Weight Training Advice
Traps Routines
training you should follow a traps routine to build these muscles. Developed trapezius muscles will help give you a look of power. You'll also find that the bar doesn't bother your upper back area as much when you squat if you build these muscles. It's also important to train the traps if you play a contact sport such as football or are into boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts because these muscles help protect the neck area.
Since they aren't a very large muscle group, you should do your traps weight training routine as part of either your upper back or shoulder routines. Most weight trainers will do them as part of their shoulder workouts due to their proximity to the deltoid muscles.
The main exercise that should be part of any traps routine is the shrug. This is a rather simple exercise to perform properly. You grip a barbell in your hands and raise it just a few inches by using the trapezius muscles with a movement that mimics shrugging. Try to hold in the top position for a couple of seconds while flexing your traps before lowering the weight. You'll likely find that you can use a lot of weight when you do shrugs as part of a traps routine. Because of this, you should enhance your grip by using wrist straps or chalk. If you don't, your grip will give out before the trapezius muscles do. After you've done as many full reps as possible during a set of shrugs, you can get some extra half-reps.
If you want, you can do dumbbell shrugs as part of your traps routine. Once again, you shrug your shoulders to lifts the weights and you should have some grip assistance. You'll be able to hold the dumbbells at your sides so your work the traps in a bit differently. The only problem is that your gym might not have dumbbells heavy enough once you've built very strong trapezius muscles.
One exercise that many weight trainers do as part of a trapezius routine is the upright row. To do this exercise, you grip a barbell with the hands close together and lift it upward to a point in front of you chin. This exercise has been known to cause shoulder injuries. If you decide to do upright rows as part of your traps routine, make sure not to go to heavy and stop doing them if you feel pain in the shoulder joints.
There are many exercises that aren't necessarily part of a traps routine that will work the muscles. Deadlifting will certainly affect the traps to a degree. Weight lifting exercises like power cleans and clean and presses will also involve the trapezius muscles. You may not have to do very many direct exercises for the traps if you do these exercises.
When you see a muscular guys neck and shoulder area, you may notice the triangle shaped muscles on each side of the neck. These are the trapezius muscles, or traps. If you're into weight
