Good Trap Exercises

[bumski]

Trap's have always been a real pain in the ass for me. I have decent size traps but definitly want to get much bigger ones, and am curious as to what exercises are REALLY good for isolating the traps and making them bigger and stronger. Are there any exercises you guys would swear by other than shrugs and such?

 

[panic66]

i love this thing right here! pretty much the same as a trap bar but seems to work better for me atleast. **broken link removed**

besides that heavy rack pulls usually give me a good trap workout

 

[oldfella]

Trap's have always been a real pain in the ass for me. I have decent size traps but definitly want to get much bigger ones, and am curious as to what exercises are REALLY good for isolating the traps and making them bigger and stronger. Are there any exercises you guys would swear by other than shrugs and such?

Try these......Bent over reverse grip rows in a smith machine! When you pull the bar to the rib cage squeeze your shoulder blades and shrug at the same time. When you lower make sure to let the shoulder round forward, while keeping your back straight. It's a killer.

 

[Shooter]

How about really heavy deadlifts?
The biggest traps in bodybuilding it seems to me have been developed by guys like Coleman, J. Jackson and others who started with powerlifting...the traps of most pl's are the most impressive I have seen and yet lots do no shrugs or if they do, they are just a finisher, an assistance to the traps they have built from years of heavy deads

 

[Ashop]

Trap's have always been a real pain in the ass for me. I have decent size traps but definitly want to get much bigger ones, and am curious as to what exercises are REALLY good for isolating the traps and making them bigger and stronger. Are there any exercises you guys would swear by other than shrugs and such?

I like dumbbell shrugs

 

[oldfella]

Yes heavy deads will do the trick! Shooter is on track.

 

[irish2003]

I love rack deads (just below the knees and making sure to squeeze my lower traps), with BB Shrugs as a windowmaker! (that or jumping with full combat gear and then roadmarching 12 kliks!)

 

[thebrick]

here's one I love for a little variety...

Seated on the very, very end of a bench, I have my feet elevated 6" or so on a block or platform. Running under my hams I have a barbell loaded with 45 lbers. From my seated position I strap on to the bar and shrug the weight as far up as I can to the back of my hams. It really isolates the traps and takes any cheating out of the movement

 

[Conan21]

You won't find a better trap exercise than a deadlift or some variation of it. That is a no brainer for anyone who has ever done deadlifts. Your traps are hurting bad the next day.

aside from what was stated above by everyone else. Side laterals are a good trap exercises. if you really squeeze/shrug the dumbells at the top of the movement it hits the traps VERY well.

Do these standing, keep them in front of your body, with a slight forward lean and shrug/squeeze dumbells up at the top of the movement. Try to control the weight as much as possible for the whole movement instead of just "swinging them up" as alot of people do.

If you do them right, they work really good for both delts and traps.

 

[Dangkolo]

UPRIGHT ROWS

This has been my all time favorite, Upright rows have transformed my traps.

 

[aj1]

Hang cleans and/or clean and press. Sumo rack deads also work nicely.

 

[elvisman99]

I sometimes use the seated shoulder press machine with the 2 different grips,,, Well i stand up on the seat and shrug the entire rack on the inner grips up to 50 times or until failure... And i love the one the Brick described as well,, good stuff!!

 

[STEEDA69]

I actually stand on the "calf raise machine" (pad on each shoulder) and instead of calves, I shrug the weight by lifting my shoulders! Works extremely well and there's no way to cheat!

JD~

 

[qazzaq9]

I like behind the back barbell shrugs. I lean foreward at a very slight angle and hold in the stretched position for 5-6 sec. I will also flex at the top for a full second, and just keep my reps slow and controlled. I feel too many people train slow and controlled until they do traps and then they resemble a 2-stroke engines piston, back and forth as fast and as violent as they can. Sometimes just slowing down a bit can be all you need for new growth.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

First are deadlifts. Rack deads too. But don't just let your arms dangle with the weight. Support the weight at all times with your shoulders.

Also, I started doing these dumbell rows where I'm almost upright (imagine upright rows but with dumbells). I stand upright but lean onto something about waist height. Do the movement like you were pulling a law mower cord. I got the idea trying to start my weed whacker. I was pulling that cord for 20 minutes and my traps were so sore the next day I could barely life my arms.

Be careful doing the upright rows with a barbell = bad shoulders... I'd say avoid them altogether.