Traps training - no longer growing

Roush

Roush

I am banned!
My traps were a muscle group that responded fairly well, but now they just never seem to grow or get stronger. been the same for like two years. I've mixed things up, trained them once per week is all for awhile, i've trained them 3 x per week. I've gone heavy, i've gone light, i've super-setted them. etc etc.. right now I hit them a couple of times per week at the end of workouts, as well as on my normal shoulder day.

any ideas to shock some new growth ? what do you all do for trap specific training?

my bread and butter stuff that no longer works

Haney Shrugs - 225 x 15-20 reps
Smith machine shrugs - 285-315 x 10-20 reps
dumbell shrugs
lateral raises with trap specific 'squeeze' at the top
I've even tried using the seated row machine and laying back flat and shrugged with that (to no avail really)

any other exercises you guys do ? suggestions appreciated..


heres where I've been stuck at for the last year or so.
View attachment 565581

they are decent in this pic, and maybe some of you don't think they need to be any bigger (everything can always be bigger!!) ,, fyi - my side delts are currently quite a bit bigger and fuller now then they are in this pic , but my traps are not any bigger then they have been in years.

is it possible for a single muscle group to reach its 'limit',, while other muscle groups can continue to grow
 
Man since you told me to start doing Haney shrugs a while back my traps have gotten way bigger yours are still bigger than mine . I think what your saying is correct I think some muscles can reach their Max while others are still growing especially like you said your traps were easy responders then there probably going to reach there limits first maybe lol I don't know my back lats and traps seem to be easy responders for me chest arms legs not so much
Synthol time ;-)
 
You reached your natty potential time to do your 1st cycle test 500 deca 300 for 8 weeks
 
blakey said:
Man since you told me to start doing Haney shrugs a while back my traps have gotten way bigger yours are still bigger than mine . I think what your saying is correct I think some muscles can reach their Max while others are still growing especially like you said your traps were easy responders then there probably going to reach there limits first maybe lol I don't know my back lats and traps seem to be easy responders for me chest arms legs not so much
Synthol time ;-)
Click to expand...

good to hear man.. yeah haney shrugs were my go to exercise that helped me develop my traps to begin with.
but now heck i do them 3 x a week and still don't seem to get much out of them other then maintaining what I have.

my thought is maybe i need to add overall mass to my frame,, add 20 lbs. kinda like biceps, they reach their limit and then they can really only get bigger if you get bigger overall.


You reached your natty potential time to do your 1st cycle test 500 deca 300
Click to expand...

^^ sounds like my trt protocol
 
Roush said:
good to hear man.. yeah haney shrugs were my go to exercise that helped me develop my traps to begin with.
but now heck i do them 3 x a week and still don't seem to get much out of them other then maintaining what I have.

my thought is maybe i need to add overall mass to my frame,, add 20 lbs. kinda like biceps, they reach their limit and then they can really only get bigger if you get bigger overall.




^^ sounds like my trt protocol
Click to expand...

Yeah man I think your right there might be time for a bulk get that slin going ???
 
You should try a variation of the upright row. If you adjust you grip closer and pull up trying to "touch your chin", you can really work the traps. Make sure that you concentrate of feeling the traps obviously. When I first tried this, I had a hard time figuring it out but once you get it down, you can work the hell out of your traps. There are several variations of rows with dumbells that work the traps as well. While shrugs are important, there are alot of other exercises that will blast them into growing again.


Good Luck
 
Honestly they are as big as they should be next step is some seo or i dont know talk to rich piana
 
blakey said:
Yeah man I think your right there might be time for a bulk get that slin going ???
Click to expand...

well I'm running some test, deca, and mast, right now .. I'll prob finish it off with some Dbol at the end . slowly keep upping my calories and see if i can put on 15-20 pounds .. if i don't get there this run , after its done I'm taking 6 weeks off and already have a test, tren, mast cycle laid out and ready as well (was going to cut with that one , but maybe I'll just keep bulking) .

yeah next time I'm in a financial position to run a good 8-12 months of HGH I'm definitely throwing some slin in the mix with it
 
Have you tried rotated grip dumbell shrugs? Instead of just holding your hands down by your sides like normal, rotate them so the back of your hands are facing your sides. In away it's like the Haney shrugs because once you rotate your palms the dumbells end up almost behind you at an angle. I find I can shrug higher than I can with Haney shrugs. First time I did them I fried my traps! I don't go much more than 80's on the dumbells, if they get any longer they get hard to rotate.
 
maurij1 said:
Have you tried rotated grip dumbell shrugs? Instead of just holding your hands down by your sides like normal, rotate them so the back of your hands are facing your sides. In away it's like the Haney shrugs because once you rotate your palms the dumbells end up almost behind you at an angle. I find I can shrug higher than I can with Haney shrugs. First time I did them I fried my traps! I don't go much more than 80's on the dumbells, if they get any longer they get hard to rotate.
Click to expand...


i tried these out for the first time ,, super setting them with barbell shrugs (heavy) then went light with this move for high reps .. really got a good pump and plenty of blood flow with this move . thanks man
 
do you do heavy deadlifts? That helped me tons with my traps. I grew up powerlifting, never used straps so I always went with an over/under grip until I started to notice how unsymmetrical my traps were. Started doing heavy over/over grip deads and watched my traps explode.
 
Mike Ames said:
do you do heavy deadlifts? That helped me tons with my traps. I grew up powerlifting, never used straps so I always went with an over/under grip until I started to notice how unsymmetrical my traps were. Started doing heavy over/over grip deads and watched my traps explode.
Click to expand...

wish i could . 5 back injuries and 2 back surgeries so I can't dead lift worth a shit . I do deadlift , i just can't go super heavy . i can definitely see how heavy dead lifts could activate the traps . good point , maybe I'll just try upping the dead lift volume a bit (right now I'm only do them once every 11 days)
 
carverelli said:
I used on do power cleans and my traps got sore as fawk
Click to expand...

will be implementing . you suggest heavy singles , or multiple reps ? power clean and jerk?

I've never done them. If I currently do strict standing over head presses at 185 lbs for reps ,, what weight would you suggest starting with for power cleans? thanks
 
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