Hey Hermanites! I recently read an article on how many people forget to train their traps or their forearms, and this got me interested. I don't really train my traps unless its through stability while working another muscle group, so i wanted to address this.

-Has anyone got any exercises they use to train this? I don't really know any or how i could if im honest!

thanks all, train hard! #HTH!!!!

Calum,

Barbell or dumbell shrugs are the key Trap exercises. There are also upright rows. Whenever you do any upper back exercises (pull-ups, chin-ups, close grip pull downs), you also get the Traps. They are a very large muscles spreading like wings from the back of your neck all the way down to the middle of your back.

John

hahaha, you and I talked about this last night!!!

Needless to say, I agree with John.

Try FACE PULLS too.. those are awesome.

Life is a trip sometimes .......:-)

John

The following exercises will probably give you 95% of the trap size you will ever gonna get :

1) Deadlifts
2) Farmer's Walk
3) Heavy Face Pulls and Cable Upright Rows
4) Clean and Press
5) Heavy Overhead Press
6) Back Squats


Heavy shrugs are not on this list but that doesnt mean I dont like them. I actually think that heavy barbell shrugs work wonders for your core stability and forearm strength but they dont do much for traps because of the potition of the bar. Dumbell shrugs or behind the body barbell shrugs can target the traps more directly.

#HTH!
Kostas

These guys have given you great suggestions so I will just top up some points:

• I agree with Kostas about the BB shrug; the angle of pull doesn't really suit the upper traps
• When doing DB shrugs don't just let your arms hang; keep a slight bend in the ebow (about 25degrees) as this will create more stimulation of the upper traps
• Utulise tempo when doing shrugs, my personal favourite being 21X2

Thanks guys, turns out i do a few of these excersizes anyway! haha

tonight im gonna work my back and spend some time on my crap-traps! I like the face pull excersize, i love using cables recently so that works for me haha!

thanks for all the info guys, love the response on here!!

#HTH!!

Good old db shrugs 3 sets of 12 holding at the top of the movement for 2 secs never did me any wrong! Love em!

I've got a couple questions for you guys about the traps too!

I used to do shrugs with my upper body workout, but then I switched to a split, and shrugs fell out of my workouts altogether. So my question is do I add shrugs to the day I do back/biceps? Or the day I do chest/triceps/shoulders?

Also, for the face pulls, my gym's cable machine isn't adjustable, its either from the top or from the bottom. So could I like....do them from the bottom pulley while sitting down or something? I would look like a dingus doing it, but that's okay with me haha.

Gabe,

You can do either. I prefer doing traps with back as it is a back muscle. Some people like to do them with shoulders. It comes down to which routine you have the time to fit them in effectively.

John