Others have mentioned deadlifts. Are you doing those?
How long have you been training your traps? How long have you been training in general?
Height and weight?
I donāt do any shrugs, I feel like I get enough trap work out of other things I do for my own goals. BUT, shrugs are the appropriate answer to the question. Shrugs are going to be the most efficient way to directly target the traps and build them up, if they are currently a weak point. Everything you said about just getting enough work out of deadlifts and rows only makes sense if a) youāre already happy with your trap development relative to the rest of your body, which I assume the OP isnāt, and b) if youāre doing deadlifts and/or high rows. What if you arenāt? Not everyone deadlifts, or has a reason to deadlift. Shrugs DEFINITELY make sense if those sorts of lifts arenāt in a personās current rotation of lifts.
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I can understand this argument from your example/the conditions stated here. Also if we are considering an athlete or competitive bodybuilder trying to better his weak points. If the OP has weak traps, he probably has other muscle groups in better need of attention. Hell, you may even reach the traps with higher shoulder flyes, which also is a great shoulder developer IF you tolerate it in terms of impingement. Come to think of it, Iāve always done my shoulderflyes 10-15 degrees above 90 degrees.
But, no matter how we put it, this narrows down the training population in exclusive benefit of shrugs to a great minority.
Where do we/you/I rate shrugs on the long list of possible excercises for the body? Me personally, as you may have suspected, put shrugs at the absolute bottom of my list.
I highly recommend checking out the book I linked if you are ever interested in having your opinion challenged.
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It is very common with preconceptions when having strong opinions - so I might just do that. Even if I donāt change my mind, I might learn something. Thanks!
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No problem man! Paul Kelso was a gift we didnāt deserve. Aside from his shrug book, I feel every lifter, irrespective of goals, owes it to themselves to read āPowerlifting Basics: Texas Styleā
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Yeah as everyone says, get your deadlift up, cleans shrugs etc
iāll add:do these -will build traps AND broaden shoulders/better proportion etcā¦
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