Shoulder and Traps Help

[sharky]

Hey Guys

This may seem like a silly question, but when do you guys work out your traps? With your shoulders or are they more part of a back routine? I'm aiming to make my shoulders and traps bigger. Should I work my traps along with my shoulders or work them on back day? Any suggestions much appreciated.

[Outkast]

youl get mixed awnsers on this.

i do my traps with shoulders but they also get hit when i do deadlifts on back day i dont think it really matters what day you train them on

ive heard people say they dont like doing traps with shoulders because it takes all the blood away from them

[drizzt]

As Outkast said, you'll get varying answers on this. Personally, when I do (or did) traps, it was on Shoulders day.

Try both and see which one you find works best for you. I reckon it comes down to personal preference to be honest

[Mod note: Moved topic to Bodybuilding/Powerlifting forum]

[Beef]

i don't do any isolation exercises for the traps. most compound back exercises work the traps

[tinytraps]

I work my traps on my bench day but imo think they should be worked on back day for a bb.

Heres a good article about getting yoked

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/the_yoke.htm

[EMC]

Hey Guys

This may seem like a silly question, but when do you guys work out your traps? With your shoulders or are they more part of a back routine? I'm aiming to make my shoulders and traps bigger. Should I work my traps along with my shoulders or work them on back day? Any suggestions much appreciated.

alot will do them on shoulder day. personally ive tried doing them after back but i cant max out as heavy. so i do them on shoulder day too.

Re: Shoulder and Traps Help

Posted by gymsta on Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:13 pm

i don't do any isolation exercises for the traps. most compound back exercises work the traps

shrugs are an important maintenance exercise for overall body development, you need to be able to support a heavy weight hanging off your arms to avoid shoulder/neck injuries.

[ThePman]

I don't train by "body parts" so I can't say this has ever come up.

I guess I train them when I do deadlifts, or any upper-back pulling movement. Which is nearly every workout.

[Beef]

shrugs are an important maintenance exercise for overall body development, you need to be able to support a heavy weight hanging off your arms to avoid shoulder/neck injuries.

hahahaha quote of the day. so shrugs are going to help develop your legs as well then? don't think so. Deadlifts promote overall body development, shrugs are an isolation exercise.

Do you have any more brilliant advice to pass on?

:clap:

[EMC]

shrugs are an important maintenance exercise for overall body development, you need to be able to support a heavy weight hanging off your arms to avoid shoulder/neck injuries.

hahahaha quote of the day. so shrugs are going to help develop your legs as well then? don't think so. Deadlifts promote overall body development, shrugs are an isolation exercise.

Do you have any more brilliant advice to pass on?

:clap:

gymsta, if you didnt just start training yesterday you would know the importance of shrugs.

[PTinCHCH]

gymsta, if you didnt just start training yesterday you would know the importance of shrugs.

whats the importance dude?

i NEVER do them.

dont need to. they get worked enough with deads for my goals.

[Rookie]

Yeah I agree with PT and gymsta. They used to be a part of my delts routine but when you're using a good weight with deads you don't really need them unless you want traps to make your delts look tiny which happened when I was doing lots of shrugs.

[EMC]

gymsta, if you didnt just start training yesterday you would know the importance of shrugs.

whats the importance dude?

i NEVER do them.

dont need to. they get worked enough with deads for my goals.

deads are awesome for the entire trap including the upper fibres. however isometric contractions alone will not provide maximum hypertrophy and strength gains. if you pull your shoulders back with your lockout that will be using the mid/lower fibres.

no back exercise uses the upper fibres of the traps and you can check on that. you need strong traps for thoracic and cervicle stability and tightness when doing common lifts such as squats or bench which rely soley on the traps before the lift is even made. and more importantly you need strong traps for deadlifts or hanging weight to avoid a neck/shoulder injury.

I don't train by "body parts" so I can't say this has ever come up.

I guess I train them when I do deadlifts, or any upper-back pulling movement. Which is nearly every workout.

so your saying you dont shrug and that general back exercises develop the upper fibres of the trap?

[ThePman]

I don't train by "body parts" so I can't say this has ever come up.

I guess I train them when I do deadlifts, or any upper-back pulling movement. Which is nearly every workout.

so your saying you dont shrug and that general back exercises develop the upper fibres of the trap?

Well here's a few things to think about

1. I do use shrugs from time to time as a DL assistance lift.

2. Most people have overdeveloped upper traps (I & II) and underdeveloped III/IV, and that by itself is asking for unstable scapulae and eventual shoulder injury

3. Yes, heavy deadlifts and DL assistance exercises are going to develop the traps just as well as anything for most purposes.

4. People worry entirely too much about hitting each and every tiny little muscle group, when the reality is a handful of basic compounds will serve that purpose for the vast majority of people. If you train with a well-rounded program and then you still notice weak points or imbalances, address them. But ignoring that simple advice and then trying to obsess over hitting each muscle group is putting the cart before the horse.

[EMC]

I don't train by "body parts" so I can't say this has ever come up.

I guess I train them when I do deadlifts, or any upper-back pulling movement. Which is nearly every workout.

so your saying you dont shrug and that general back exercises develop the upper fibres of the trap?

Well here's a few things to think about

2. Most people have overdeveloped upper traps (I & II) and underdeveloped III/IV, and that by itself is asking for unstable scapulae and eventual shoulder injury.

^lol. i find that hard to believe when almost every single back exercise uses only part 3 and 4 but not part 1 and 2.

[sharky]

Thanks guys for all your advice and info

For some reason it seems that my traps and shoulders are the "hardgainer" parts of my body. Whatever I do they just don't seem to get a big as other parts. Once again thanks for the feedback.

