I haven’t seen anyone mention what size DB’s they use for shrugs yet. Do you guys all prefer BB shrugs over DB shrugs? Just curious as to how a #405 BB carrys over to DB weight.
You know you have big traps when you can get a tattoo on the front of them like Laron Landry for the Redskins lol.
I never used dumbbells for shrugs. You use less weight…and going heavy is the point in doing them in the first place. They are built to withstand more force than most muscle groups so training them that way is how they stand out.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I never used dumbbells for shrugs. You use less weight…and going heavy is the point in doing them in the first place. They are built to withstand more force than most muscle groups so training them that way is how they stand out.[/quote]
Doesnt that apply to every muscle group? Cant I just do skull crushers for triceps and thats it? Seems way too simple…
[quote]Akuma01 wrote:
[quote]therajraj wrote:
At what strength level did you guys see your trap development really take off?
[/quote]
My traps did not show development until i began shrugging around 405. Coincidentally, it was about this time that i also make the connection of Traps = Calves, that meaning you gotta beat em hard. So the sets became 15rep sets for as long i could go, starting at 135 and bumping progressively.[/quote]
HELL YEAH.
I by chance really came across that realization years ago. When I had got my first set of dumbbells. I then spent around a year blasting my traps for 15-20 reps a set.
Result was my traps were a lot more developed than any of my friends who kept saying how good deadlifts are for the traps. I said yeah maybe so… But then I flexed and said but I like shrugs better.
Unfortunately. I don’t do them half as much anymore, they seem more of an after thought. Especially since I know I wont have problems making them grow later. Where as, developing some of my other muscles isn’t so easy.
Touched 405 and saw results, the same with 495. When I started, I had a season when I was obsessed with them, always thought they were more imposing than chest or biceps, trained them like for one hour. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I can do only 1 exercise and still have no problems with them, touch the shrugs again and they grow almost immediately.
My traps got so big to the point they caused sleep apnea (not kidding, weight was 260lbs at the time) from the following routine:
This is a lot of work but within a month I could no longer sleep normally 
[quote]MSU2009 wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I never used dumbbells for shrugs. You use less weight…and going heavy is the point in doing them in the first place. They are built to withstand more force than most muscle groups so training them that way is how they stand out.[/quote]
Doesnt that apply to every muscle group? Cant I just do skull crushers for triceps and thats it? Seems way too simple… [/quote]
No, it doesn’t seem to apply to other muscle groups. Most of your other muscle groups are not individually designed to handle the weight that the traps can all by themselves. Even your legs take several muscles working together to lift the greater weight that they do. Your biceps are not designed to lift 500lbs in isolation but 500lbs is very doable for your traps assuming you trained for it.
Also, your question implies that all you are doing for traps is shrugs. Your traps are indirectly worked through any rowing movement and when it comes to making that muscle sit up near your ears, there is no other movement that hits them as directly as shrugs or will produce that effect.
Further, several people with big traps just agreed…so who cares if it sounds too simple if you have proof right in front of you that it works??
I am really trying to understand the thinking that involves seeing someone huge, watching what they do…and then assuming what they do doesn’t work and is “too simple” because some of the smaller guys say so.
Hey, I am looking for proof that something else works better but I don’t see the huge traps to verify that and no one is really building them up to justify what they are saying.
You know, bodybuilding seemed to produce way more people making way more progress back when people watched what worked and quit trying to prove it wrong for some reason.
With all of this access to info today…why are there LESS really developed bodies but MORE smaller people claiming they know what “works”?
Note: larger traps should not cause sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is more related to body weight and weight pressed against the neck and chest as someone gets heavier as they sleep. This is also variable and the weight that someone may see “sleep apnea” could change based on body comp.
Quite frankly I do not know what caused the sleep apnea to me since my bodyfat percentage actually dropped a wee bit at the time.
It was merely something I noticed because this routine blew up my traps and neck quite substantially in a short period of time and I got sleep apnea in the 3rd and 4th week and it lasted till I backed off on the trap training.
The effect might not have been caused by the increase in trap and neck size however but again it started when my traps reached their biggest size ever and my neck as well (19 1/2 inches).
Based on what you are saying it was the neck size increase that could have caused this? Perhaps an in-balance in neck development (since I did nothing for the front of the neck)?
I am curious because every time I reach a level of development (255lbs and up, have been 290lbs at 16%) I run into these issues and simply cannot sleep anymore. Still snore like a bear even at 9% BUT no sleep apnea.
This might not be your field but as a medical professional you might have some insight here.
[quote]IamMarqaos wrote:
Quite frankly I do not know what caused the sleep apnea to me since my bodyfat percentage actually dropped a wee bit at the time.
It was merely something I noticed because this routine blew up my traps and neck quite substantially in a short period of time and I got sleep apnea in the 3rd and 4th week and it lasted till I backed off on the trap training.
The effect might not have been caused by the increase in trap and neck size however but again it started when my traps reached their biggest size ever and my neck as well (19 1/2 inches).
Based on what you are saying it was the neck size increase that could have caused this? Perhaps an in-balance in neck development (since I did nothing for the front of the neck)?
I am curious because every time I reach a level of development (255lbs and up, have been 290lbs at 16%) I run into these issues and simply cannot sleep anymore. Still snore like a bear even at 9% BUT no sleep apnea.
This might not be your field but as a medical professional you might have some insight here.[/quote]
It actually is my field because we are the ones who often diagnose sleep apnea as well as adapt the mouth aids that help with breathing at night.
Many larger athletes experience this, especially football players and larger lifters.
