hamstrings?" You say,
1:23"No." I go, "We train your [ __ ]
1:25hamstrings." But there was me, made it
1:26to 34, never training my neck. So, I
1:28started. Reason number one to train is
1:30to get a big neck aesthetics. There have
1:33been quite a few popular videos online
1:34pointing to the fact that people with
1:36thicker necks can be deemed more
1:37attractive and even look more competent.
1:39When you see someone with a big neck at
1:41the bar next to you, the barman says,
1:42"Who's next?" They are. So, some
1:44bodybuilders will train their neck just
1:46to look a certain way. But for me, it
1:47was about injury prevention and
1:49competence. If I want to defend a
1:50guillotine, I need to be able to look
1:52up. Also, in wrestling, one of the main
1:54things you're trying to do is to break
1:55someone's posture. And remember, I said
1:57about the fishing rod in the spine. The
1:58further you can get up someone's spine
2:01to the neck, the back of the head, the
2:02second I lose the integrity of being
2:04able to look up, all my athleticism is
2:08gone. The second that you can turn
2:09someone's spine into a fishing rod, all
2:11of their athleticism is gone. And better
2:13get in wrestling. If they're facing
2:14down, they can't see you, which means
2:16advancing is a lot easier. You asked
2:17about traps. Now, I'm not a bodybuilder.
2:19I believe the traps predominantly govern
2:22the shoulder joint, the ability to
2:24elevate the shoulder joint. There could
2:26be other uses to them. Ask a PT that
2:28specializes in it. Now, I have a theory
2:30that most men train a certain way to
2:32impress other men. The same reason you
2:33wear a Rolex, the girl is not really
2:35going to know what a Rolex is. You're
2:36doing it so the guy next to you knows
2:37what it is. You're trying to impress
2:37other dudes. Us dudes wanting big pecs,
2:39we're doing it to impress other dudes.
2:41And us trying to get big traps, that's
2:43probably the only area in male
2:45bodybuilding that I think women really
2:47like. more than shoulders.
2:48>> More well, I'd say
2:49>> broad shoulders.
2:50>> I would say traps and shoulders. And the
2:52reason I tell you that is
2:54>> when people start taking testosterone,
2:56aka me, I'm on TRT. If you want to get
2:59your blood work check, there's a link in
3:00the description. The first place to grow
3:02are the shoulders and the traps, without
3:04even training them. We have things there
3:06called androgen receptors. What does
3:07that mean? I'm not too sure. So, one of
3:10the telltale signs that someone's jumped
3:11on cycle is that their shoulders and
3:13their traps just explode
3:14disproportionately to the rest of the
3:16body. Now, my theory is that from an
3:18evolutionary standpoint, women would be
3:19drawn to men with higher levels of
3:21androgens, thus women liking big
3:24shoulders. Now, when you're neck
3:26training, there is a component of upper
3:28back being used. Whether I would say
3:31that's traps, I'm not sure, but I
3:33believe that getting a bigger neck is
3:34just going to help that real estate up
3:36there. But if you really wanted to get
3:37bigger traps, what would you want to do?
3:38Shrugs at different angles. But
3:40ultimately the issue is the majority of
3:42you out there that are trying to get big
3:43traps, including you a bit, Declan,
3:45you're modeling it off guys that are on
3:46steroids. So you're thinking, "Oh, I
3:49might add some shrugs to my regime, but
3:51chances are you're better off just
3:52trying to improve the level of
3:53musculature you have up there, not
3:55comparing yourself to someone who's on
3:56anabolic steroids." Let's get into the
3:57training part. Injury prevention. For
3:59me, I think of it this way. We've got
4:01neck flexion, neck extension. We've got
4:02some rotation, but moving the head side
4:05to side can become a bit tricky, which
4:06is where the iron neck's going to come
4:07in. But before that, if we look to
4:09jiu-jitsu wrestling extension,
4:11guillotine defense extension, the
4:13biggest thing I need from my neck
4:14training is the ability to keep my neck
4:16straight and to extend it to prevent it
4:19from flexing. So, I took it upon myself
4:20to get a cheap harness and the most
4:22expensive harness and see what really is
4:25the difference. We're going to do some
4:26neck extensions actually. Now, this I
4:28know what you're thinking. Sex appeal.
