drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
If you want big traps, the type that makes you hearing impaired, then heavy deadlifts alone aren't going to cut it. And neither will twitchy, ultra-heavy shrugs that make you look like you're doing a chicken dance. You need time under tension. Dumbbell shrugs with a 3-5 second hold at the top are money. Contract the traps as hard as possible at the top of the shrug. Do 4 sets of 10-12 reps.
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Do the math. A set of 10 shrugs with a 4 second hold at the top of each rep will last 50-60 seconds when you add up the hold time and the lifting/lowering time. Do your shrug sets last about a minute each? Or do you stand there and twitch with your way-too-heavy dumbbells for 20 seconds?
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Look, the shrug doesn't have a very long range of motion. So people who shrug too heavy don't spend enough time putting the traps under a significant amount of tension. When you hold the top in that 3-5 second range, you have to lighten the load quite a bit, you extend the time under tension and you can distribute more tension onto the traps, AND you actually build traps.
•
Do the math. A set of 10 shrugs with a 4 second hold at the top of each rep will last 50-60 seconds when you add up the hold time and the lifting/lowering time. Do your shrug sets last about a minute each? Or do you stand there and twitch with your way-too-heavy dumbbells for 20 seconds?
•
Look, the shrug doesn't have a very long range of motion. So people who shrug too heavy don't spend enough time putting the traps under a significant amount of tension. When you hold the top in that 3-5 second range, you have to lighten the load quite a bit, you extend the time under tension and you can distribute more tension onto the traps, AND you actually build traps.
