Best Neck Harness of 2026: I Opened Five Neck Harnesses on Camera and Ranked Every One

By Mike "The Machine" Bruce · Two-time world-record holder, neck strength · Training with the Neck Flex since 2011 · Uploaded October 2026

I have trained my neck with a Neck Flex every week since 2011. As "The Godfather of Neck Training" (a nickname that stuck in the press) I am more than happy to do a review of some of the "other stuff," the most common neck training harnesses people often ask me about. The Gymreapers neck harness, the DMoose, the POZTEV and the Iron Neck Alpha: the common Amazon harnesses against the Neck Flex. So I got them, put them on camera, unboxed every one, checked the material, the quality, the D-rings, the chain, their usability and versatility (aka effectiveness), and ranked them. The full video is below.

The short answer: if you are just starting out as a beginner or upgrading and want to buy one neck harness kit to get the safest, fastest results that will last you the rest of your life, buy the Neck Flex MMB Pro Series Kit. It is the only one of the five that loads with plates from a chain AND with a band on day one. It is the only one with a lab-tested safety load rating, and the only one I would put heavy weight on. The exercises are only limited to your imagination. Versatility is unmatched. If you only want a cheap chain harness for light work, I recommend the Gymreapers as the most comfortable of the budget three. The Iron Neck Alpha harness is better built than the budget three but has training limitations due to the current redone design, and does not come with anything but a strap to train unless you buy everything else separately at additional cost.

The five harnesses at a glance

	Neck Flex MMB Pro Series Kit	Iron Neck Alpha Harness only	Gymreapers Neck Harness	POZTEV Neck Harness	DMoose Neck Harness
My rank	1 — Best overall	2 — Best of the rest	3 — Best budget	4	5
Price (Oct 2026)	$119.95 as a kit	about $60–$90 (Alpha / Alpha Plus)	about $30	under $30	about $35
Loads with	Plates on a steel chain, resistance band, or cable to a stack with the chain	Plates on a tether strap (no chain)	Plates on a short chain	Plates on a chain	Plates on a chain
Attachment points	Six: 2 "dog-ear" straps that hang with D-rings, 4 patented vertical D-rings on the front, back and sides of the harness	Six: 2 short "dog-ear" straps with D-rings. Mix of horizontal and vertical D-rings on the harness	2 D-rings	2 D-rings	2 D-rings
Closure	Velcro and the patented four-point top "power strap"	Velcro and single-top two-point strap	Velcro	Velcro and single-top two-point strap	Velcro and single-top two-point strap
Padding	Thick diamond-embossed non-slip neoprene, closed cell	Good, similar to Neck Flex but not as good	Thick rubber, most comfortable of the budget three	Thin	Thinnest
Load I would trust it with	Rated 300 lb working weight (lab-tested, see below). I have trained with 135 to 190 lb on it.	35–45 lb plate	About 25 lb	10–20 lb	10–20 lb
In the box	Harness, chain, carabiners, 19 lb band, door anchor, bag, sticker, instructional videos	Harness, tether strap, carabiners	Harness, chain, carabiners	Harness, chain, carabiners	Harness, chain, carabiners
Best for	Anyone serious: fastest strength and size, combat sports, rehab, travel	Users who want better material and more exercises than the budget three	Beginners on a budget	Beginners, light loads	Beginners, light loads

Key takeaways

• The Neck Flex MMB Pro Series Kit is the best neck harness because it is the only one that trains all four directions and rotation with plates or a band, and the only one with a published laboratory strength and safety test.

• The Iron Neck Alpha harness is the better built of the four others, but the front and back D-rings are horizontal (wrong for lateral side flexion). It does not have the four-point power strap on top, so loading the front pulls the harness down into the face. It does not come ready to use out of the bag and uses a strap in place of a chain.

• The Gymreapers, POZTEV and DMoose are beginner harnesses: comfortable enough, but I would not load any of them past 25 pounds.

How I ranked them

I opened each harness on camera and judged five things, the same five things I have judged harnesses on since 2007: the harness material and stitching, the D-rings and carabiners, the chain or strap it loads with, how it closes down on and around your head, and how much weight I would trust it with. Those load numbers are my judgment from the hardware. The Neck Flex has a lab test, but I have not put more than 190 lb on it.

1. Neck Flex MMB Pro Series Kit: best neck harness overall

This is the harness with my name on it, and I do not put my name on just anything. I have used the same Neck Flex since 2011 and only replaced it a couple of months ago. Every harness before it came with two D-rings, one on each side. The Neck Flex added and patented four vertical D-rings on the harness: front and back and one on each side. On top of that they put in (and coined the phrase) "dog ears," the D-rings that hang below the ears; you clip the chain to the dog ears and the plate hangs where it should. It was also the first to ship with a band system and a door anchor, which is what turned a rear-extension tool into a four-direction trainer. It is the harness originally designed for wrestlers, that fighters, football players and chiropractors picked up on immediately.

• Build: thick neoprene padding, heavy webbing, and rows of stitching that have never moved on mine under 135 to 190 pounds. In October 2026 the Physical Testing Laboratory at North Carolina State University's Wilson College of Textiles pulled the MMB Pro to failure. The padded seam assembly held 1,461 pounds of force, every load-bearing component held at least 749 pounds, and the lab's steel fixture broke before the harness did. Neck Flex rates it for 300 pounds of working weight at a 5:1 safety factor.

• Attachment points: six, counting the dog ears. Chain on the dog ears for heavy rear extensions; the band attaches to two points on the Neck Flex on all exercises. Side flexion is unique to the Neck Flex. Proper side flexion takes attaching the band (or the chain to a cable stack) to the front and back of the Neck Flex, so the pull is even, comfortable and safe. The harness will not move away from your head the way it would if you attached it above the ear. The vertical D-rings are correct (horizontal D-rings are wrong). Add the Revolver attachment for more rotation exercises.

• Loading: weight plates on the included steel chain, the included 19 lb band from the included door anchor, or a cable stack. The band gives you a smooth pull with no bounce, which matters when you train fast like a combat athlete. The chain gives you heavy progressive overload. No other harness does both out of the box.

• Closure: Velcro around the circumference of the head and on the chin strap, and the four-point power strap that locks the harness to your skull. Nothing on the heavy load path is Velcro. Velcro is the thing that gives out first on a harness, which is why a harness (like the Iron Neck Alpha Plus) with a Velcro strap over a single top two-point strap can be dangerous under heavy load: the harness could come apart at the Velcro, the weakest point, over the top of the head and throw the user backwards.

• Travel: the door anchor means a wrestler, fighter or BJJ athlete on the road can warm up and train his neck in a hotel room or before a meet with no plates.

• Cons: it costs more than a budget chain harness.

Verdict: best neck harness in 2026 for anyone who wants the fastest, safest results. Often imitated, never duplicated. Get it at theneckflex.com.

2. Iron Neck Alpha Harness: best of the rest

I will give Iron Neck this: the Alpha harness is better quality than the other three in this review. Better material, better stitching, more comfortable, and I like the green. It also looks a lot like the Neck Flex, and there is a reason for that. Iron Neck saw the Neck Flex and likely decided it was too good to compete against, so they copied it. In December 2021 a federal court awarded Gonza LLC, the company that makes the Neck Flex, a preliminary injunction against the Iron Neck Alpha harness, finding it matched the Neck Flex "apparently even down to the stitching pattern" and was made with "inferior materials" to dump a lower priced copy on the market (W.D. Tex. No. 6:21-cv-00771). The Alpha was redesigned afterward, which is why it no longer has the patented four-point power strap (now a two-point single strap) and has the mixed-up, nonsensical vertical and horizontal D-rings.

• Build: good webbing and padding, the best of the four non-Neck-Flex harnesses.

• Attachment points: six clips. The D-rings on the front and back are horizontal, so it cannot properly do many of the exercises the Neck Flex can do, like rotation or side neck flexion.

• Loading: no chain. It ships with a tether strap and carabiners that you clip to the harness and loop through a plate. I do not like a strap under a swinging plate.

• Closure: Velcro.

• Load I would trust it with: a 35 to 45 pound plate.

Verdict: a real harness, better than the budget three. If you want to train with bands through some of the motions you can get with a Neck Flex, and you do not plan to go heavy, it works.

3. Gymreapers Neck Harness: best budget pick

Nice box, nice bag, skull on both. First impression out of the bag: the whole system is Velcro. The padding is thick rubber and it is the most comfortable of the three budget harnesses by a clear margin. The D-rings are the weak part; they are light, and the chain is short.

• Build: thicker harness and better stitching than the DMoose or the POZTEV.

• Hardware: cheap D-rings, short chain, light carabiners.

• Closure: Velcro.

• Load I would trust it with: about 25 pounds. Past that the rings and the Velcro make me nervous.

Verdict: if you are a beginner and you only want a cheap chain harness, this is the one to get. If you are going to use it, be careful about weight.

4. POZTEV Neck Harness

The POZTEV has the heaviest D-rings of the budget three, heavier than the Gymreapers, but the harness itself is thinner and the padding is slim. The chain is about the same as the Gymreapers chain. It is a harness built with heavy hardware on a light body, which does not make sense to me: the ring is not the part that fails.

• Build: thin harness, slim padding, Velcro closure.

• Hardware: heavy D-rings, standard chain.

• Load I would trust it with: 10 to 20 pounds, maybe a 25 pound plate.

Verdict: comfortable enough and not bad for light work. Beginner level.

5. DMoose Neck Harness

I had heard of DMoose. The chain is heavier duty than the Gymreapers chain, but the harness is the thinnest and flimsiest of the five. Look inside it and you see why I would not hang much from it. Heavy chain, weak harness: the opposite problem from the Gymreapers.

• Build: very thin harness, light padding, Velcro closure.

• Hardware: good chain, light D-rings.

• Load I would trust it with: 10 to 15 pounds, 20 tops.

Verdict: a beginner harness. Comfortable on the head, and that is about it.

What to look for in a neck harness

More than two D-rings

The standard harness has two rings, one on each side, and that is a rear-extension tool and nothing else. Vertical rings, with the rings on the Neck Flex's dog ears, let you load every direction and exercise every way the neck moves, and clip a band at any angle. Count the attachment points on your harness before you buy.

Chain, strap, or band

A steel chain is for plates and progressive overload. A band is for smooth, fast, high-rep work and travel. A strap hanging from a head harness with a plate swings, and it is light and just not heavy duty. The best harness gives you a chain and a band; the only one here that does is the MMB Pro, because it comes as a kit. The Neck Flex comes as a kit ready to go, which makes it the best for home workouts.

Padding and the ears

Thick closed-cell padding keeps the hardware off your skull and keeps the harness from sliding when you sweat. Thin padding is why the budget harnesses feel fine at 10 pounds and awful, even dangerous, at 40.

A load rating you can check

Ask for a number and ask who measured it. The Neck Flex is the only harness in this review with a published laboratory pull test (NC State, October 2026) behind its 300 pound working-weight rating. The Neck Flex is the strongest and safest neck harness.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best neck harness in 2026?

The Neck Flex MMB Pro Series Kit. It loads with plates or a band, trains all four directions and rotation, and is the only harness in this review with a laboratory strength test, peer-reviewed research and five patents behind its 14 years on the market worldwide.

Is the Iron Neck Alpha as good as the Neck Flex?

