How to Get a Symmetrical Neck for Competitive Bodybuilding

Competitive bodybuilders are judged on physical fitness and physical perfection, one aspect of which is body symmetry. As a result, it is very important for body builders to keep their bodies as symmetrical as possible. This can be particularly difficult when developing the neck muscles, as day-to-day activities can skew symmetry in a way that most people will not notice, but a competition judge almost certainly will.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Dumbbells

How to Get a Symmetrical Neck for Competitive Bodybuilding

1. 
    
   As you can see here, the trapezius muscles (red) support a great deal of the neck.

   Work your upper back. Asymmetrical trapezius muscles can pull your neck out of alignment or further emphasize a lack of symmetry. Building up your upper back muscles makes your neck look better and also lessons daily strains on your neck muscles that can contribute to asymmetry .

2. Build up your shoulders. Bigger shoulders support your neck better and also make your neck appear larger. Many shoulder exercises, such as shrugs, have the secondary benefit of enhancing neck muscles.

3. Use dumbbells whenever possible. Barbells enable one side of your body to compensate for the other without you even being aware of it. Especially when doing shoulder and back exercises, use dumbbells whenever you can so that each side of your body remains isolated and these neck-impacting muscles do not develop unevenly.

4. 
    

   Stretch daily and dynamically. Stretching the neck can help keep the muscles loose, limber and even. Neck rotations and tucking the neck to the chest, then raising your chin to look at the ceiling are good ways to keep muscles from tensing, straining, or tearing--all of which can prevent you from working out your neck evenly or at all.

5. Alternate neck exercises with neck-support exercises. On days that you do not exercise your neck specifically, exercise either your shoulders or your upper back muscles and do neck stretches to keep your neck muscles limber. Because it is so easy to develop asymmetrical neck muscles, it is important to take precautions against any type of occurrence that can affect your daily training. By incorporating neck work in some aspect int your daily workout routine, you can be sure that you are maintaining the work that you are putting into a symmetrical neck while avoiding injuries and strains that can prevent you from training properly.

Tips & Warnings

• Arranging your workout so that you do not give your neck a full day off more than once or twice a week will help you steadily build a symmetrical neck. Structure your schedule so that you do shoulders one day, neck the next, back the next, then heavy focus on neck stretching the day after that. Then start the cycle over.
• If you experience constant or chronic neck pain, consult a physician immediately.
• Neck muscle training can be dangerous. If you have no experience in this form of weightlifting, work with a trainer until you become comfortable with the procedures.

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