How to Get Bigger Traps
One of the most favorite body parts for body builders are the trapezius muscles (or traps as they’re called for short). In this article, I want to give some tips on how to get big traps in a short time.
source: wikipedia
But before we get into the specific tips, let’s see what the trapezius muscles are and where they located on your body. As you can see in the picture to the right, the trapezius muscle begins at your neck, goes to the side on the top of your shoulder and travels halfway down your back.
Due to they’re location, having strong traps supports your back, arm, and shoulder muscles in a variety of exercises. Without having powerful traps, your ability to do other upper body exercises will be limited.
It is common to view the trap muscles as two separate groups:
- The superior trapezius (or upper).
- The inferior trapezius muscle (or lower).
Each of these sub-muscle groups is trained in a different way with its own exercises. In this article I will go over workouts for both the superior and inferior traps. To build bigger traps, you need to do both.
Superior Trapezius Exercises
The upper portion of the traps can be worked by lifting your shoulders. This can be done by a number of exercises:
1. Shoulder shrug – This exercise can be done with dumbbells of with a barbell. Let’s explain, briefly, how a barbell shrug is performed: You stand straight with your feet firmly on the floor and slightly apart. Your grab the barbell with both hands at shoulder width apart and your arms totally straight.
Raise both shoulders up as if you’re trying to touch your ears with your shoulders. Don’t bend the arms at all. Lower your shoulders back to the starting position.
2. Overhead shrug – This is a more difficult exercise than the regular shrug. You sit down on a workout bench and hold the barbell about your head with both arms straight but with your shoulders at neutral position. The movement is the same as with the regular shrug: lift both shoulders, hold, and lower them down to the starting position.
3. Upright row – This is a slightly different way to lift your shoulders. You grab a cable pulley or a barbell in both hands and stand with your knees slightly bent and your arms straight down before you. The movement is simple: you life the cable up to your chin by bending both arms at the elbows and lifting them up. Your elbows will naturally move to the side of your body (sort of like chicken wings). It’s very important to life the cable as far as you can to really work the traps.
Try these 3 trap exercises to get strong upper traps.
Lower Trapezius Exercises
For the lower traps, you need exercises that cause the shoulder blades to move closer together. These include the following:
1. The pull up is an excellent back exercise that hardly requires explaining. It is one of the best way to build a strong back and traps.
2. Any rowing exercise such as the cable row or barbell row will also work the lower traps.
As you can see, these are mostly known as back exercises but they are actually trapezius exercises for the lower trap muscles.
Tips to get big traps
1.The traps are also strained when you do back and shoulder workouts. You can and should focus your time and effort on the bigger upper body muscle groups. The traps will develop indirectly through these exercises as well.
2. You can’t work the traps directly very often. I recommend doing no more than 2 focused workout sessions each week with 3 days of rest in between. Once a week should also prove enough.
3. I recommend doing trap exercises only after you finished doing the back, shoulders, and arm exercises that you planned on doing during this particular workout. As the trapezius muscle acts in a supporting role for these muscle groups, you want it to be as fresh as possible while you’re doing these exercises.
Do these exercises and follow these tips to get bigger traps and be able to continue building muscle mass in the right way.
ManicMuscles Recommends
If you’re looking to build some muscle mass but not lose functionality, Triple Threat Muscle by Jason Ferrugia
This is a program from a master bodybuilder who helps you to not only get ripped, but to become more athletic as well.
If you’re looking for a good combination of muscles and physical ability, this is a great program to use.
How to Remain Motivated On Muscle Building
Building lots of lean muscle tissue requires great effort and dedication. While many men and women have other things they rather do, like watch TV and go to the mall, you choose to spend much of your free time at the gym, pumping iron.
The question is how do you continue to have the required focus you need in order to go to the gym week after week month after month and give your heart and soul to get a little bigger, a little stronger.
In this article I want to discuss how you can remain motivated while working to build bigger muscles.
Avoid the social pressure: While the pursuit of a more muscular physique is one that’s largely accepted in today’s society, you may still find people (even close friends and family members) who won’t understand what you’re doing and will largely tell you that you’re wasting your time. Now’s the time to have two circles of friends and family: those who understand you and support you and those who don’t.
I’m not suggesting you stop being friends with anyone. That would be stupid. What I am suggesting is that you find new friends that either support you or share your interest in building muscles and only talk to them about what you’re trying to do and the effort you’re making. These friends (many of which you can find in your gym) will be more understanding and supportive of you and your goals.
Buddy up – While being a loner has its benefits which mainly add up to not being told what to do by anyone and not having to care about anybody but you, having a buddy to workout with can prove to be a massive motivational boost. Even the best and most driven bodybuilders have their weak moments when they just want to skip a workout or take it a bit easy this week. A buddy who trains with you regularly won’t let you falter. In addition, during your workouts, a buddy can push you to greater efforts and results.
Avoid injury – While injuries are just plain bad for you physically, they can also make you wish that you’ve never got into muscle building in the first place. After all, when you’re in this kind of pain, you just want it to end. Well, this is the time to say that you need to take things gradually, not train in an exaggerated way and be careful to avoid injury.
