Building Traps Muscle

A useful guide on "Building Traps Muscle".

The Traps or trapezius are a pair of flat and triangular muscles that form part of the shoulders and the upper back and which are primarily involved in moving the arms and shoulders. Trap exercises can help in building huge muscles that normally encompass the neck as well as the middle of the back. A power shrug is one of the best ways of building traps muscle.

Power Shrugs

Power shrugs can be performed with barbells or dumbbells and also with a variety of bench press machines, including the Smith machine. There are also two ways of doing these shrugs including from the front of the body and also for back of the body.

A regular barbell power shrug requires standing with a barbell hanging in front of the body at arm’s length. Making use of an overhand grip, raise the shoulders as far as is possible in a shrugging motion and try to touch the ears while doing so. Hold the position momentarily and then give the traps a real flex and then lower gradually and then repeat.

Upright Rows

To prepare for upright rows, grasp the bar at shoulder width while using an overhand grip. Pull the bar up to the collarbone height to involve the trapezius and the biceps as well as deltoids. A narrow grip is recommended as this helps in exercising the trapezius to the maximum. This exercise can also be used with dumbbells, EZ curl bars as well as with a cable machine and so is not confined to just the standard barbell.

Deadlift

The deadlift may not always be recommended for doing trap routines though it is nevertheless an exercise that will stimulate the trapezius. The trap bar is a lifting bar that is shaped like a diamond. To use this, it is necessary to stand inside it while gripping the handles outside of as well as parallel to the legs. Next, lift as much weight as the body can withstand.

Trap Routine

There are various trap routines to help people at different stages of traps muscle development. For beginners, doing 2 sets of eight to ten reps of standard shrugs can help in building impressive traps. For an intermediate level trainer, doing behind the back (Haney) shrugs in 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps will do enormous good. In addition, they should also do upright rows of 2 sets of between 8 and 10 reps.

Advanced trainers need to do two sets of 8 to 10 reps of Haney Shrugs. They should also do 2 sets of 6 to 8 reps of wide grip shrugs and in addition they must also perform 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps of upright rows.

Reps and Weights

The first set should be the heaviest and then gradually the weights can be reduced for each succeeding set. Working these sets as hard as possible will help ensure best results; so lift heavy weights till failure puts an end to further lifting.

The right traps muscle building exercises will help build both the traps and also the shoulders. Developing well sculpted traps will reveal power and strength in the body.