[EMC]

OP-do you shrugs whenever you want. for people to come here and tell you not to do your shrugs without a valid expanation is pretty sad. this sort of mentallity is what truely leads to injuries.

do this because im telling you and the person before me told me to.

[ThePman]

^lol. i find that hard to believe when almost every single back exercise uses only part 3 and 4 but not part 1 and 2.

Have you seen how most people do back exercises? They're lucky if they work the lats instead of their hips and spinal erectors. Asking for a real contraction of the mid-back muscles is pushing it.

And your personal disbelief doesn't change the fact anyway. Ask any physio that deals with sports issues and you'll find that overdeveloped upper traps and/or weak lower traps is one big warning sign of shoulder injuries, and it's fairly common in weight-trained populations.

[nate225]

For many of us that are not blessed with clavicles that span metres we tend to end up looking "rounded" with too much trap work. As such I have probably only trained traps specifically (aka shrugs) a dozen times in as many years. For me personally DL's seem to do the trick on their own (farmers walks & static holds also assist).

However that said if you traps are lagging doing some more specific work on any given day isn't going to hurt. Many tend to lump this in with back or shoulders, but like PMan I'm not focus on bodyparts as much as movements, so wherever it fits!

Nate

[rose]

OP-do you shrugs whenever you want. for people to come here and tell you not to do your shrugs without a valid expanation is pretty sad. this sort of mentallity is what truely leads to injuries.

Skimming over the posts in this thread I didn't see anyone telling the OP not to do shrugs, they were just saying they don't specifically train traps. You know what I reckon causes more injuries? Propagation of misinformation.

[Johnboy007]

I do shrugs (alternating methods from week to week) at the end of both my shoulder workout and my back workout, as someone else mentioned earlier I tend to have more power and stability after shoulders so that would be my suggestion if I had to pick one. That said like any exercise its about what works for you, if you prefer light weight slow cadence back day might be better.

My reason for both is it's a quick fix at the end of each workout vs. not doing them at all, 5 sets 140kg x 12 - 200kg x 6 (5 or so minutes and done).

[Mrbig]

I use to do shrugs with upwards of 260kg and never really had much gains from it then when I stopped doing shrugs and just did heavy deads squats and bench and my traps grew like weeds makes me wonder if they were getting overtrained alot because I did like 8-12 sets just on traps haha

but if you wanna shrug go for gold each to their own they do give a wicked pump tho haha

[Monarchking]

For some reason it seems that my traps and shoulders are the "hardgainer" parts of my body

do u do deadlifts?.

Since ive been training ive done very little shrugs, pretty sure the Dlifts and other pulls have added some lbs to that area.

[EMC]

OP-do you shrugs whenever you want. for people to come here and tell you not to do your shrugs without a valid expanation is pretty sad. this sort of mentallity is what truely leads to injuries.

Skimming over the posts in this thread I didn't see anyone telling the OP not to do shrugs, they were just saying they don't specifically train traps. You know what I reckon causes more injuries? Propagation of misinformation.

your very smart rose, but when a lil kid comes up to you and asks you what flavour ice cream to have, you think telling him "i personally wouldnt have orange choc chips" hes gunna still consider it? people try to politely feed people what to do without trying to seem like some sort of qualified person.

nate and pman you guys are PL and SM i guess trap work for strength you actually dont really need to train your traps as you get all of it isometrically. even so, many PL/SM train the shrug as it is very important for hypertrophy for building more/and strengthening fibres. as for the mid and lower fibres of the trap theyre completely pointless to worry about your not going to bend over at a 45* and shrug as thats completely pointless and you also produce that short range of motion in your barbell rows. also for greater cervical strength next to shrugs (upper fibres) many lifters go as far as to train the neck itself with a neck brace.

theres not much to say about shrugs and bodybuilders pretty self explanatory.

[Beef]

is asking for unstable scapulae and eventual shoulder injury.

^lol. i find that hard to believe when almost every single back exercise uses only part 3 and 4 but not part 1 and 2.

honestly bro you really have no idea what you're talking about. almost every back exercise i can think of works the traps as well as the lats. it's not about one or the other. if i were you i would stop commenting on this thread because all you're doing is proving your ignorance

[EMC]

is asking for unstable scapulae and eventual shoulder injury.

^lol. i find that hard to believe when almost every single back exercise uses only part 3 and 4 but not part 1 and 2.

honestly bro you really have no idea what you're talking about. almost every back exercise i can think of works the traps as well as the lats. it's not about one or the other. if i were you i would stop commenting on this thread because all you're doing is proving your ignorance

no back exercise uses the upper fibres of the traps and you can check on that.

you dont even deserve to have a debate with me, all you do is prove your ignorance and allow me to embarass you time after time. quit adding your filthy two cents on everything i say. your almost trying to target me on everything i say? are you waiting for me to slip up? you think i actually waste my time providing information for your uneducated ass to read so you can insult me?

now tell me, did you

check on that.

??

your so embarassing youve been a member for 3 months and put up more posts than people that have been here for 3 years! you went from 600 posts last month to 1100 posts this month? look at all your stupid posts your just f*king embarassing yourself, you kno nothing.

your so embarassing youve been a member for 3 months and put up more posts than people that have been here for 3 years! you went from 600 posts last month to 1100 posts this month? look at all your stupid posts your just f*king embarassing yourself, you kno nothing.

your so embarassing youve been a member for 3 months and put up more posts than people that have been here for 3 years! you went from 600 posts last month to 1100 posts this month? look at all your stupid posts your just f*king embarassing yourself, you kno nothing.

do you get the message now? or do i have to keep repeating it?