Lower/Middle Traps Without Shrugs

Training Bodybuilding
1

Hi
I need to work hard on my middle and lower traps as part of my long term strategy to streghten my back.
I had a shoulder tear and the physio told me I need to work on scapular activation.

I need to find as many exercises as possible so that i can rotate them evry few weeks, please advice me on as amny exercises as you can

many thanks guys

2

seated high cable rows to neck

3

I second that…
I also like getting on the smith machine and just doing horizontal pull ups, chest to bar (forgot the exact name for em).

4

  1. Face Pulls

  2. Supine Hanging Shrugs (yeah, it’s a shrug, but not your usual upright shrug).

Edit: Like JMajor said above…the Supine Hanging Shrug is where you hang from a bar across a power rack with you body horizontal (heels on a bench). Then with your arms straight, you squeeze your scapulae together. You can also do pull ups in that position while focusing on squeezing your scapulae together. When you reach a point of pull-up failure, continue with just the shrugging.

5

Trap 3 Raise is a good one too. Look it up on youtube…you can do it standing with a cable or bent over and supporting your head on an incline bench

6

Consciously trying to activate and stabilise the scapula/shoulder joint on exercises should be a given (along with correct execution)
e.g. depression and retraction of scap on benching, depression on OHPing and vertical pulls

Obviously i dont know much about your injury, but working on the rotator cuff muscles in never a bad idea and it should help strengthen the shoulder capsule and also acts on the scap leading to better activation

7

[quote]JMajor wrote:
I second that…
I also like getting on the smith machine and just doing horizontal pull ups, chest to bar (forgot the exact name for em).
[/quote]

Inverted Rows or Fat Man Pullups? I would also do scap depression on a dip machine. Keep the elbows straight and let the weight elevate your scapulae, and use your lower traps and rhomboids to depress the scap.

8

[quote]Ad B wrote:
Consciously trying to activate and stabilise the scapula/shoulder joint on exercises should be a given (along with correct execution)
e.g. depression and retraction of scap on benching, depression on OHPing and vertical pulls[/quote]

This is gold.

Something I have learned from experience is that the foo-foo exercises like scap wall slides have a limited ability to help you. They predominantly serve as a baseline activity for understanding the neuromuscular ability to recruit the lower traps. You have to integrate that ability into complex movements with progressively higher weights, reps, etc. . . to get any significant results.

So

  1. activate the muscle in your warm up
  2. use an appropriate weight for ‘feeling’ the muscle working in your rows, face pulls, and such
  3. although to an arguably smaller degree than numbers 1 and 2, periodically focusing on activating your lower traps with scapular retraction and depression throughout the day can help
    –Focusing on tucking your chin and imagining a string going through the top of your head and pulling it up toward the cieling can help with posture. This can help with proper scapulohumeral rhythm in dynamic exercises.
9

I like to lay face down on an incline bench, and do front raises with a Barbell.

S

11

hey guys thnx a lot!! ,I will incorporate those exercises and rotate them every few weeks ,this is a long term thing for me,pls keep coming with the advice!

Thnx again

12

Bent-over dumbbell rear raise will do the trick for middle traps.