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Building Huge Traps

Article care of midwestsupplements.com

Traps, the muscles that attach to your neck and lead down to your shoulders and collar bones, are one of the most popular muscles to develop for aspiring bodybuiders. It's no wonder. Thickly developed traps which slope steeply down from under the ears to the shoulders make people look like they are from another planet. How do you get those super-thick mountain slopes?

Let me start by stating that it often takes several years of intense weight training. Some people are born with thick traps, and for the rest of us it requires years of hard work. Of course, there is no better time to get started than the present. Right?

Your traps can be worked with your back workout or with shoulders for optimal growth. I've trained them with both and known many successful bodybuilders who have done the same. I prefer to train them with shoulders. The main reason is because I do more sets for my back workouts than shoulders and it helps keep the total sets for that bodypart down a bit.

Trap training really isn't that complex. If you hit them after back or shoulders, they will be quite fatigued (pre-exhausted). You won't need to do too many sets. I usually do just 4 sets per workout. My rep range usually stays between 8-15. The key is the performance and selection of the exercise.

I often use barbell shrugs for my trap workouts. Sometimes I will spice things up a bit by doing dumbbell shrugs or smith machine shrugs. However, I do prefer the old fashioned barbell. I seem to get the best pump, burn, and overall best results from these.

When performing the exercise, regardless of which I choose, I am methodical. I start with my arms hanging down at my sides, slightly wider than shoulder width and in front of me so I can let the bar be positioned across the front of my upper thigs. I make sure I select a weight that will allow me to raise the bar with my traps as high as possible and hold it there for a slight pause before lower the bar back down to the beginning point. The biggest mistake I see novices making is that they try to use too much weight. Shrugs are an exercise where you can use tons of weight by loosening your form. The problem is that you don't end up working the traps and no substantial growth for the muscle group will occur.

I will leave you with some suggestions if you aren't getting the results you want from your trap workouts. First, train them very slowly with a pause at the top of the rep. Exaggerate the length of the movement. Second, cut the weight you are using in half. You always want to try and go heavier, but never by sacrificing your form.

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