Looking for some advice/tips on trap exercises. What do you find the MOST effective exercise for your traps.....if you could only do one, what would it be??? Thanks, john

Rear delt row and shrugs for traps will pretty well hit the upper and lower fibers.

-R

Another vote for shrugs.

Bluestreak, what's a rear delt row?

like a bent over row but instead of pulling your arms (keeping it to your sides) you keep it perpendicular.

Deadlifts
Hang Cleans
Heavy BB Shrugs from the front and behind back

The only direct trap exercise I do are dumbbell shrugs. You just want to make sure that you are moving in an up and down motion and not in a rotating motion like I see so many at the gym do.

Jason

Shrugs. No doubt about it.
Dumbell or barbell. Load up and do 'em heavy.

I second txitalian's assertion. Don't do that shoulder rotation crap. That is a good was to jack up your rotator cuffs.

Dumbell or barbell. Load up and do 'em heavy.

Straight-up shrugs won't stress your rotator cuff. Incline shrugs will, as will just about any movement that makes your scapula move.

Start LIGHT and move up. Get a feel for the form and function of the exercise. Do a few light sets and watch yourself in the mirror. The shrug is a very simple, very small maneuver. My goal is to keep the range of motion tight and prevent my shoulders from resting at the bottom of the move. Be sure to stop on the way down just shy of dropping low enough that your shoulders get a brief momentary pause or rest at the bottom of the motion. Squeeze hard at the top of the exercise.

It works, and it works with relatively little weight if done correctly. Take it from me... you do not want to piss off your shoulder joint.

-R

Thanks guys! I was betting that was the ONE exercise (shrug) to do if limited to one. I'd been doing upright rows, but wasn't getting the results I was looking for...it was actually hitting my forearms a little more actually. I generally train the traps on delt (shoulder) day, and will be incorporating the shrug....thanks again!

I alternate between shrugs and upright rows. Lately I've been doing 1 set of each, with the shrugs first to pre-exhaust the traps. The upright row also hits the rear delts, which tend to fatigue more quickly, hence the pre-exhaustion.

I really dont spend too much time on traps though because I feel that the majority of my energy is better spent doing the core compound movements. When I'm massive and need to do some "detail work", I'll focus on the traps more. But that's just me, I'm a mere-mortal. :)

My traps are pretty sore with deadlifts, or you can add a shrug on top of a dead/SLDL. A more dynamic variation on the upright row is the hang clean, to which you may also want to add a shoulder press... Compound exercises = :tu: