traps (mine suck)

Hey fella's

Any advice on how to hit traps. I generally do fairly heavy shrugs with a straight bar, and also give them a decent workout with cleans or deads. I also do some upright rows from time to time.

THanks,
J

dbell shrugs, behind the back bbell shrugs, shrug box, etc.....

this is my trap routine. 3 sets 12 -15 front barbell shrugs, 3 sets 12 -15 upright rows, and 3 sets 12 - 15 behind the back barbell shrugs (my favorite). i guess using dumbells is about the same.

i hit mine the same as calves, often and untill completely fatigued, and i agree with presser dont roll the shoulders.

Don't roll the shoulders, oh wait, did someone already say that? LOL
Try to look straight ahead, but it's ok to look down if you feel that works better, I find that when I look down it doesn't aggravate an old trap/neck nerve injury thingy I have. But I feel like my traps get a better workout when I look straight ahead.

UPRIGHT ROWS
- Don't forget 'em!
- do them right before shrugs
- alternate between straight bar and cable
- concentrate on making your traps do the work
- squeeze your traps to your ears

SHRUGS
- Alternate light and heavy weeks
- Do barbell with straps on heavy weeks and go HEAVY
- Do dumbells on lighter weeks, concentrate on the squeeze
- squeeze your traps to your ears and hold it for a couple of seconds
- Do drop sets at the end of either light or heavy day if you have the energy left.

If your gym has a lying nautilus bench press, sometimes I like to kneel on it and do shrugs on that machine, gives a pretty good burn and adds variety to your workout.

That's what I think anyway, for what it's worth, LOL

Here is a variation of shrug that I sort of made up on my own. Not sure if others have been doing them as well but here it is anyway.

Take the free incline bench and set it at an angle of about 70-80 degrees. Take a pair of d-bells and stand facing the bench. I usually have to put one knee on the seat portion of the bench to keep it from tipping over when I lean against it. My other foot is on the floor. Lean against the back rest of the bench and allow your arms to hang straight down. Shrug away and be sure to squeeze the traps hard at the top. I don't really do a lot of weight with these as it is such an isolated movement that a ton of weight is not needed. After a few weeks of these I saw a marked improvement in my trap development.

Doing shrugs this way takes any cheating by using your legs or lower back completly out of the exercise. These burn like hell but they are worth it.

We have a lever squat machine at my gym, kind of like a standing calf raise machine, but with more range of motion and heavier weights (goes up to 395 lbs, vs. only 200 (wtf?) for the calf raise machine). Anyway, I like to do shrugs on that after barbell or dumbbell shrugs (which exhaust my grip a little more than my traps).

Again, don't roll the shoulders...I can't stand it when I see some idiot doing this. I hit traps last night with shoulders. I supersetted upright rows with dumbbell shrugs. That really got em. Just make sure you feel the traps working, focus on the contraction at the top and hold it for 1 second...try to squeeze your shoulders into your ears. Try shrugs with BBs, DBs, some of the standing calf machines, etc.

And use appropriate weight...I was reading Paul Dillet's article on traps from last month in Muscular Development magazine and he said he only goes up to 315 on BB shrugs...that's all he needs to do and he's one of the biggest freaks in pro BB.

When you do your DBell flys for shoulders bring the weight down in front of your legs instead of to your sides, this will add some stress to the traps.
I also think that with Shrugs and I like Dbell better then Bar, always hold and squeeze at the top for a second.
Always flex and hold for 10 seconds a few times between set ( this is good practice with all muscles).

What do you guys mean by "Don't roll your shoulders"?

nothing more to say here

Once again....Please don't roll the shoulders!
Thank YOU

bj - what do you mean? Can you describe not rolling your shoulders? I can't even imagine what it'd mean to roll them.

WeirdAl said:

bj - what do you mean? Can you describe not rolling your shoulders? I can't even imagine what it'd mean to roll them.

Click to expand...

That's where if your doing shoulder shrugs and you rotate your shoulders in a circular motion while doing them! Your only supposed to go up then down.....not roll your shoulders!

OK, so am I supposed to roll my shoulders, or not? LOL.

bjtheman said:

That's where if your doing shoulder shrugs and you rotate your shoulders in a circular motion while doing them! Your only supposed to go up then down.....not roll your shoulders!

Click to expand...

Cool - for some reason I couldn't even imagine doing that. Thanks for the explanation!

keep rollin' rollin' rollin'

hahahahah