For many it is simply the body weight they are at. I had it when I first hit near 300lbs but don’t have it now even though I experienced for a while the very first time I hit my current body weight.
I’m not trying to derail the thread, but I would blame overall muscular gain along with overall neck circumference for why you experienced it. I was just making the note because people will read that and assume that big traps CAUSE sleep apnea and that is just not the case.
high reps are the only way I feel the upper portion of my traps working, powercleans make them the most sore but don’t result it much growth there.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]MSU2009 wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I never used dumbbells for shrugs. You use less weight…and going heavy is the point in doing them in the first place. They are built to withstand more force than most muscle groups so training them that way is how they stand out.[/quote]
Doesnt that apply to every muscle group? Cant I just do skull crushers for triceps and thats it? Seems way too simple… [/quote]
No, it doesn’t seem to apply to other muscle groups. Most of your other muscle groups are not individually designed to handle the weight that the traps can all by themselves. Even your legs take several muscles working together to lift the greater weight that they do. Your biceps are not designed to lift 500lbs in isolation but 500lbs is very doable for your traps assuming you trained for it.
Also, your question implies that all you are doing for traps is shrugs. Your traps are indirectly worked through any rowing movement and when it comes to making that muscle sit up near your ears, there is no other movement that hits them as directly as shrugs or will produce that effect.
Further, several people with big traps just agreed…so who cares if it sounds too simple if you have proof right in front of you that it works??
I am really trying to understand the thinking that involves seeing someone huge, watching what they do…and then assuming what they do doesn’t work and is “too simple” because some of the smaller guys say so.
Hey, I am looking for proof that something else works better but I don’t see the huge traps to verify that and no one is really building them up to justify what they are saying.
You know, bodybuilding seemed to produce way more people making way more progress back when people watched what worked and quit trying to prove it wrong for some reason.
With all of this access to info today…why are there LESS really developed bodies but MORE smaller people claiming they know what “works”?[/quote]
Dude, chill. I was not attacking you but just looking for some insight. I am a firm believer in doing what someone else has done to get where someone else has gotten. I would not go to Ronnie Coleman for knitting advice and I would not ask any of these 150lb functional training authors for advice on getting huge. I was curiously just wondering why this logic cant be applied to all muscle groups. Shrugs target my traps very effectively and BB shrugs are the ONLY thing that has helped my traps grow. I feel I wasted a lot of time doing other isolation exercises for my traps as well as a lot of other muscle groups which is why I asked this question. Preacher curls hit my biceps effectively. Is there a reason I should do other exercises for my biceps? That was my question. Can one lift be all that is needed for a muscle to grow provided its done with proper volume, weight, intensity and effectively targets that muscle group? i.e. nothing but preacher curls for biceps. or just skull crushers for triceps. just shrugs for traps, etc.?
You will find that other muscles groups need to be hit at different angles in order to build that muscle optimally. Even in the case of training chest, you will find that if you completely avoid incline work, your collar bone will stand out more than your pecs when wearing a tank top.
Most of my biceps work is using different versions of a preacher bench and alternate curls. That works for me…but I still do at least 3 different movements every time I train them.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
It actually is my field because we are the ones who often diagnose sleep apnea as well as adapt the mouth aids that help with breathing at night.
Many larger athletes experience this, especially football players and larger lifters.
For many it is simply the body weight they are at. I had it when I first hit near 300lbs but don’t have it now even though I experienced for a while the very first time I hit my current body weight.
I’m not trying to derail the thread, but I would blame overall muscular gain along with overall neck circumference for why you experienced it. I was just making the note because people will read that and assume that big traps CAUSE sleep apnea and that is just not the case.[/quote]
That’s right, I forgot about you guys doing that (never had one done for me but realize now that it is dentists who would do this).
Glad you helped clear up that it is not the trap’s increase in size that causes the apnea. Unfortunately for me it seems my neck grows with my traps when I specialize on them.
Funny thing, even when I was dead skinny (115lbs at 6 feet, 16 years old) I still had quite the strong and built neck. I was ‘pencil’ everywhere EXCEPT the neck
thanks for your time
While heavy shrugs have given me decent trap thickness, getting them to peak is a different story. I find that if I hunch over an incline bench and do dumbell shrugs (one arm at a time) that this is more effective than all of the other trap exercises I’ve tried.
Overhead shrugs really hit my traps. Looks a little dumb though lol.
[quote]sous52 wrote:
Overhead shrugs really hit my traps. Looks a little dumb though lol.[/quote]
How much weight can someone really do over their head for effective shrugs?
http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/6/d/6d1f4_ORIG-prog_20110123_265lb_frnt_back.jpg
I don’t know how my traps ‘rank’. I’m shrugging into the 5’s now with the trap bar and bb.
I never really noticed them ‘popping’ until I was in the high 400’s for reps with good form (not hitching).
Maybe people’s traps ‘take off’ at bodyweight, but I’ve never seen anyone build impressive traps using bodyweight for any amount of reps. I guess it’s possible if you weigh 500 lbs.
EDIT: Reposted pic below so this post doesn’t seem so stupid-- lol.
T-Nation had a technical glitch that erased a lot of pics. Answer was to repost pic.
I tried theses overhead shrugs, and I say it’s a stupid idea. If I can handle 500 on a bb shrug, why would I go and try to lift the same poundage overhead ? I doubt I can even unrack the bar with that poundage on, and even if I considerably lowered the weight I wouldn’t go about letting that tension build up on lock out position.
Anyway it’s not the same thing.
The only thing I’ve learned from this thread is that Prof X thinks I have small traps and SteelyD is prob the smallest dude on this site. <3