A Judo neck for grappling!

When you see pictures of old school Judoka (and some new school Judoka for that matter) they seem to have short but very muscular legs, big broad shoulders, chests that look like the front of trucks and big powerful necks. Having a strong neck is VITAL in grappling. When throwing, a strong twist or lean of the head in the direction of the throw will aid greatly with the technique. This head movement can only be carried out with a strong neck. When groundfighting, most escapes from pins require some sort of bridge, forcing the fighter to upload most of his/her body weight onto his/her shoulders and neck. The neck muscles must definitely be strong for this, attempting this without a strong neck can actually be quite dangerous! Finally if you're unfortunate to be caught in a choke or strangle, a strong neck MAY give you the ability to withstand the technique for maybe a second longer (which could be just enough time to escape). These are just a few reasons why having a strong neck is important, and this is only for grappling. It is also very important for striking, but thats another topic. There are plenty of websites and hundreds of books which describe the best and safest ways to strengthen neck muscles, so my advice is start doing it if not already!!

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