When you go into the gym, you think: Legs, chest, back, arms, shoulders, and even calves and abs, before you think traps. But trap training can be so important in lending that overall appearance of mass and density. Without them, there’s something missing to your upper body. And instead of looking like you belong in a USA or pro line-up, you look like the top dog at a local qualifer in a small town!

Then again, build too much trapezius muscle and you’ll find yourself looking like Quasimodo, swinging one-handed from a church steeple, scaring the townsfolk.

That’s what makes traps such a slippery slope. You need to work them, but just enough. Of course, some of that already occurs when you do powerlifting movements, like deadlifts. But that’s passive work. The traps require some active isolation work as well, and can’t possibly take on the appearance they need to take on for stage without some of this work.

When we talk “isolation”, we simply mean, use a weight that you can handle and control, and lift slowly and smoothly throughout a range of motion. If you’re throwing up the weight, you are not isolating the muscle. You will need to use maximum control to get what you need. That’s because the motion for trap development is so subtle and slight. Shrugs are the perfect example of this.

The biggest mistake people make? Using too much weight. Use too much and you’ll never be able to control what happens throughout each rep. You’ll end up throwing the weight in the air just to get it done. This defeats the purpose.

Here are a few exercises you NEED to include in your trap workouts, in addition to the deadlift:

Upright Rows
A truly great exercise, but it’s often done incorrectly – both in form and in execution of repetitions. Usually, in form errors, a bodybuilder won’t raise the weight as high as possible, and will not keep the bar as close to the body as he can. Remember, too, traps are endurance muscles and take a lot of reps to grow, so in all your exercises, make sure to include enough repetitions.

1 x 70 lbs x 12
2 x 80 lbs x 8
3 x 90 lbs x 6

Front or Rear Bar Shrugs
In Front Shrugs, a common mistake is not touching the shoulders (anterior deltoid caps) to the ears. In Front or Back Shrugs, remember to keep arms straight.

1 x 60 lbs x 15
2 x 70 lbs x 12
3 x 80 lbs x 8

Cable Shrugs
Cable shrugs use a low cable pulley with a short bar attachment. Overhand grip, wider than shoulder length (so you can’t use a triceps bar). Lean back into it, unlike a standard barbell upright row, so you hit your traps at a slight angle lower in your trap attachment.

1 x 40 lbs x 20
2 x 50 lbs x 15
3 x 60 lbs x 12

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