Dumbbell shrugs are an excellent exercise to develop strong shoulders and upper trapezius muscles. There are many ways to target your trap muscles – which are the muscles that protrude up around your shoulders and neck – with back exercises, but the dumbbell shrug is straightforward and effective.
What dumbell exercises work traps? – Related Questions
Should shrugs be heavy or light?
Shoulder shrugs with weights (also called dumbbell shrugs) boost the strengthening potential of this exercise. If you’re new to shoulder shrugs (or weight training in general), start with a lower weight at first. Hand weights of 5 or 8 pounds are still heavy enough to strengthen your trapezius and upper back muscles.
Shrugs are a very effective exercise for building your traps, but most people who perform shrugs do them incorrectly (i.e. they use too much weight and don’t fully contract the muscle).
Do shrugs give you a thicker neck?
No, the shrug exercise does not make the neck bigger. The shrugs do hit muscles near your neck like the upper trapezius and the levator scapulae, but the won’t really help thicken and make your neck look more muscular.
How heavy should DB shrugs be?
The average Dumbbell Shrug weight for a male lifter is 101 lb (1RM). This makes you Intermediate on Strength Level and is a very impressive lift. What is a good Dumbbell Shrug? Male beginners should aim to lift 32 lb (1RM) which is still impressive compared to the general population.
Why shouldn’t you do shoulder shrugs?
Not only are shrugs overrated, it become trap overkill when you’re already working the muscle each time you do sets of military presses, lateral raises, and especially deadlifts. That’s more than enough heavy work your traps are receiving. It’s time to skip the shrug.
Is it better to go heavy on shrugs?
Nothing is better for building the traps than heavy weight. As long as you use good form on the movement, then the heavier the better.
Are shrugs better seated or standing?
Shrugs are meant to be an isolation movement at the shoulders to isolate the upper traps. If you find that you are going so heavy that you’re using your legs to cheat, then sit down to help isolate the traps more. By staying seated you will not be able to cheat by bending your legs.
The first and most applicable alternative to the shrug is an exercise known as the farmer’s walk. The farmer’s walk is a strength and endurance training exercise that makes significant use of trapezius muscular endurance to maintain the exerciser’s grip on a pair of weights as they walk a predetermined distance.
What can you replace shrugs with?
Alternatives such as dumbbells, plates, kettlebells or cables for shrugs can be utilised. Read on later to for alternative shrug variations, to add variety into your workout. Stand with your fee just wider than shoulder width apart with them pointing out up to 15 degrees, whichever is more comfortable.
What type of shrugs are the best?
Best Shrug Variations
Trap bar shrugs: This will put your hands in a neutral grip position at your sides.
Overhead shrugs: Hold your barbell or dumbbells straight overhead and perform the same shrugging motion.
Seated vs. standing shrug:
Wide grip shrugs:
Incline dumbbell shrugs:
Power shrugs:
How do you get big traps?
Below are five (5) exercises athletes and coaches can use to build bigger, stronger trapezius muscles.
Trap Bar Shrugs.
Barbell Shrugs.
Dumbbell Shrugs.
Rack Pulls.
How many trap sets a week?
Working your traps 3 or 4 times per week should allow you to get maximum pump in the muscle and still allow time for recovery. When performing your at home workout routines you should do between 4 to 6 sets of each trap exercise.
Is there a difference between barbell shrugs and dumbbell shrugs?
While you can use a neutral grip with dumbbells, your arms will not remain as wide as required with shoulder shrugs. On the other hand, traditional barbell shrugs allow you to keep your arms adequately apart, but you will not have a neutral grip.
