How To Choose The Best Trapezius Workout

Step 1

The traps are the muscles that connect your shoulder blades to your neck. They allow you to move your neck and rotate your arms. Traps are mostly used in lifting and throwing motions.

Step 2

There are a numerous amount of lifts that can trigger your traps such as benching, shoulder press, or cleaning lifts. These are great exercises but don't isolate the traps to cause a lot of growth. When lifting traps you basically have two options, size or strength. The choice you make should ultimately be decided on your future goals.

Step 3

If your goal is to add size to your traps I would choose exercises that isolate the traps. The most common and efficient movement would be a dumbbell or barbell shrug. These work wonders because it will isolate the traps and make them work really hard. By choosing isolation movements, you will see a greater increase in size and mass.

Step 4

If your goal is to not build a large amount of size to your traps, but lift them for a sport aspect, I would recommend doing more core lifts - such as bench and cleans. These two lifts won't add the same size to the trap region but it will work them quite effectively in a short amount of time. Also doing these lifts will help other body regions grow and develop.