My right trap is a little bit bigger than my left one, and its really starting to bother my neck. It's probably from carrying stuff with my right hand, since im right handed.  How can I fix this so my left trap can catch up to my right one?  When I tilt my head to my left, I can go further because the trap is smaller, but when I tilt my head to the left, the right trap is stopping my head from going as far. My traps aren't that big right now but it's driving me crazy. Sorry if this is in the wrong category, didn't know which category to put this in.

Robert,

From your photo, it doesn't look that noticeable.  I understand how you feel because I am convinced my right arm and pec are smaller than my left due to a broken right arm when I was a child that couldn't be set 100% perfect at the time :-)  Nobody seems to see it but me.

Anyways, here is what I recommend.  Dumbbell shrugs and wide and close grip pull-ups.  Using a barbell is OK but it doesn't "fix" symmetry issues like dumbbells.  A dumbbell makes the lagging body part do all the work itself and allows you to control the movement better.  Barbells allow the stronger side to compensate for the weak side as well as sets the plane of movement because both sides are "attached" by the bar.  Your body is very smart and it learns how to recruit other muscles other than the target muscle(s) to complete a movement your brain tells the body it wants to do.  

I do dumbbell shrugs and dumbbell chest work 95% of the time due to my perceived asymmetries between my left and right side and it has been working for me.

John

Remember to train both sides evenly. The worst thing you can do is train the side you think is smaller than the other more. Because then you will just make it even more uneven so train them equally and you should be fine. Muscular inbalance usually comes from either not using perfect / good form, or one side not doing as much work as the other.

Are you sure its bigger? It could just be tight and therefore more pronounced. Try stretching. A great way to do this is to sit on your right hand and pull your head over to your left shoulder using your left arm so that your ear is trying to touch you shoulder. Hold that for 60secs and repeat numerous times throughout the day.

Great suggestion man.  I feel like a lot of people think they have uneven muscles but at the end of the day it is just the angle they are looking.

If he could post a pic on his profile we could check it out.

Yeah a picture would be ideal!

Hard to post a picture since my traps aren't big. But the difference is enough for me to feel it when I tilt my head

You may well find that you are overcompensating the difference dude I'm sure its not as big as you think! But these things even out with time and experience as you correct little flaws with your form etc. Just keep training hard and with good form and youll be fine!  

Great suggestions and well said John!

Great suggestions and well said John!

Everyone thinks that one side of a muscle group is bigger or smaller. These guys have given you great advice. I would start doing more dumbbell shrugs and upright rows to be sure each trap is being worked individually. What happens when one uses a barbell, specially inexperienced lifters, the stronger side takes on more of the work load with out you realizing it. I use dumbbells for shrugs 75% of the time myself. Not to brag, but for some reason I get a lot of complements on my traps. When doing shrugs pretend as if you are going to shrug your delts to your ears and at the top of the movement squeeze the traps and hold the contraction for 2 seconds on each rep. For shrugs I usually do 4 sets of 8-15 reps with the last set being a drop set of 3-4 drops. I love doing upright rows with the EZ bar as well using the inside grips. When doing upright rows, row the bar to about chin height without the letting the bar rub against your body. Be sure to squeeze the traps at the top for 1-2 seconds and lower the bar slowly for 2-3 seconds. This will absolutely destroy your traps. By not letting the bar tough your body you will keep constant tension on the traps. Dont worry about lifting lots of weight either. Keep the weight moderate and focus more on squeezing and contracting the traps to get as much blood in them as possible. I train my traps on shoulder day twice a week with 3 days rest in between. 

thanks for the tips bro. but i've been using dumbbells for shrugs. I've never used a barbell for those and I do the same repititions on both sides. I never do one side at a time, always both at the same time.

Robert,

I would keep doing what your doing.  One thing I have learned, and may help you here, is that 95% of perceived asymmetries are more in your mind than in reality.  Nobody is born 100% symmetric - it unfortunately is a genetic impossibility.  Outside of serious injury or degenerative nerve diseases that would cause a noticeable change in size due to muscle atrophy, the reality is not as bad.  

For some reason, the human mind creates its own image of your body that is unique to you but not shared by others.  I know mirror angles and lighting can dramatically change how something looks.  I can only share with you my own personal experience which still plagues me today.  I absolutely hate seeing any pictures or videos of myself.  I see my right side as looking like an entirely different body than my left side - like two different people were cut in half then joined at the middle.  My wife, family, and friends think I am crazy and don't see what I am seeing.  Straight on in a mirror, I look fine.  Any other angle and I look off, in my opinion.   What you are perceiving could be just your own mind so fixated on the perceived "difference" that it sees nothing else.  The fact that you are using your right hand more than your left and your right shoulder girdle more than your left when you carry things will make your right side "tighter" as the trap helps support and stabilize the shoulder girdle.  By continuing to train each side equally with dumbbells and not raising the weight until BOTH sides can easily handle it will "even" you out over time........hopefully you will see it :-)

John

This is actually an excellent point Daniel.  Since he is right handed, he is using that side of his body more so it could very well be "tighter" than his left side.  I am right handed and noticed after years of always carrying things on my right shoulder and using my right hand more than my left, my whole right shoulder girdle sits a bit lower and more forward than my left shoulder girdle and my right shoulder blade tracked closer to my body.  

I have learned to stretch and not use my right side so much because it was causing my shoulder blade to press on my brachial plexus (the bundle of nerves that control your shoulder, rotator cuff muscles, and upper arm).  It was so bad that back in 2003 after squatting real heavy, my right shoulder blade impinged my brachial plexus giving me brachial neuritis.  This was the most painful injury I ever had and it left me partially paralyzed in the shoulder/upper back and took 5 years to get back to 100%.  I still have some slight weakness in my right shoulder and tricep from it.  Once the pain was over (after about 1 month), I immediately went back to the gym and did the long process of recovery and muscle re-building.

John

alright bro. thanks for all the information. 

Ooops. I thought my uneven traps weren't that bad, until today I looked in the mirror and noticed that my right traps actually pull my right arm up further than my left arm.

Robert,

It is a combination of what I have beens saying (you are too fixated on it) and what Daniel Meyer said (it is tight and over pronounced from being right handed and using that side a lot).  It could also be just plain ol' genetics as to how your shoulder girdles are developed and sit.  My right arm hangs lower than my left.  My right shoulder hangs lower and more forward than my right.  I know this is a combination of me being right handed and always using and carrying things on my right shoulder over the years as well as my genetics.  I have learned, as hard as it is, to ignore the mirror and I have been using dumbbells exclusively for chest and primarily for shoulders and traps and my physique has evened out.  I still "see" the imperfections as I wrote in my prior post but other people don't - so it is more in my mind than reality.  If you keep fixating yourself on your traps, your mind will as well and your brain will therefore cause the muscle to be more flexed in a relaxed state than your left side.

John