I find that the best way to bring growth in a stubborn bodypart is with high reps. Think of the exercise as a newbie would train. The higher your training age, the lower the rep range you should work at because of the better effiecency of the neural-muscular system but a beginner should train in a higher rep range. The fact you can’t properly stimulate this area suggests the neural capacity is not up to par with the rest of your muscle-groups. Try a rep range in the 15-20 range and see if it helps. It’s worked for me. Don’t really have any other hard data other than personal experience.
i too hate shrugs but for another reason. those mo-fo’s hurt my package!
it’s not cool to have a fuly loaded barbell smashed up against the jewels pumping up and down like a piston on a 302 tempo.
however, i have found that if i go relatively light (225 or less) it is quite arousing!
Chiming in with my .02 worth.
I took Thunder’s advice and tried the rack pulls…had been doing shrugs. Never felt the shrugs regardless of how much weight I used. One workout with the rack pulls and I can feel those traps. Nothing targeted them before.
Just little ole me…agreeing with the guys.
I must say that allesy’s “weak link” workout did the trick ofr me. boy did I feel the lower traps/romboids. Thunder’s advice is also great, but the weight must be REALY heavy, and the rack pulls should be supplemented by some whole-ROM deads/squats/bix deads etc, so youll not create an imbalance between the strong part of your dead ROM and the weak part
a great way to test you mid upper back-
go for your max RAW bench, just unrack it, AND THEN try to pinch your shoulders blades together. can’t? you are too weak. also, in the bottom part of the descent with near max weight you’ll notice the scapulae crashed instead of pulling together all the way to the bottom - another sign. thats why mid upper back weakness will hurt your raw bench.
S-man
Greek,
You shouldn’t have a problem if your training westside (are you still?) Face pulls would fix that problem fast, as would DB cleans, DB pulls to the neck, etc.
landon:
I dont think DB cleans use the lower traps/romboids ,just the explosive upper traps.
face pulls: true that. the grip must be wide though.
where’s eric cressey to sort out anatomy stuff?
S-man
I concure with the rack pulls and snatch high pulls. Did them for the first time this past weekend and I have NEVER been so sore in my traps/back in my life!!! After that workout, I dont see myself going back to shrugs anytime soon.
Quick question on the snatch pulls…do most of you do them relatively fast. I brought the weight up to my chest (doing 5x5), but had a hard time controlling the eccentric movement. Should I lower the weight and concentrate on slower movements?? Regardless, I felt the exercise…BIG TIME!
You guys love taking a question and running in every direction with it. A simple question, 26 answers.
I must be doing face pulls wrong. I always feel them in my rear delts and teres, and not my middle/lower traps. I use a high pulley with a rope attached to it. Should I use something else?
JW, I don’t think you’d want to use anything else. Can you really slow the movement down and focus on feeling it in your middle back? I always feel it there more than I do in my rear delts, even though I do a solid 1-2 second hold. Just focus and learn to feel those muscles, as they tend to get lost in there. I learned to feel them with overhand rows to my upper abs, real slow, real light and just pinch. That’s how I learned to feel those babies. I had a friend of mine put his finger in my middle traps the first time I tried them and I learned to pinch his finger and that helped a lot.