TRAINING YOUR TRAPS!

Today, I was approached by a member wanting to know, ‘what is the best way to blast your traps?’ I knew before I answered him that he wouldn't be impressed with my response, but I went ahead and gave him my two cents.

My answer? HEAVY DEADLIFTS. As I suspected, the young man seemed to expect a different response. “Well…. what about shrugs?” he asked. I then asked him how long has he been doing shrugs for now and what type of gains has he made using such isolated trap raises. He didn’t have anything to say to that, thanked me, turned around and went on to load a BB in the squat rack for more shrugs.

Here's the point: think of guys like bodybuilding legend Ronnie Coleman, who had a very impressive set of traps, or Johnnie Jackson, who looks like he’s got something growing out of his neck. Both of these athletes have something in common. Can you guess what it is? Both Ronnie and Johnnie come from power lifting backgrounds. They have some pretty impressive numbers as far as poundage goes, and they deadlift. They deadlift heavy! So if two of the best bodybuilders in the world don’t shrug to get those traps, why not learn from the best?



Next time you want to ‘isolate’ a muscle and do countless numbers of sets/reps of trap raises via grip in front then back, switching back and forth between bb’s and db’s, don't bother unless you really enjoy wasting your time. Try some heavy deadlifts instead. Not only will you add some size to your traps, but you’ll also improve the rest of your physique.