If you ever wished to have those crazy bulging traps and shoulders that the top bodybuilders have, or just wanted to make sure you have more conformity in how your shoulders, chest, and back look, you should definitely do barbell shrugs.
The Barbell Shrug is one of the ultimate exercises to develop the trapezius back muscles (traps) and achieve that hard, ripped, bulging strong look that so many of us crave.
To do this exercise (which should be part of your back workout routine), grab a wide barbell and place weights at either end.
Starting position
Grab the barbell in an overhand grip with both hands. Place your hands shoulder width apart and stand with both legs at shoulder width as well. Stand straight or with a slight bent with the barbell held straight before you with both arms stretched down.
Movement
While keeping your arms straight at all times, pull your shoulders up as much as you can. The further you can go, the harder this workout becomes. Your arms should not help in this exercise, so make sure they’re straight and close to your body at all times. Don’t forget to exhale while doing the barbell shrug.
Once you reach the topmost position you can get to with both shoulders, pause for 2-3 seconds, and then slowly lower both shoulders and arms to the starting position. This counts as one rep.
Behind the Back barbell Shrug
One variation of this workout is to hold the barbell behind your back. You just step over the barbell, bend down at the knees, grip the barbell overhand just the same as you would in a regular shrug and do the same movment. It allows you do attack the trapezius muscles in a slightly different way than you normally would have.
Dumbbell Shrugs
Another way to work the traps is to do shrugs with dumbbells instead of a barbell. The movement is the same, only the equipment is slightly different.
Make sure to use dumbbells of equal weight for symmetrical growth and work in a coordinated manner, not favoring either side.
Seated Barbell Shrugs
One of the challenges of the shrug exercise is to make sure your back and shoulders are responsible for the effort involved. One way to do that is to do the exercise sitting down rather than standing. This immediately takes your lower body out of the picture and practically ensures that your upper body muscles are the ones doing the work.
Common mistakes
Some people like to roll their shoulder joint backward and forward while holding a barbell or dumbbells. This exposes the shoulder joints to injury and is also useless. The roll is a movement which is parallel to the floor and to gravity (your source of resistence). Therefore, the movement should be straight up. That’s it.
In conclusion
The Barbell or Dumbbell shrug is an excellent focused exercise that you can do to build your traps. Make sure to do it often, with the right weight to make sure you don’t use your arm muscles to lift the weight, just your shoulders and back. For slight variations, you can change the space between your hands, or do it sitting down.
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