I am trying hard to build my traps as big and thick as possible. Here is what I have been doing for them. shrugs BB and DB Twice per week. deadlifts Twice per week. Upright rows once per week. Military press Twice per week. I lift as heavy as I can on all exercises. With the shrugs I use moderate weight that I can lift fully and hold the contraction for a couple of seconds, with all others it is heavy as I can lift. I am in my eleventh month of lifting. Do you think I am doing enough to get it done, but being impatient, not doing enough, or not enough variation, or just not built right for having big traps. Just looking to see if those who have built big traps think I am on the right track, or if you have an opinion on what would yield better results.
Building better traps progress is visible imo it just takes time. 11 months is not that long to build substancial muscle. Sounds like your doing the right movements to improve your traps. you have access to a trap bar?
Building better traps Thanks chodan, No access to a trap bar, just a smith machine, standard olympic bar, EZ curl bar, and some dumbells.
Building better traps Doing plenty and progressing well - that is traps are good. Just hang tough. You could try PCs fromthe hang instead of one of your shrug days.
Building better traps Thats a lot of stuff. Way too much in my opinion. Deads alone, if you are doing them heavy, are almost too much to do even weekly and be able to recover from. Remember, you get big resting and recovering.....NOT in the gym. I do NO direct trap work and have developed a fairly decent back. It has all come from compound movements. Rows, Deads, etc..... Nothing fancy....just heavy weight. Here is a recent progress vid I shot. Bulking at the moment so definition is WAY down. (never really got to see my back before though) Skip to about the 0:40 sec mark and you can see my back. Again....no direct trap work.. If I would give credit to any one item....It would be heavy deads.
Building better traps Thanks WJ, I know I can be pretty impatient. Sometimes it feels like nothing is changing, then all of the sudden I see new development. Thanks ID, I would love to have traps like yours, I guess I just need more time.
Building better traps Reminds me of when Mike Mentzer was asked how he got big forearms. He replied that he did no direct forearm work, just "gripped heavy dumbells hard."
Building better traps hows your grip when doing bb shrugs? I know once i started doing close grip my traps got hit harder
Building better traps ^^^ Everything said by Drag above plus do NOT forget behind-the-back variations (e.g. Smith Machine or Power Rack)... I also like to do prone BB raises on an incline bench.