4:29You know, I could wear this on a night
4:30out. Tab wouldn't let me. She said,
4:31"James, don't put that on cuz girls
4:33might see you." I go, "Wow, that guy
4:35trains his neck." For any of you that
4:36are out there thinking about dipping
4:37your toe, there is a a slight issue that
4:40you will go to the gym. If you're
4:41training in a commercial gym, you put
4:43this on, someone's going to ring the
4:44nons alarm. They're going to go,
4:45"There's a nons on the gym floor and
4:47he's here looking for little kids." And
4:48I would say as well to any of you that
4:50are starting, go lightweight, high reps.
4:52Don't be a hero. From here, I simply
4:54just put my hands on my knees.
5:03When you get your first neck pump, it
5:05feels great. You're like, it gets you
5:07kind of excited. It's a nice feeling.
5:08It's a great place to get a pump. 20, 30
5:10reps, two, three sets, three times a
5:12week. I'm not kidding. Great. Entry
5:14level. Any of you don't believe me?
5:16Well, you're going to lose that one. 20
5:17quid. And to look like a little bit of a
5:18nons at the gym, fine. Should I give it
5:20a go? Give me that. Okay. So, first of
5:21all, yeah, keep the just lean forward a
5:23bit more. Yeah. Stick your head in. I've
5:25got quite a big head. Now, put the strap
5:26around your chin. Cool. Now, stand up.
5:28Hands on knees. And then, just from
5:29here, create a bit of a hip hinge. Now,
5:31slowly flex all the way and then look
5:33up. Yeah. Now, it looks a little bit
5:36strange, but we'll go for like 15 20
5:38reps because I reckon I could convert
5:40you into neck training today, Declan.
5:42How's it feel?
5:43>> Feels good.
5:45>> Cool. Let's speed it up a little bit
5:46now. And now, let's just pump out. But I
5:48don't want it swinging. Just be smooth.
5:50Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Yeah.
5:53Now, it looks a little bit strange, but
5:54we'll go for like 15 20 reps. Relax a
5:57little bit more. Elongate the the
5:58flexors a bit more. Let the head relax a
6:00bit more at the bottom. Yes.
6:02Let's go. Let's pick it up. Let's go. 15
6:04more. Cool. What do you thought?
6:06>> Feels good.
6:07>> Give a little neck pump. Would you add
6:09that to your regimen?
6:09>> Yeah, probably.
6:10>> And then I would just I'll just
6:11alternate neck extension and neck
6:13flexion to different days of the week.
6:15So, I'd finish maybe like a push or a
6:16pull set. Three times 30 on that. Happy
6:19days. Then, very simply, neck flexion I
6:21think is quite a lot easier. All I would
6:23do is lay flat on my back, put my hand
6:24on my head, elongate my neck flexors,
6:27and then close them. Sorry. From here,
6:30plate onto my forehead. Elongate. Come
6:34up.
6:38Now, obviously, you're not getting the
6:39full weight of the plate because of just
6:41the angles and how you're holding it
6:42with your hands and stuff. Again, 3x 20,
6:453x 30. I've been doing that for months,
6:47and it's been great. I've not had one
6:49recurrence of neck injury or sprain
6:50since.
6:50>> So, you think for neck, generally,
6:52higher reps, more volume is better than
6:54going heavy and intense?
6:56>> Great question. Let me do this on the
6:57whiteboard. You said, "Is it better that
6:59we go high volume rather than going for
7:01high reps?" I'm actually going to sound
7:02like a personal trainer in this clip.
7:04Let me put my hat on. My barber's been
7:05on holiday. All right. He's been away.
7:07Tesh, where you been at? Okay. So, we're
7:09going to have two axises here. Axes.
