Side Neck Stretch

Muscles worked

The muscles under tension are the cervical flexors and extensors, which move the head and hold it steady on top of the spine.

A stretch loads them at the far end of the range they normally work in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.

Every exercise for:Neck

How this movement works

You get into position and hold. One joint sets the angle and one muscle group takes the tension, so the load stays exactly where you put it. Hold for time, breathe normally, and come out the moment the position drifts: a shape that has quietly shifted is no longer training what you set it up to train.

It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.

What you need

These train the neck too, using equipment this one does not:

• Static Neck Flexion and Extensionbody only

Difficulty

Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.

Of the 10 neck exercises in this database, 4 are listed at beginner level.