Your Neck and Facial Magic 

Ever notice that weightlifters/body builders rarely have a double chin? Or neckbands? The reason is simple: they are constantly flexing the very large platysma muscle with upper body resistance movements. 

Manhandling (no pun intended) barbells, free weights and machines that enable the user to become stronger with strengthened muscles has a direct impact on your overall body but particularly the shoulders and neck.

Recent updated muscle plotting and mapping has provided new information regarding how the platysma muscle actually reaches from the neck up and over the jaws with narrow fingers of those muscles now slightly embedded into other muscle groups.

This is exciting for facial exercise users! Understanding this means that it is more than ever important to keep the neck muscles lifted, strengthened and in shape. 

Whether it’s a double chin, the dreaded wattle, protruding neck bands or lax, sagging skin, your face and neck will look substantially improved when you exercise not only the upper body but your face and particularly your neck, as well.

Without an intervention of regular exercise with attention to your face and neck, your natural beauty fades because over time skin ‘thins’ without collagen enhancing exercise. 

Droopy, sagging skin can seriously be remedied without harmful interventions but the key to have better looking skin, means certain skincare protocols and consistent exercise are necessary to produce the changes you crave…younger, healthier, thicker skin.

Do you have a pair of lightweight dumbbells? If not, don’t worry, we’ll borrow a page from Jack LaLanne’s playbook and use two cans of 15-ounce vegetables. Having 5# dumbbells are a good investment so try to find a pair to use.

Here are two simple exercise to start strengthening your arms, upper body and neck:  

1. Shoulders erect – Stand in front of your mirror. Feet 12 inches apart.
2. Hold dumbbells at shoulder height with your elbows pointed down.
3. Lift the dumbbells straight up as high as they will go and hold for 5 seconds.
4. Return to shoulder height and repeat 3 times for 10 seconds each.

Rest for 30 seconds.

1. Shoulders erect – Stand in front of your mirror. Feet 12 inches apart.
2. Hold dumbbells shoulder height with your elbows pointed down.
3. Lift the dumbbells straight up, hold 5 seconds, now lower – lift and lower 5 times.
4. Return to the original starting point and repeat 3 times for 10 seconds each.

For those of you who currently wear neck bands and are thoroughly disgusted by their appearance, you will likely be very pleasantly surprised how quickly your neck muscles and skin will revitalize using dumbbells just a few seconds each day.