Joe Rogan – Iron Neck Machine (Scientific Research) | Fitness & MMA Blog

The Iron Neck is a fantastic machine for building up the muscles in the neck.

The iron neck is effectively a ‘halo’ that attaches to your head and chin via straps/bands.

The Iron Neck also has a pump – which inflates to get the apparatus to fit perfectly to your head.

Iron neck Training

Joe Rogan’s neck training includes the Iron Neck. As shown below, at the front of the Iron Neck is the attachment-area, where you link onto a cable to provide resistance:

You can choose from 3 resistance settings using bands that come with the Iron Neck – start off with the lowest resistance until you get the hang of it.

Used for football, grappling, MMA and rehab-specialists, in can help to improve performance, prevent injury and accelerate recovery from specific injuries.

As a (very poor) grappler and an office worker, my neck has mobility and postural issues and I’ll give anything a try to prevent the headaches that I get.

Joe Rogan Iron Neck Testimonials & Clips

And here’s another clip of Joe Rogan & Chris Bell discussing the Iron Neck

Benefits of the Iron Neck:

Builds neck-strength in every possible position
Improves mobility/range of motion
Reduces risk of concussion

Neck strength is really important for wrestling – as you will normally ‘lead with the head’ when completing a double leg takedown.

Building neck strength is also important in Muay Thai – as the best way to defend a Muay Thai clinch is to ‘posture up’, tense your traps (bring them up to your ears as if doing a shrug) and tense your neck so that your head cannot be pulled dowarnds towards a knee.

Academic Research – Neck Strength & KO Resistance

More and more research is showing that neck strength is related to an athletes likelihood of suffering a concussion. This paper theorises that a stronger neck may prevent knock outs, by decreasing the ‘rapid acceleration’ caused by a blow to the head.

Another study in the Journal of Primary Prevention, found that having a stronger neck, reduced the risk of concussion in high school athletes.

The iron neck is certainly a better alternative than the traditional neck bridges which compress the discs in the cervical area of the spine.