7:11Intensity is going to be our posh way of
7:13saying heavy [ __ ] So, let's say you're
7:14starting here and you've got 12 weeks. I
7:17would break you down into three training
7:18blocks. This is where I'd want you to
7:20peak. I would get you to go, which would
7:22make it look a little bit like to make
7:24this clear, your first block in any
7:27training program should be an
7:28accumulation phase. And that's a posh
7:30way of saying really high reps, not much
7:32intensity. The reason we do that is a
7:34lot of you are learning new movement
7:35patterns. For this, it's a move that
7:36you've never done. If it was squatting,
7:38it's a movement you've never done.
7:39Bench, it's a movement you've ever done.
7:40And I would rather burn you out with a
7:42little bit more volume and not put you
7:44in harm's way then. So, let's say this
7:46could be 3x30. When we come into week
7:48eight, I might bring you into 3x5 or
7:50even 4 by 10. Then it would only be in
7:52the last block of periodization that I
7:54might give you 4x8 or even 4x six. But
7:56we have to earn our way through
7:58periodization to get to the heavy ship.
8:00Then once you finish this, I'll probably
8:02put you back into a volume phase. The
8:04amount of volume that you'd be doing in
8:05this accumulation phase again would be
8:07greater than where you started before.
8:08Does that make sense?
8:09>> So with our neck training, how many
8:11times per week would you train it
8:12considering it is a smaller muscle
8:13group?
8:14>> The frequency. So, remember I said it
8:15was like a uh let's say once a week
8:18minimum, but then you
8:19>> see the the most optimal amount. What
8:20would be
8:21>> I don't think you need to be giving that
8:22much volume to the neck. Okay.
8:23>> And I think you're better off doing say
8:253x 10. But also, let's say we break each
8:27bit up into a week. Monday, Tuesday,
8:29Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
8:31Sunday. We could do flexion here,
8:34extension here, and maybe some lateral
8:36side stuff here. So, you still could be
8:38training your neck three times a week
8:39just in different planes. But that makes
8:41sense. That's why for anyone starting
8:42any movement anywhere in the gym, start
8:44an accumulation phase. Worst case is you
8:46do a lot of volume and the intensity is
8:47not high enough. That's way better than
8:49going too intense. And I have a theory.
8:51This is going to be a fun little video.
8:52Declan, people in the yellow channel are
8:54going to feel like I know what I'm on
8:55about. I'm going to sound like I know
8:56what I'm on about. And there's a lot
8:57I've got a lot of subscribers now. So,
8:59there's going to be some people that
9:00tell me I'm wrong. We're going to look
9:01at the three proposed mechanisms for
9:03muscular hypertrophy. Mechanical
9:04tension, muscle damage, metabolic
9:06stress. Okay. So, any point when we're
9:09training, we need to get a bit of all
9:11three of these. We've gone so off
9:12tangent here, but this is going to be
9:14interesting. So, when we're looking
9:15towards um high reps, not a lot of
9:18weight. Our triangle is probably going
9:20to look like this because we're getting
9:22a lot of muscle damage cuz we're
9:23bringing down the uh the muscle. We're
9:25going to get a bit of metabolic stress
9:26cuz we're getting like a lactic acid
9:27buildup, but there's not going to be
9:28much mechanical tension because the
9:30weight isn't that heavy. Then, uh have
9:32you heard of blood flow restriction
9:33training? For blood flow restriction
9:35training, it's probably going to look a
9:36bit more like that because there's
9:38almost no weight to it. So, let's say
9:39you blew your ACL and wanted to get your
9:41quad working, they would get your quad
9:43to work at a really light weight, but
9:44they would strap it up and restrict
9:45blood flow to it. Apparently, it retains
9:47hydrogenized ions. I have no idea what
9:50that means. Then, if you were going to
9:52start lifting heavy [ __ ] you could say
9:53if you were doing like 3x3, you could
9:55argue not much damage, not much stress.
9:57So, it could look more like this. a lot
9:59of mechanical tension because of the
10:00load, not much muscle damage, and not
10:02much metabolic stress because you're not
10:03getting that much reps. So, this is a
10:05proposed mechanism, I believe. I could
10:06have butchered it. People tell me if I'm
10:08wrong. Um, what do I know? I don't own a
10:10drinks business. This video brought to
10:12you by Newtonic. For every person that
10:14watches this video that hasn't tried
10:15Newtonic and doesn't buy it, a kitten
10:17somewhere dies. Link in description. Do
10:19you want,
10:20>> you have one for the edit? All right.
