Top Exercises for Trap Development

The Incredible Hulk started the trapezius craze in the 1970s when Lou Ferrigno flexed his massive green traps on television. Since then a symbol of power and overall mass has been the massive traps coming down from the ears and ending at the shoulders when hitting that impressive “Most Muscular” pose. The term “No Neck” comes from the illusion of having no neck when the traps are fully developed.

The mechanics of developing the traps are not difficult, but it does take grit and determination to handle the weights needed for true mass. The trapezius muscle attaches at the shoulder joint, to the head of the humerus and to the vertebrae of the neck. When flexed, they pull the shoulder and upper arm upward toward the ears. They are responsible for stabilizing the shoulders and lifting the shoulders on the last portion of overhead lifting. These muscles can pull with great force.

Top Exercises for Traps

Since the action of the muscles involve pulling the shoulders toward the ears, in a shrugging motion, weighted shrugs are the cornerstone of trap exercises. Weighted shrugs can be done with free weights, cable machines, other low pulley machines, or even static resistance. Many lifters swear by the rotating motion during shrugs, pulling upward and squeezing the shoulder blades together. Others state that it does not add anything to the lift. A few experts claim that it may be harmful to the shoulders to roll them during the motion. The most important part of the exercise is the upward pull toward the ears. It is important that a full range of motion is used, allowing a good stretch at the bottom and getting a complete contraction at the top. It is also important to use heavy weights, while maintaining good form.

Upright rows, dumbbell overhead presses (especially the very top of the motion), rowing exercises (pulling them up toward the chest), and lateral raises all work the traps. Dead lifts and power cleans are two of the most important exercises, next to shrugs, for trap development. The large amounts of weight used in these exercises stresses the traps and stimulates them for massive growth. The traps are involved in these exercises throughout the movement, first stabilizing the shoulders, and finally lifting the shoulders upward and back.

Workouts For Bigger Traps

The traps are usually worked as part of the back workout. A good workout to focus on the traps might look like this:

Dead lifts for one warm up set of ten repetitions, followed by three work sets of eight to ten repetitions.
Barbell rows for three work sets of ten repetitions (do two sets pulling the weight up toward your chest, and one set bringing it toward the stomach)
Pull downs for three work sets of ten repetitions (squeezing the shoulder blades together as the bar is brought down)
Shrugs for four work sets of ten to fifteen repetitions (allow a full stretch at the bottom and squeeze the contraction at the top for two seconds and do two sets with the weight in front of the body and two with the weight behind)
Upright rows for two sets of ten to fifteen repetitions (pulling the weight up and back)

These exercises, along with the work the traps get stabilizing the shoulders during other work, will lead to massive growth. The key to massive traps is big weights with the right exercises. So, instead of shrugging in confusion , shrug with confidence and watch those traps explode.