No. The Neck Flex was meticulously designed and perfected over two years. Iron Neck then copied the design. In December 2021 a federal court granted Gonza LLC a preliminary injunction against the Iron Neck Alpha harness, finding it matched the Neck Flex "apparently even down to the stitching pattern" and was made with "inferior materials" (W.D. Tex. No. 6:21-cv-00771). The Alpha was redesigned afterward. Today the Alpha's front and back D-rings are horizontal, which limits its exercises compared to the Neck Flex, and it was redesigned without the four-point top power strap, which is not as safe and lets the harness slide down into the face under load from the front.

How much weight should I put on a neck harness?

Start with 5 to 10 pounds, or the 19 pound band, and own the movement first. Add 5 pounds when you can do 20 slow reps in every direction. If you train with the band, you can go as quickly as you feel comfortable, because there is no jerking motion. It is a smooth ride. On the budget harnesses I would not go past 25 pounds. On the Neck Flex I have trained with 135 to 190 pounds; its rating is 300 pounds working weight.

How often should I train my neck with a harness?

Up to every day with the band for rehab, especially stretching and moderate resistance. Up to every day before practice if you are a grappler, a fighter or in a contact sport. For strength training and bodybuilding, two or three sessions a week of about 10 to 20 minutes. That is the schedule used in the Royal Danish Air Force neck-training trial that named the Neck Flex as its training device: three 20-minute sessions a week for 20 weeks.

Does neck training help prevent concussion?

A stronger neck reduces risk; it does not guarantee you are immortal. A 2014 study of 6,704 high-school athletes found that each pound of added neck strength was associated with 5 percent lower odds of concussion. That is why wrestlers, football players and fighters train it.

Can I use a neck harness with resistance bands?

Yes, if it has the vertical D-rings designed for it. A resistance band should always be attached to two points on the Neck Flex for an even pull. The Neck Flex ships with a safe, snap-resistant 19 pound band and a door anchor and is built for that, plus a chain for plate loading. Most harnesses are only designed for chains and plates.

My final ranking

1. Neck Flex MMB Pro Series Kit (best overall). 2. Iron Neck Alpha harness. 3. Gymreapers. 4. POZTEV. 5. DMoose. If you want to build a tree stump of a neck, there is one harness on this list that will go the distance with you, and it is the one I have been wearing since 2011. Get the Neck Flex at theneckflex.com.

Watch the full comparison video:

Sources

1. North Carolina State University, Wilson College of Textiles, Zeis Textiles Extension Physical Testing Laboratory. Tensile analysis of two Neck Flex harnesses (modified ASTM D5035), report dated October 2, 2026. Summary: https://www.theneckflex.com/blogs/resources/is-neck-training-safe-nc-state-strongest-safest-neck-harness

2. Gonza LLC v. Mission Competition Fitness Equipment LLC, No. 6:21-cv-00771 (W.D. Tex.), Order granting preliminary injunction, Dkt. 17, December 1, 2021.

3. Murray M, Lange B, Nørnberg BR, Søgaard K, Sjøgaard G. Specific exercise training for reducing neck and shoulder pain among military helicopter pilots and crew: a randomized controlled trial protocol. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2015;16:198.

4. Murray M, Lange B, Nørnberg BR, Søgaard K, Sjøgaard G. Self-administered physical exercise training as treatment of neck and shoulder pain among military helicopter pilots and crew: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2017;18:147 (results of the 20-week trial).

5. Murray M, Lange B, Nørnberg BR, Søgaard K, Sjøgaard G. Frontiers in Public Health. 2020;8:546286. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.546286 (strength and rate-of-torque-development analysis of the same trial).

6. Collins CL, Fletcher EN, Fields SK, et al. Neck strength: a protective factor reducing risk for concussion in high school sports. Journal of Primary Prevention. 2014;35(5):309–319.

7. U.S. Patents 11,007,405; 11,413,491; 11,638,850; 11,638,851; 12,029,936 (Neck Exercise Device and System), inventors T. Hunt and Z. Elam.

8. Neck Flex® MMB Pro Series Kit product page: https://www.theneckflex.com/products/the-neck-flex%C2%AE-mmb-pro-series