Traps - how best to build them?

[JollyJuicer]

Unfortunately my genectics didnt give me any endowment in the traps department, so what is the most effective, quickest way to build them up?

shrugs?

 

[MEAT EATER]

Deadlifts, reverse barbell shrugs, heavy upright rows

 

[huskyguy]

Deadlifts one of the best all around exercises

 

[jcp2]

deadlifts, power shurgs, and being blessed with good traps.

 

[gumbo]

Another good variation is to do shrugs on the standing calf machine. Lower the pads and plant your feet on the ground. Now just shrug......no need to grip anything. This is a great way to keep from cheating or rolling your shoulders.

Gumbo

 

[JollyJuicer]

thanks guys

best to do heavy weight/low reps or do traps respond to lower weight/high reps, seems I remember reading a post somewhere a while back (couldnt find it) where some guy said high rep/low weight worked best

 

[jcp2]

thanks guys

best to do heavy weight/low reps or do traps respond to lower weight/high reps, seems I remember reading a post somewhere a while back (couldnt find it) where some guy said high rep/low weight worked best

from talking to people over the years, it seems traps respond best to dynamic lifing and heavy weights. I have yet to see impressive traps on somenoe who just does isolation type shrugs and doesn't deadlift. My old lifting partners traps never grew from shrugs, but they sure as hell grew from deads.

 

[JollyJuicer]

thanks for the info, I know I've done shrugs, shrugs and more shrugs and for some reason dont see results like I would think I should - maybe thats the reason jcp2?

 

[Vigilance]

I've seen the biggest improvement in my traps when I dropped shrugs all together, and focused on heavy deads and rack pulls. Hang Cleans will do wonders for your traps as well.

 

[Deep-Squats]

My traps respond the BEST to heavy dumbell shrugs. The heavier you can hold the better. Sometimes I have the luxury of being able to put an unused bench on either sude of me, stand in the middle of the two and shrug, with each dumbell over a bench, so if i do lose my grip it fall on the bench and not on the toe. Only ever lost grip once though but it gives u good confidence to use the heavy dumbells.

 

[LIFT 4 LIFE]

What are hang cleans? and aren't bent rows on a smith machine good for shrugs?

 

[tripz_shahab]

dead lifts and super heavy barbell shrugs with variation..one set u rotate/shrug your trap towards the front and the next set just press them up n down no shrugging... do that for 2-3 sets each and see the diff..

 

[Vigilance]

What are hang cleans?

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/HangClean.html


I don't squat like the girl in the clip does, I just lower the bar back down and start again.

 

[DaLinkWent]

I've seen the biggest improvement in my traps when I dropped shrugs all together, and focused on heavy deads and rack pulls. Hang Cleans will do wonders for your traps as well.

I'm failing to see how Hang Cleans affect your traps at all. Heavy deads and rack pulls are a staple but Hang Cleans for traps?

 

[Vigilance]

I'm failing to see how Hang Cleans affect your traps at all. Heavy deads and rack pulls are a staple but Hang Cleans for traps?

Have you ever done them? If you have, you could easily see that they are great for back/trap development.

 

[Mudge]

Part of the hang clean movement is litterally a heavy upright row, how you cannot see that I dont know.

I stick to heavy barbell shrugs primarily.