Trap exercises are used to build the large muscle that encompasses the neck.
The trap muscle also goes down the middle of the back.
The trapezius muscle is the large triangular shaped muscle that you see going down the back from the neck area.
The traps, many times, do not need a lot of direct work if you include some form of deadlifts in your weightlifting program.
Deadlifts really work the traps hard.
You won't find a huge variation of trapezius exercises here. Why? Because you'll only need one trap exercise to really build muscle and strength…
Best Trap Exercises
You need to know the best exercises for building muscle in the upper back. It's not going to be difficult for the traps:
There's only one exercise here, but different variations…
- The Power Shrug
That's it. There's only one and you probably won't even need it!
This might be surprising to you since the upper back and traps is such a huge muscle. But there are so many other exercises that work this area that we classify as back and should exercises.
The Power Shrug
There is no better exercise for the traps than the power shrug. The power shrug will build tons of strength and muscle in trapezius muscle.
You simply bend at the waist and shrug the bar up as you come to the standing position. You can use very heavy weights with this exercise. The guy in the video above is doing the power shrug perfectly.
Follow his lead.
Notice that the entire body from head to toe is working during the exercise.
The traps get direct stimulation with a very heavy weight during the shrugging portion of the exercise. The traps respond very well to this powerful movement.
The above is just another variation of the power shrug. You can use a trap bar as shown in the video above, dumbbells, or any other variation that allows you to shrug a weight up quickly and powerfully.
If You Really Need To Work On The Traps…
I've got another great tip for you if you're looking to build the trapezius muscle.
This technique works VERY well.
You can add a simple shrug to the end of ANY exercise that has you holding the weights with your arms hanging in the bottom of each movement.
For example, you can add a shrug at the top of every deadlifting movement. You can add shrugs at the bottom of lateral raises with dumbbells. You can add a shrug to standing calf raises when the weight is resting on your shoulders.
So… if you really need to work your traps:
Try adding shrugs to many of the exercises you currently do.
Trust me — this adds volume work to the traps and will build your traps without adding very much time to your workouts.
Jason Clark says
atHi Josh,
I have never had any issues with ez curl upright rows. I like them because I feel it puts less stress on the wrists. My question is, if I use a close grip on the ez curl bar am I hitting more of the trap? My hope is to work the traps while still working the side deltoid. Will a close grip allow me to do this or is it working traps only? Thank you so much.
Jason Clark love your web site
Josh from WLC says
atHey Jason,
Glad you love the website! I do too. I’ve put so much work into it… I am glad you are enjoying it.
Yes, the EZ Curl Bar is a good choice to use with Upright Rows. I love dumbbells as well.
If you want to hit more of the trap, I wouldn’t worry about grip width as much as I would how far you are going up with the movement. I would really work on getting the elbows up higher along with the bar. The traps will have to work harder at the top of the movement.
One of my favorite exercises for hitting the side deltoids while working the traps very well are side dumbbell raises.
Simply hold dumbbells at your side and do an upright row with the dumbbells at your side. It’s simply raising the dumbbells up towards your arm pits. This hits the side deltoids, the traps, and the biceps very hard. Try to lift them as high as possible.
I have never seen very many people do that exercise… it’s actually one I thought up myself. Was surprised to never see anyone doing it. It works very well, though
The top part of the rep reminds me of the bottom part of the Dip movement. Give it a shot.
Let me know how everything is going for you. Building the traps is fun. Don’t forget power shrugs as the traps seem to respond very well with explosive movements for many people.
Good luck Jason.