The Importance of Neck (Head) Development

  The most important organs of the human body to deliberately maintain are the head, hands and feet — which are precisely where responsiveness begins to fail first, because as important as they are, they are properly placed at the extremities to maximize their effectiveness. But that means they are furthest from the heart as well — which is an autonomic function rather than a voluntary ones we control consciously. There is an ancient wisdom that goes, “Let me change what I can change, and accept what I cannot change, and give me the wisdom to know the difference.”

People who fail spectacularly at everything they do, lack that essential wisdom — and will put out unlimited energy, time and resources to change what they cannot change, and zero into those things that could make a huge difference — and all the difference in the world. So first we need to have this basic understanding of how exercise is essential to any part of the body — because it enhances the flow of nutrients into it, and removes the accumulated waste products of cells that break down and need to be repaired and replaced. That is the cycle of life at its most basic understanding. Life and health require this constant flow — and exercise is the program we adopt to optimize that development — to our greatest priorities.

Although many exercisers will insist that the head and brain should not be a top priority — in favor of rear deltoid development (sic), etc. — to most thoughtful individuals, that would be their top priority — even if they don’t consciously realize it. For many young athletes, it becomes a moot point beyond learning the gross motor movements — while for the child prodigies of every activity, those extra movements (gear) are the gifts few others have — and can be identified by equally gifted coaches. This is appreciating movement at its highest level, but is equally relevant to every functioning level, and particularly the dysfunctional and deteriorating.

What can we do about it? — or can nothing be done about it? When many of my cohorts were beginning to wonder why they no longer got the same results they did when younger, I was introduced to and noticed that it was even far more dire for those disabled, aging, and even terminal — and wondered what was the exercise (movement) they could do with the greatest immediate impact — beginning with that forlorn look of hopelessness and helplessness that made them sit like statues all day — seemingly completely unresponsive to life anymore. And while it was clear what they couldn’t do, the only relevant question was what could they do? — to change that whole reality.

That was head movement: the simple turning of the head all the way to the left, and then back all the way to the right — increased the flow to the brain — and that had maximum impact on every other functioning of the body. Why wouldn’t the body respond in that critical way? That is literally the integration of the mind with body. As the head moves, that is awareness of one’s surroundings — and the world we must respond to — beyond all else. That simple awareness, is what is required to be “all there” — at the most critical times. As has been said, “Some people make things happen, some people are aware of what is happening, while the vast majority wonder what is happening?”

We’ve forgotten how to use our own senses to gather information — and that is why the cave man was more fit than today’s sedentary beings — wholly dependent on their smartphones to tell them what to think. Thus they never need to move their heads anymore — and so the flow to the brain diminishes — because flow is the function of that movement — just as it is with all the movements of the human body. The same process that develops the biceps, also develops the brain — it would be stupid not to. That’s how Nature works — even for the creatures that never went to college. It would develop the blueprint for all of life.

It is not that the head cannot move, or is impossible to improve, and the atrophying of the neck muscles are inevitable signs of deterioration and decline. The movement of the head is actually the best indicator of the vibrancy of that individual — and of all the others. The 360 degree side-to side head movement requires the engagement of all the muscles of the body — in addition to the neck muscles, which many exercise authorities think cannot be effectively exercised — because they misunderstand the simplicity of movement. It does not require elaborate machinery to provide resistance; it is the understanding that every movement eventually produces its own resistance — against further movement. At this point, the muscle contraction has cleared space for the heart to pump blood into that vacuum — rather than the naive notion that a 1 pound heart will be able to force all the fluids around in addition to being the motive force for 500 lb lifts.

The genius of exercise is in realizing that all the voluntary (skeletal) muscles can be recruited to optimize the circulation in this manner — and particularly to areas deemed as a priority in attaining peak readiness and performance for its purposes.