10:21Okay.
10:21>> You're not finished yet. You couldn't
10:22even remember the three mechanisms of
10:24flipping muscular hypertrophy. You call
10:26yourself a personal trainer. X training.
10:30>> It's a good job I saved you from that
10:31gym floor.
10:33>> So to answer your question, we would not
10:35want to put too much into mechanical
10:37tension when starting. Why we would
10:39stick to I could have completely
10:40butchered that. Lane Norton's just going
10:42to message me on WhatsApp and just say,
10:43"Bro, now the neck is a pretty cool
10:45device. You stick it on your head and
10:47there's a pump up here
10:50and it makes it tighter on your head.
10:52Got a little strap here like this. This
10:54if you thought the other one was
10:55embarrassing, this one was embarrassing.
10:56And if we look down here, you got straps
10:58of different tension. You got goodie
10:59bags, harnesses, door wedges, a lot of
11:02stuff you're just not going to use. Now,
11:03let's go through the pros first. Now, I
11:05bet someone's going to tell me off.
11:06Everyone in the videos in the
11:07instructional standing, but for me, I
11:10would rather take my hips out of the
11:11equation and I'd rather sit because for
11:13here, the same reason, right? When we
11:15sit down, when we're weightlifting,
11:16we're doing it so our hips can't come
11:17into play. For any of you that wondered
11:19why it's harder to do bicep curls
11:20sitting than standing, it's cuz your
11:21hips can't do those subtle movements to
11:23help you lift the weight. Even if it's
11:25just a little bit of hip rotation, it's
11:27just allowing the dumbbells to move that
11:28a little bit easier. So even those
11:30people that arch when pressing overhead,
11:32the reason you sit again, you take the
11:33hips out of the equation. So right now,
11:34the force is obviously pulling my neck
11:36into flexion. I want to pull it back
11:37into extension. And from here, we can
11:40actually rotate under pressure. And you
11:42know what? Rotating under pressure is
11:44quite nice. It feels pretty good. I'm
11:46not going to lie to you. So again, I'll
11:47do some high volume work here. Then I'll
11:49turn. And this is good cuz I can see in
11:50the mirror that my neck's straight. And
11:52again, I'll look towards the angle. I'll
11:54look away. I'll look in. I'll look away.
11:56Same on the other side. And then again,
11:58my neck is having to work in flexion,
12:01rotation.
12:03There's exercises where you could draw
12:05like figure eights,
12:08but the exercises on this where you use
12:10different bands and you do extension
12:12movement. To me, the harness is always
12:14going to be better. And granted, I neck
12:16do give you a harness which is almost
12:17identical to the other one that we've
12:18got, but this is what you're paying for.
12:20This is the thing that costs like $600.
12:22But for me, it cost $1,200 cuz I'm in
12:24Australia. Then I had to pay another
12:26$300 to get it released from customs cuz
12:27it's an import. That's not our next
12:29fault. But still, I was like, my god,
12:31I've just spent a small flipping fortune
12:33on this. And then I'm getting bummed by
12:35[ __ ] immigration. I'm going to answer
12:38this kind of strangely. This pack is
12:41better, but I've said something my whole
12:43life and I stand by it. This car is
12:45better than my Golf R, but it's not 20
12:48times better, but it is 20 times more.
12:51In price comparison, that is five times
12:54the car for 20 times the price. Is this
12:5640 or 50 times the neck harness? No.
