Well, i am not sure if i am considered big by people here, but i like both moves!
Rack pulls (and ‘floor’ DL) really do train my upper traps effectively, but only if i go extremely heavy - straps absolute necessity heavy.
Bar shrugs are what got me my traps though, and they are the most effective move - again go v.heavy but you need to get the pull up as high as possible.
A move that i have used a lot that gave me the deltoid/trapezius separation was armpit rows. These are shrugs with dumbbells that you (attempt to) continue pulling up into the armpit.
This gives the TUT a massive ramp up and also of course trains the side delts that bit more due to the upper arm abduction.
As with everything - TUT, load and consistency were very important in my trap development.
[quote]hawaiilifterMike wrote:
angus_beef, is that avi/avatar a pic of your own arm, if it is HOLY CRAP!. Just as impressive as Prof. X’s delts and traps.
[/quote]
Deadlift. I don’t know anyone who can deadlift a lot of weight that doesn’t have big traps. In fact, I haven’t done shrugs in a while as I have never been a big fan of them for trap development, but may add them back in the future.
[quote]BPC wrote:
Prof X-Do you recommend any certain rep ranges for shrugs? Heavy low reps (1-5 reps) or higher reps 12 reps, etc?
Thanks.[/quote]
I have always done 10-12 reps in the past. Lately I have been increasing reps so I may go as high as 15 on the first two sets. I go up in weight after each set but since I can’t actually get to my heaviest weight on that HS shrug machine (because the company started making them so they hold less plates than earlier versions) I work on squeezing the muscle more with added reps.
I use to do them very fast. Now I squeeze at the top. I think the latter is better, but I would be lying if I said that was the best way to get strong in the first place.
Not sure if anyone said this…maybe the first page before it got all crazy…
He just needs to eat. 6’2’ 195lb is pretty skinny assuming a 12-15% bf.
Your BMI has yet to reach the overweight range. Any self-respecting weightlifter/bodybuilder should seek to throw the BMI’s validity out the window and be a ripped “obese”…
[quote]Professor X wrote:
PB Andy wrote:
Professor X wrote:
When posts like this come up…it should be a requirement to post pics of the body part you are recommending exercises for…so we can see how well that worked for you.
I see everything from cleans to rack pulls handed out but haven’t seen that many people on the board with HUGE traps as a result of this.
True I understand where you are coming from. Little variation couldn’t hurt though. I won’t say I have “huge” traps, but they got significantly better when I did Oly lifting for a time.
I understand that, and I am not degrading you…but we get all of these posts about this and that specific exercise that supposedly works bets for a body part…but the people giving this advice are usually far from big.
I know shrugs work because I built really large fucking traps from them and they get talked about regularly. I don’t see the same on those claiming everyone should do cleans for big traps.
This is a bodybuilding forum afterall. I want to SEE what works if it supposedly works so well.[/quote]
True,I’ve never seen anyone with XL traps that don’t shrug. Just my observation.
damn i want to get to the point where i have such huge delts and traps that i need to cut the sleeves off of my XXXL shirts in order to get them to fit.
Prof, you mentioned a long time ago that early on you used to do very heavy static holds for 30 seconds on shrugs, and that they blew up your traps. Was this after the heavy repetition sets? also, what weight would you pick for the static holds?
[quote]Der Candy wrote:
damn i want to get to the point where i have such huge delts and traps that i need to cut the sleeves off of my XXXL shirts in order to get them to fit.
Prof, you mentioned a long time ago that early on you used to do very heavy static holds for 30 seconds on shrugs, and that they blew up your traps. Was this after the heavy repetition sets? also, what weight would you pick for the static holds?[/quote]
We did static holds because we were trying to get our strength up. We would do our regular sets and then we would compete against each other to see who could hold their heaviest weight the longest…which usually ended up being up to 30 seconds before someone started crying.
I believe we were using up to 3-4 plates a side on barbell shrugs back then as static holds…basically whatever weight you can hold up one time but is too heavy to perform straight reps with.
[quote]Oroborus wrote:
I can’t stress the importance of MMC and getting a stretch.[/quote]
What’s MMC? And, no offense, but you don’t have impressive traps so why are you giving advice on how to build them?
edit: I get it…mind-muscle connection. Yeah, that’s important but the main focus needs to be moving some weight. Also, the stretch at the bottom is not as important as the contraction at the top.
I’m not sure why people knock shrugs. They kick ass, and with a little time and effort you can get up to big weights. I think why some people may not get anything out of them is b/c they dont go balls to the wall. I’m not the strongest guy by any means, but I can shrug 405 for 15 and 315 for 35. The only things that have set my traps a growin’ are shrugs (done for lots of reps with lots of weight) and farmer’s walks.
[quote]giterdone wrote:
Oroborus wrote:
I can’t stress the importance of MMC and getting a stretch.
What’s MMC? And, no offense, but you don’t have impressive traps so why are you giving advice on how to build them?
edit: I get it…mind-muscle connection. Yeah, that’s important but the main focus needs to be moving some weight. Also, the stretch at the bottom is not as important as the contraction at the top.[/quote]
I think the “squeeze” had been mentioned enough to be driven in. And hey, not to send this topic veering off course again, but I don’t think my traps are that bad?
[quote]Oroborus wrote:
giterdone wrote:
Oroborus wrote:
I can’t stress the importance of MMC and getting a stretch.
What’s MMC? And, no offense, but you don’t have impressive traps so why are you giving advice on how to build them?
edit: I get it…mind-muscle connection. Yeah, that’s important but the main focus needs to be moving some weight. Also, the stretch at the bottom is not as important as the contraction at the top.
I think the “squeeze” had been mentioned enough to be driven in. And hey, not to send this topic veering off course again, but I don’t think my traps are that bad?[/quote]
I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you might want to wait a while before flaunting your muscular development.
