“James, how important is a strong neck in fighting and is there any form of combat in which it would be a drawback?”

-Ajay

Okay, Little Girl, I understand you soft-neck frails being intrigued by the masculine shaft that supports our dominant brains, the tower of power that has propelled the human race to its largely failed rule of this unlucky planet…

But that’s for man brains to discuss—you don’t worry your pretty little head about the coming apocalypse, its above the estrogenic horizon, so just smile and listen to these facts of low adventure.

Wrestling is the combat art in which the strength of the neck is most important, involving such acts as “bridging” which uses the neck as a fifth limb. Also, any form of grappling puts the neck in danger of absorbing the energy from the fall of the body. Also, most forms of grappling view the neck as a target for cranks, chokes and locks.

MMA, with grappling being the clutch component, is as dependent on neck strength as grappling, more so when the third sport for which the neck is important is considered as an important element of MMA.

Boxing requires a neck that is strong in proportion to one’s body weight. Ideally your neck will be as thick as the jaw at the base of the ear. Once body weight increases you need to have a large mass of muscle on the back of the neck, like Evander Holyfield, to absorb the greater shock transferred to the brain by the body weight of the man being hit in the head. Heavy fighters—meaning men fighting beyond their natural bodyweight—are at high risk of disastrous neurological shock from being hit from the front while stepping into the blow and having their own bodyweight added to the shock.

Medieval armored combat—currently a sport—requires a strong neck as does any contact sport utilizing helmets, which transfer more torque to the neck. One does not have to defeat a helmet and dent the skull within to disable an armored fighter, but merely generate enough shock to the neck to cut off messages from the brain to the body.

Stick fighting with fencing masks benefits from neck strength to a lesser degree as the mask may spin and thus deflect heavy stress from the neck.

Drawbacks to having a thick neck?

Yes, Cinnamon Frail, a wide wrestling neck would be a grave disadvantage in a fight with straight razors, as the juicy blood vessels are expanded closer to the incoming blade. So those Baltimore girls who carry a straight razor folded in their wig are bitchez to be reckoned with—even for thick-necked wrestlers.

Combat

Survival