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The Trapezius muscles, also known as traps, are the triangle shaped muscles that extend down and out from the neck, down the middle of the upper back and in between the shoulder blades. Some people neglect traps because they feel they're getting enough stimulation from doing exercises such as deadlifts and rows but for an overall muscular physique traps can not be underestimated and when built in proportion to the rest of your upper body can make you look truly huge. Also by doing traps exercises you will increases your overall pulling strength.
When doing traps exercises most bodybuilders train them on the same day as their back or shoulders, this is down to personal preference and finding what works best for you. When doing traps exercises many people use weights that are too heavy and therefore lose the main objective of the exercise which is to get an intense contraction on every rep. So for maximum results try to hold the contraction of each rep for a split second and try not to jerk the weight up and down. If you can't hold the contraction you probably need to lower the weight you are using.
The main traps exercises used are the shrug and the upright row. The shrug can be done using dumbbells, a barbell, a Smith machine or different types of bench pressing machines. The aim of the shrug is to grip the bar or dumbbells and let your arms hang naturally, then raise your shoulders as high as you can and hold the contraction for a split second, flexing the traps in a 'shrugging motion', before lowering slowly.
The other main traps exercise is the upright row. To do the upright row place your hands on a barbell with your palms facing towards you and with your grip about 6-8 inches apart, let your arms hang naturally and lift the weight straight up towards your collarbone This exercise works the front and side delts as well as the traps. Try to use as narrow a grip as possible as this will focus more on the traps and less on the shoulders. Use the same principles on the upright row as you use for the shrug which are try not to jerk the weight up and down and hold the contraction for a split second before lowering the weight slowly.
As with all bodybuilding exercises you get the best results when you keep mixing it up. Try alternating between low and high rep ranges. For your low reps keep it between 4-6 and for high reps keep it between 12-15. For advanced techniques hold the contractions for a few seconds and also try out different speeds when lowering the weight.
When adding these exercises to your bodybuilding program you will be able to develop a good set of killer traps!
For information on the 'The Perfect Muscle Building System' CLICK HERE
Seb from London
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GET INVOLVED
Post your answers to one or both of these questions:-
1. Whats the best piece of advice you've received since you started bodybuilding? Wether it be from a book,a training partner or just someone in the gym.
2. Whats the biggest bodybuilding mistake you've made since you started?
After your answers have been checked over they will be posted on bodybuildersbody.blogspot.com