The Strength Report: The Forgotten Three - The Neck, Traps and Grip

I have found over the years that training the neck, traps and grip often get missed. When coaches ask me to evaluate programs I look first for those three areas. I assure you that training these three areas both serves to protect the athlete and boost performance. The game of football is a collision sport. The most catastrophic injury in football is one that involves the neck. According to a recent study by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research for the Journal of the American Medical Association, over a three-year span there were 61 deaths, 147 permanent disabilities and 166 serious neck injuries of high school athletes. For college athletes there were 5 deaths, 21 permanent disabilities and 62 serious neck injuries. Therefore, as strength and conditioning professionals, we have an obligation to protect our athletes as best we can from injury. When I speak around