Remember seeing Mike Tyson step into the boxing ring at the peak of his fighting glory? They man was probably the scariest person on earth. Opponents knew his speed and punching power were probably going to leave them sprawled on the mat within 60 or 90 seconds. Many of their last thoughts before waking up to see Iron Mike standing in the victory pose included “wow, this man has one thick neck!” Mike Tyson had a neck like a bull in his fighting days. The man was thick, plain and simple, with a neck that was as thick and well-developed as is humanly possible. This is something that can be appreciated by bodybuilders seeking to achieve this condition for their entire body.

You would benefit yourself tremendously to step onto the bodybuilding stage with the same level of intensity, confidence, and yes; a thick neck wouldn’t hurt either. More specifically for bodybuilding purposes, highly developed trapezius muscles give your upper body that cresting crescendo as the chest, shoulders, and neck come together. There is one caveat, of course. If you possess extremely narrow clavicles, then traps that are too well-developed may make you appear excessively narrow or appear too vertical in most front poses. Compare pictures of yourself with those competitors you faced at your last competitive outlet. Unless your shoulders are glaringly narrower than them, you should be fine.

Find a place in your work week that is as independent from your back day as possible. Many training routines will place shoulders or trapezius immediately after back day. While this is probably the most convenient method, it may not be the most effective. You may be best served by keeping a day of rest, or a simple support role day (such as forearms, abs and calves) on the day after back day. This will give the shoulders a full 48 hours to recover from their support role served on back day.

Train your traps immediately after shoulders, with no rest in between. There is a great deal of overlap between these muscle groups, so it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to fit them both into the same workout, since fewer total sets will be needed than if they were being trained separately. Complete your two pressing movements, two side raise movements, and 1 to 2 rear deltoid movements, then jump directly into shrugging for traps.

You will want to be using two of the three available shoulder movements each time you train traps. At your disposal, you have barbell shrugs, dumbbell shrugs, and the Nautilus shrugging machine. If your gym doesn’t have this device, the flat hammer Strength or Nautilus bench press machine works fine for shrugging as well. The mechanics are identical.

Alternate your choices each week, aiming for 4 sets of each movement, in the neighborhood of 8 to 15 reps per set. Don’t both trying to “roll” the barbell up with each movement. Rather, try to develop a clean line of direct up and down action. Stretch your neck, hamstrings, and traps for about five minutes after your last set. You may experience some secondary soreness in the days following this body part split, a good sign growth is occurring!

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