Boxer Canelo Alvarez shared an exercise to strengthen his neck but is it worth it?
Canelo Alvarez is days away from defending his title against Edgar Berlanga. Part of his training includes a unique neck exercise that many doctors are labelling as “dangerous.”
[RELATED: The Top 3 Exercises For Neck Size & Strength]
Alvarez showed off his own version of Mike Tyson’s neck roll, used to build an insanely wide neck. Alvarez’s version is performed on a bosu ball with his hands behind his back. He can be seen moving his body front and back with the top of his head on the ball. This is done to strengthen the neck and get it ready for the repeated contact during a boxing match.
🚨Canelo Alvarez strengthening the neck with his entire body weight ‼️ 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Vi2xUYM0px
— Boxing Kingdom (@BoxingKingdom14) September 6, 2024
While Alvarez is doing this to build strength, doctors have spoken out against this “dangerous” exercise.
“The cervical spine is not built to tolerate high compressive loads like this. If you want to strengthen your neck, do it without putting load through the top of your head.”
Don’t do this.
The cervical spine is not built to tolerate high compressive loads like this. If you want to strengthen your neck, do it without putting load through the top of your head https://t.co/iMhi3pGkCe
— Brian Sutterer MD (@BrianSuttererMD) September 7, 2024
Canelo Alvarez Will Take On Edgar Berlanga On Saturday
Canelo Alvarez will step in the ring with Edgar Berlanga to defend his WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles. The fight will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Alvarez will enter the fight as a major favorite over the 27-year-old Berlanga, who has just 21 professional fights. This will be Alvarez’s 66th fight of his career. He has never been knocked out or down during his career and this has been the path to victory for Berlanga. In 21 fights, Berlanga has 17 KOs, including 16 straight in the first round to begin his career.
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Canelo Alvarez has been training his neck to withstand the force over the course of the match. There are many ways to do this and less intense methods can be seen in yoga.
For the average man, this is not a recommended movement. Overall neck strength can be build using shrugs or deadlifts, which will significantly bring down the risk compared to this version of a neck roll.
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