What's going on Nation? Today
I'm going to demonstrate for you guys two must do exercises for bigger traps now in most
Workouts people like to do traps with their back and shoulders, and that's fine
You can do those exercises those muscle groups together they work very well together
but what happens with a lot [of] people when they do these lifts is they save the traps for last and
Chances are if you save the traps for last you're low on energy
And you might not be hitting them as hard as you could so if traps are a lagging body part for you
I want you to switch your workouts up
And hit traps first and with that being said I want to make [sure] that you guys include these two exercises
To make sure you're hitting those traps as hard as [possible] because remember there is the upper middle and lower
portions of your traps you need to be hitting all those areas in order to make that muscle as big as
[possible] now for each exercise. I'm going to show you I want you guys doing [4] sets of 10 [repetitions]
with one burn per set and you're only taking a 60 second rest period In between those sets and what a burn set is as
Soon as you finish 10 repetitions. You're going to immediately lower it by 10 20
Maybe 30 pounds depending on what exercise you're doing and then do another 10 repetitions
Before taking that rest period. The first exercise I'm [going] to show you guys is the barbell shrug
This is also an exercise that I highly recommend [you] start your workout with is gonna allow you to put a really heavy load on
Your traps right from the beginning and this exercise is going to primarily target your upper traps
but another really good benefit from the barbell shrug is that you have to use your erector spinae muscles as
Stabilizers to keep your body upright when doing the exercise because you have to stand upright like [this] chest up core tight
Bring your shoulders back to perform the movement so for those of you who have posture problems
This will help you stabilize a bit more and have better posture as you work through the movement
So that's a little quick tip for you now to perform the barbell shrug
You want to grab the Barbell with your hands just about shoulder width apart [okay] get a nice firm stance
I like to keep a slight bend in my knees when I do this and [you]
To make sure that you're pulling your shoulders back
You don't want to be like this doing the exercise remember going to bring those shoulders back
Keep your chest up keep your arm straight
And then the focus of this movement is to bring your shoulders to your ears
And then come back down and get a nice stretch at the bottom of the movement all the way up shoulders to ears
Come back down get a nice stretch
shoulders to ears
Come back down now
It's going to be really important [for] you guys to realize a few things when doing the Barbell shrug number one
You want to keep your biceps out of the exercise
so if you're doing the shrug and you're looking in the mirror you start to notice this and you're coming up and your arms the
Bending you're taking pretty much 50% of the movement out of your traps because the bars only moving because you're moving your biceps you want
To be able to keep those arms as straight as possible and bring your shoulders up and come all the way back down
so if your biceps are bending either it's a form problem, or the weights a bit too heavy
There's a few different ways
We can combat this
One way is to use wrist wraps and so if you guys don't know what wrist wraps are it's these things right here
They just [go] on your wrists pretty easy to use
Then you wrap them around the bar to give you a grip and then what this is going to do
It's going to take your your forearms your grip strength out of [the] movement
and it's also going to help you take your biceps out of the movement because you can pretty much let the Barbell that will just
Hang in your hands now if you do use wrist wraps these aren't an excuse
To load three or four or forty fives on each side and look like a jackass
Throwing the weight around because if you start doing that you're not targeting your traps as all at all
And you'll see this in the gym a lot too if your form
Goes from doing this and looking nice and smooth to to this
You're not doing anything. You're not activating your traps and not getting really any muscle breakdown
All you're doing is putting a lot of weight [on] the bar and showing everyone that you know how to use momentum
To throw it around
Remember if you guys want to build muscle you have to actually Target
that muscle and in order to target your traps you have to make sure you're taking as many other muscle groups out of the
Equation as possible to get all that tension
In your traps for maximum muscle damage now I do have one other quick tip with this exercise when you're doing the barbell shrug
You might have to go a bit lighter in order to do this
but because you're primarily activating your upper traps you can keep your core tight and
Bend over slightly which is going to change the range of motion [of] the movement and
Then come up like this and get a bit more mid trap activation throughout the movement
I'll show you guys from the side, so you're going to keep your back arched
You know lean forward a bit the bar is going to hang in front of you. You're still pulling your shoulders to your ears
But you're going to get a bit more mid trap
along with upper trap engagement when doing this and again if you notice that using your body steps throughout the movement
