5 Best Exercises to To Build Bigger Traps
To build up a bigger, stronger back, you’re going to have to become a
trap king.
Well-developed traps (aka the trapezius, or trapezoid muscles) can be the
key to a well-developed, awe-inspiring back. The long, triangle-shaped
muscle takes up a ton of real estate on the top half of your back, so you
can seriously change the topography of your upper body by building it
up.
Besides adding size to your back and shoulders, you’ll also improve
strength in nearly every upper-body lift — traps are the key to scapular
and spinal movement, so everything from shrugging your shoulders to
supporting your arms stems from the muscle.
Start now, with these 4 great traps exercises.
1-Dumbbell Shrug
Compared to the barbell shrug, the dumbbell shrug places less stress on
your shoulder joints.
That’s because your shoulders don’t have to rotate to hold the bar. This
keeps them more stable as you perform the movement.
How to:
● Grab a pair of dumbbells and let them hang at arm’s length next to
your sides, your palms facing each other.
● Shrug your shoulders as high as you can.
● Imagine that you’re trying to touch your shoulders to your ears
without moving any other parts of your body.
● Pause in the up position, then slowly lower the weights back to
the start.
2-Incline Dumbbell Shrug
Placing your body on a low incline bench helps targets your
often-neglected lower traps.
The lower trapezius—responsible for pulling your shoulder blades down—is
often ignored, leaving the muscle weak. This can lead to poor posture and
make you more likely to fall victim to injuries such as shoulder
impingement.
How to:
● Grab a pair of dumbbells and lie chest-down on a 45-degree incline
bench.
● Let your arms hang straight down, palms facing each other.
● Now shrug your shoulders up while pulling your shoulder blades
together.
● Pause, and then reverse the movement.
3-Deadlift:
At gymguider we feel this is the exercise that is the cornerstone of any
good weight development programme. Whether you are training as a
bodybuilder, power-lifter, or strongman, the deadlift is highly important
to your training regime.
4-Rack Pull Shrug
To perform a rack pull shrug, use a squat rack with the safety pins at
knee height. Perform the rack pull shrug with 120% of your deadlift one
rep max. Pull the bar up to lock out the weight and then shrug it all in a
single motion.
5-Barbell Shrug
The aforementioned dumbbell shrugs are still tops for me, but that is not
to say that I will not perform the barbell variation every chance I get.
The barbell allows you to pile on the plates and have a serious trap
workout.