However, when and if injury does strike, you need to try to stay in the game so to speak. For instance, if you have a shoulder inflammation, still workout your legs. If you have a bad knee, do upper body exercises. Don’t sit at home and mope about. It will be harder to get back to routine when you recover.
Patience – Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Arnold Schwarzenegger. It takes time to get to your top shape, years even, so you have to be patient and stay the course.
The good thing is that you don’t need to wait long to get results. The improvement in your body and muscle tone will be gradual but very visible. You will become more fit and muscular. However, if you’re shooting for a competition style body, this will take some time.
You’re not in competition yet – When you train, there will always be someone who’s bigger than you, stronger, and more fit. If you’re going to get down every time you see someone who’s in better shape than you, I recommend staying home under the covers.
You’re only in competition with yourself, no one else. Seek to improve your own results and judge yourself by what you used to be and look like, not by someone else’s body.
Get some kind of program – Having a muscle building program to follow will not just help you get better results due to more accurate fitness and nutrition information, but it will also help you remain motivated. I recommend paying for a program as you’re much more likely to stick to a plan which you spent money on. It’s human nature.
Follow the tips in this article and continue training until you reach the body of your dreams.
ManicMuscles Recommends
Vince Delmonte’s Muscle Building Program. In this collection of manuals and tools, notable trainer Vince Delmonte takes you through the process required to quickly build lean muscle tissue.
He does so in a no nonsense way with his clear and direct writing style. Vince takes no prisoners as he exposes the many useless supplements on the market today and strives to provide you with the best nutritional and workout guidelines he knows that produce real results.
If you’re interested in building some muscle mass fast without gimmicks or tricks, check out Vince Delmonte Fitness
Leg Extensions
Leg extensions are a superb form of resistance training and mass building exercise that aim at pounding the quadriceps, located in the upper part of the thigh.
This is an open chain exercise, meaning that the body part that is being exercised (the feet) moves with the leg extensions, whereas in a closed chain exercise like the squat, the feet are anchored to the ground.
It is worth mentioning that there is some debate regarding the effectiveness of open chained exercise versus closed chain exercise, with many experts agreeing that closed chain exercises are somewhat more effective in improving the functional capacity of the muscles.
After all, when you are pumping weights sitting on a machine, you’re not actually training your movements but working out just a set of muscles.
Equipment:
The exercise requires a Leg Extension machine and can be done both by men and women.
How to do the Leg Extensions
Starting Position:
• Sit on the Leg Extension machine, with your back straight. Grab the handlebars at the sides. Chin should be straight, eyes looking forward.
• Choose a weight that you are comfortable with. Remember, high-load strength conditioning is not the aim of this exercise.
• Insert your legs behind the pads so that the pads are resting lightly against the front of your ankles.
• The upper portion of the calves must be approximately half an inch below the pad of the seat
• Knees must be even and feet pointed outwards. Legs will be perpendicular to the ground.
The Movement:
• Keep the body stationery and inhale as you extend the legs up.
• Squeeze your legs at the top of the movement.
• Hold to the count of two.
• Lower the weight and get back to normal position slowly and gently.
• Do not rest your feet. Move to the next rep.
Tips:
• Perform this exercise slowly and deliberately, without any jerking or jumping movements.
• Do not allow the machine to clang when you bring it back down.
• When you bring the weight back down, do not push the legs past the 90 degrees bend
• Do not raise hips at any time
• Choosing a starting angle
Variations:
The leg extension exercise accommodates certain variations that allow you to work out other muscles. For instance, by turning your toes slight outwards and flexing them out (pointing them), you can work out the outer quadriceps.
In the same way, pointing the toes slightly in and curling them back targets the inner quadriceps.
It is possible to perform leg extension with one leg at a time. This isolates the muscles of each leg.
Do NOT perform this exercise if you have a knee problem.
You can do this exercise on a stability ball or with a workout tube. However, these are less popular variations.
In Conclusion
Leg extensions are ideal when used as a part of a complete program that works out the lower body. The exercise yields maximum benefit when it is done with moderate load in 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps.
ManicMuscles Recommends
If you’re looking to build some muscle mass but not lose functionality, Triple Threat Muscle by Jason Ferrugia
This is a program from a master bodybuilder who helps you to not only get ripped, but to become more athletic as well.
If you’re looking for a good combination of muscles and physical ability, this is a great program to use.
Triple Threat Muscle
Triple Threat Muscle is a muscle building program created by Jason Ferrugia, a well known trainer and author, who is also a guy who has the genetics of a skinny guy but managed to turn himself into an example of how a ripped super-muscular guy needs to look.
In Triple Threat Muscle (also known as 3XM program), Jason Ferrugie teaches a system for athletic muscle building which includes detailed workouts and nutrition guidelines. By athletic muscle building I mean looking like an athlete: the UFC fighter, the olympic gymnast, the competetive swimmer and so on. This is not a program to look totally huge but to get the sort of functional muscular look of athletes.