Try using some wrist wraps and let it all [just] kind of hang and really focus on that range of motion right here
Now the second exercise you're going to do is the barbell upright row and when you perform this movement
You want to make sure you're grabbing the barbell
shoulder-width or just outside of shoulder width and to perform with proper form
What you're going to do is keep your chest up keep your core nice and tight and then you're going to visualize
Lifting the bar with your elbow
So you're going to pull it straight up like this as high as you can
Pulling with your elbows first and really squeezing your traps
before
coming back down you want to keep as much tension to your traps as
Possible you guys don't want to be bringing it up like this, and then just dropping it
Okay, nice strict form keep that chest nice and high [keep] your core nice and tight and really focus on
Activating your traps on the way up and on the way down what I actually like [to] do is when I get [to] the bottom
I like to get a bit of a stretch at the bottom in my traps before coming back up and repeating the movement
I want you guys to see what this looks like from the back as well
When doing this movement from the back you guys can really see how it looks when you pull up with your elbows first
pulling up with your elbows is going to allow you to take your biceps out of the exercise and
Really focus on isolating your traps with every movement if the weights too heavy
And you guys are having to use a lot of force to bring the barbell up chances are you're just activating muscle
That really don't need to be activated during the exercise like your biceps you want to keep as much as that up here as possible
Now this is really important that you guys pay attention to how I was gripping the barbell you will see people do this exercise
With their hands really close now the clue you guys can actually get out of your seat right now
And try this just stand up with me right here, and I want [to] put your arms [in] front of you
Just like this and lift straight up the first thing you're going to notice is that a lot of the the tension throughout the movement
Transfers to the front of your body
So you're activating a lot more of your anterior deltoid
Less of your traps you activate more in front of your body
And what happens is that can actually cause shoulder impingement a lot of people complain about having shoulder problems
Or if they have a shoulder injury that this exercise aggravates their shoulder because of shoulder impingement
Which is true if you're grabbing it really close like this now the goal of the exercise is to target your traps
So if you want to target your traps stand up with no weight and literally just bring your arms to here and
Then lift up like this
and you're going to feel that the
Tension Transfer from the front of your body to the back [you] [can] hit more middle doubt more rear delt
And you're definitely gonna feel a lot more activation throughout your traps, so it does make a difference on
How you grip that barbell so make sure [you] practice with light weight first
Makes you feel it where you're supposed to feel it and then go into your sets and before I let you go I want to
leave [you] with one final tip you can actually do both of these movements on the Smith machine and
For those of you guys who [have] a hard time with that mind-muscle connection and really focusing on the area trying to Target
This might help you build that better mind muscle connection
So you can get a more effective workout when you start working [with] the barbells
So if you're doing the first exercise the barbell shrug obviously you're going to set up the same exact way you would if doing this
Not on the Smith machine that's a very important thing to keep in mind whenever you use a Smith machine
No matter what exercise you're doing
Always try to mimic the same exact form that you would use when you're using a regular barbell [that] way it transfers over very easily
So for this exercise you're going to stand and play
Grab the Barbell about shoulder-width apart and then focus on keeping your core tight your chest up and bringing your shoulders
He is and then coming back down [just] like this
And it's gonna be nice [and] smooth [and] you don't have to worry about the barbell flying all over the place
[you'll] be able to really focus on isolating your traps same thing for the barbell upright row grab just outside of shoulder width
Stand as close as you can to the bar because remember you're not controlling it on the way up and down it has a strict
range of motion so you have to lean forward probably a little bit keep your chest up and
Bring it up and really focus on pulling
With your elbows try to hold on to the barbell with your hands, but keep kind of a relaxed grip
So you're not really targeting your forearms too much and then try to pull with your elbow to avoid using your bicep now
it's probably the hardest thing for you guys to learn how to do but you can practice on the Smith machine, so
lean Forward make sure that bar drags up your body go as high as you can bring it up to your chin and
Then back down and practice like this
So hope you guys enjoyed this video if any of you guys need a full 12 week program
focused on building muscle and strength
Makes sure you click the link down the info section below to my 12-week transformation challenge
Be sure to hit that like and subscribe button and as always more good stuff coming soon. See you guys