Good Neck Stretches

Tim914790,
I'm not sure you need any particular "excercise" to stretch your neck, but there are several ideas out there.

Stretching is one thing, and I know that is what you are asking about, but at this moment I would like to address a particular issue.

What I'm going to say to you is controversial to say the least:

I do not do any type of neck exercises BEFORE practice.
We do not fatigue a muscle that we will be needing for full strength during the practice.
Think about it, you are exercising or stressing a muscle that you are going to depend on a few minutes later to save your life.
Does it make sense to fatigue it?
This is like having a QB do bicep curls/triceps dips to failure and then sending him out to throw passes, no one would do that.
That would be weakening the very muscle he needs to throw his passes.
Now the next day, or several hours later, after he has recovered, he would fine. But not immediately afterward.

I didn't gain an understanding about this concept until a couple of years ago.
I was shocked that I was doing things in warmups that had the potential to allow a child to be injured, and not only injured...severly injured.

I didn't realize that I was fatiguing a muscle BEFORE my kids needed that muscle for survival.
I will never ever again do any kind of neck exercises of any kind EXCEPT after practice or in the weight room.

I'm not talking about dynamics or stretching, I'm talking about attempting to strengthen the neck before practice or even before a game. You've' seen the kids in their heads haven't you?

But before you "burn me at the stake" think about what I'm saying here. I know that it goes against everything that most of us have been doing our entire lives.

Just something to consider.
We don't do anything like push ups before practice, we do strength things like that after practice and in the weight room.

OJW