12:59This is maybe twice as good because I've
13:01been training with this for a month now
13:03and I've loved it. It's great. Don't get
13:04me wrong. I would say 80% of all the
13:07gains and benefits that I've got to my
13:08jiu-jitsu and injury prevention come
13:10from the cheaper harness. Which brings
13:12me to the kind of really important point
13:14here. If you have the money to afford a
13:16992 GT3, absolutely get one. But if you
13:19don't, the Golf R is fantastic. It's a
13:21great car. It does everything this does
13:22just without all the bells and whistles
13:24and cool [ __ ] And back when I couldn't
13:26afford that car, there was nothing wrong
13:27with the Golf. If you have disposable
13:29income to spend crazy amounts of money
13:31to have one of these, cool. It's
13:32obviously going to be better. But if
13:34you're someone that wants to enter the
13:35world of neck training and you don't
13:36fancy spending $600, go on Amazon, get a
13:39neck harness because the rotational
13:40stuff is cool. I'm sure it's making my
13:42neck stronger and it's helping me build
13:44it. But I can't stress to you how great
13:46an entry- level harness and just neck
13:48flexion and extension is for jiu-jitsu
13:50aesthetics and all the things that we're
13:52trying to do with it. And the final
13:53point we're going to talk about is this
13:54posture. I don't think there are
13:56exercises to improve posture. I just
13:58don't. Because let's say you you saying
13:59I'm slouched, tell me to pull my
14:01shoulders back.
14:01>> Pull your shoulders back. Let's say I'm
14:03working at my desk. People think they've
14:04got poor posture because they're slumped
14:06at their desk. You could sit upright all
14:08too easily. Do you know why you're not?
14:09Energy conservation. Why is it we seem
14:11to think that we have bad posture? I
14:13just don't believe it. And people say,
14:14"Oh, don't don't slouch because you'll
14:17get internally rotated shoulders and you
14:19won't be able to get back." Let me show
14:20you something, Declan. I'm a side
14:21sleeper, Declan. I have to sleep with
14:23something between my legs or I can't
14:24sleep. I have a pillow here. I have a
14:26pillow here. I'm full fetal. I'm so
14:28fetal. When I even when I lay on the
14:30beach, people think I'm weird cuz I
14:32sleep like this. I've got a bad back.
14:33It's always been bad. All right, relax.
14:34People say if I sit at my desk, I'm
14:36going to get stuck in that position.
14:38Some nights I sleep for 9 hours. Do you
14:39know what? I have never woken up unable
14:42to move. Have you? Have you ever If
14:44sitting equals bad posture, then why is
14:46it that when I wake up, I'm not stuck in
14:48this position? After 9 hours, I'm just
14:50able to get up, stand up perfectly
14:52normally. If you want better posture,
14:54stand better. Tuck your tailbone or your
14:56shoulders back. Walk proudly. I think
14:58improving your net worth would be better
14:59for your posture than any flipping
15:00exercise. Let me tell you this. I put a
15:02million dollars in your bank account.
15:04You're going to start walking
15:04differently. You're going to start.
15:07So, I don't believe the posture, Declan.
15:09I'm not a big fan of it. And also, you
15:11look at some of the best athletes in the
15:12world. They haven't got perfect posture.
15:13It's bollocks. It's for people to sell
15:15you [ __ ] Have you got bad posture? I'll
15:18sell you a routine that you'll only do
15:19for 2 weeks, and when you quit, you'll
15:21blame yourself and not me. Bollocks. I'm
15:23not going to be returning this. I'm
15:25probably going to still keep using it.
15:27But it's only made my neck training
15:29regimen a little bit better for a hell
15:30of a lot more money. And I know what
15:31you're thinking. You've only done a
15:33video on this so you can business
15:34expense it. And that's not funny to joke
15:36about tax evasion. It's not. But for any
15:37of you out there that haven't got one,
15:39you're fine. You really are fine. I was
15:41going to say if you want to get a big
15:42and extra stark TLT. That's not fair.
15:44Every single part that you have on your
15:46body that's weak should be trained. I'm
15:47also a believer that posture doesn't
15:49equal injury. I don't think the bad luck
15:51equals injury. I think weakness equals
15:53injury. For any of you out there, if you
15:55are aware enough to realize you've got a
15:56weak point in the body, train it. And
15:57guess what? Your chances of getting
15:58injured there are much less. Weak people
16:00get injured and no one's changing my
16:02mind. You want a link for the harness?
16:03Go get yourself one. Go to Amazon, type
16:05it in. I'm not your dad. Thanks for
16:07watching this video. YouTube's
16:08recommended that you watch this one
16:09here. So it's right up your street. You
16:10don't want to offend YouTube now, do
16:12you? So you should probably watch it.
16:13Bye-bye.