In addition, this is not just a program to help you look great. You also need to be able to perform like an athlete. You may not make the olympic cut any time soon, but you should definitely see a real improvement in how great you look and in your overall physical ability.
Click here to see an example of Triple Threat Muscle Workouts
The program’s name comes from the way in which Jason Ferrugia compiled it. The program is made up of:
- 3 workouts each week (of 45-60 minutes long each)
- 3 different rep ranges.
- 3 different methods of training.
The system should work well for trainers of all levels, from 20 year olds, to guys in their 40′s. As long as you’re prepared to put in the effort, you should see results from this program. In order to write this Triple Threat Muscle review, I went through the program myself and I can say I find it very impressive.
What You can Learn From Jason Ferrugia’s Program
Here are some of the principles of Triple Threat Muscle:
- You need to shorten rest periods.
- Focus on compound, multi-jointed exercises that bring into the movement the most muscle that you can.
- Combine full body workouts with upper/lower splits.
- Combine different rep/weight ranges and numbers.
Naturally, the program has a lot more information. These are just a few pieces to give you an impression.
The purpose and benefits of the program are:
- To help you build more lean muscle tissue.
- To look more athletic rather than just huge and bulky.
- To actually improve overall fitness, mobility, and athletic ability.
- To build massive strength super-fast.
- To improve and shorten recovery periods between workouts.
- To reduce risk of injury and pain.
What’s Included in Triple Threat Muscle
Here is what you will get with the 3XM Package:
- The Workout Guide that will show you
- Why this system works. Learn the science behind it all.
- how to workout 3 times a week for just 45-60 minutes each time and still gain an awesome amount of muscle mass and burn off body fat.
- How to boost your results by changing your rest time and the order of your exercises.
- Exercise videos:
- Complete videos of the exercises in the program to help you maintain perfect form
- Special workout routines to protect your joints, enhance recovery, and reduce risk of injury.
- How to achieve a cardio effect with ultra-short workout routines.
- The 3XM Nutrition Guide:
- How to eliminate nasty foods that are slowing down muscle growth, delaying recovery, and hurting your joints.
- Meal plans for extra muscle and strength.
- Unique foods to include in your diet for faster muscle growth.
In Conclusion
If you want to become and look more athletic, build a lot of lean and functional muscle mass, burn a lot of body fat, and improve your joint health, Triple Threat Muscle is a program you should definitely pay close attention to.
Jason Ferrugia is an expert the like to which you don’t stumble on every day. There is no gimmick in this program. Just a lot of hard and correct work for fast and impressive results. Don’t get this system if you’re not prepared to work hard. Do take it if you want to improve your results in a natural and fast way.
Close Grip Bench Press
If you dream of growing muscle mass and building bigger triceps, you need to master the close grip bench Press. Need more convincing? How about the fact that this exercise is very popular among power lifters because of the way it enhances the pressing strength of the triceps?
While the standard bench press pounds the triceps, front deltoids and the chest, the close grip bench press puts pressure only on the triceps and the front delts. Here, the role of the chest is minimized. With a close grip, there is no lateral movement of the arms which in turn helps boost the power and size of the triceps.
Equipment:
Bench, barbell or dumbbells. A barbell is much more popular than dumbbells for this exercise.
How to do the close grip bench press
Starting Position:
- Lie with a flat back on a bench
- Tuck in the abs and keep the back straight
- Hold the barbell in a narrow grip (about 12 inches apart), palms facing outwards
The Movement
- The barbell should be held parallel to the ground and arms should be outstretched. Do not lock your elbows.
- Lower the barbell by bending the elbows so that the barbell is about 3 inches above the chest. Pull the elbows closer into the body.
- Hold for a second
- Push the bar back to the starting position.
Tips
The close grip bench press is an intense exercise. Therefore, it is important that beginners start the exercise with low weights. Proper form must be maintained to get maximum benefits from this exercise.
- Extend arms fully but do not lock the elbows at the top of the movement
- Do not allow elbows to flair out as this shifts the work to the pecs and your triceps will not be sufficiently taxed
- Lower the bar gently
- Push the barbell up in an explosive motion, concentrating on giving your triceps a good squeeze
- Do not allow the barbell to touch your chest at the bottom of the movement as this reduces the stress on the pecs and places unnecessary stress on the shoulders
- Do not hold the hands closer than shoulder width as this places unnecessary stress on the wrists
- Wrist supports are helpful while doing this exercise
In conclusion:
Close grip bench press needs to be a regular part of your weight lifting routine. Therefore, when you are ready to work out the triceps, perform this exercise first.
ManicMuscles Recommends
Vince Delmonte’s Muscle Building Program. In this collection of manuals and tools, notable trainer Vince Delmonte takes you through the process required to quickly build lean muscle tissue.
He does so in a no nonsense way with his clear and direct writing style. Vince takes no prisoners as he exposes the many useless supplements on the market today and strives to provide you with the best nutritional and workout guidelines he knows that produce real results.
If you’re interested in building some muscle mass fast without gimmicks or tricks, check out No Nonsense Muscle Building Reviews
