Neck strengthening

[Cassius]

I do neck bridges while supporting my weight with my hands.

I can control the amout of stress, and quickly slip out without injuring my neck if things go south.

Neck bridges and reverse pushups (gymnastic bridges) are great ways to strengthen your back as well.

Yeah, I generally support some of my weight with my hands as well. I don't have to, but it seems a lot safer to do so.

[lawdog]

It's not that something will instantly happen and as the result of a single trauma you'll injure your neck (although that could happen with neck bridges, it isn't the concern). The concern is the extreme ROM that most of us use when doing the bridges. That extreme ROM combined with the weight you're supporting puts a lot of stress on your ligaments and/or wear & tear on your discs. The concern with neck bridges is more of a cumulative concern.

When I wrestled I would bridge up while on my back and walk back to where my forehead was almost flat on the gound, and just continue to rock that back and forth, then twist sideways to where I was face down and once again rock back and forth to where the pressure would go from my forehead to almost the back of my head. And continually twist from face down to face up while completely supporting my weight on my head.

If I were to do neck bridges today, I would drastically reduce that ROM. In fact, I would do them as more of a static exercise while trying to maintain proper cervical alignment. Being disciplined as far as the ROM will go a long way toward reducing the potentially harmful effects of neck bridgeing.