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having trouble with mid back....

heavy seated cable rows or barbell rows, being sure to squeeze the shoulder blades and hold the contraction peaked.
 
dsade said:
heavy seated cable rows or barbell rows, being sure to squeeze the shoulder blades and hold the contraction peaked.
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That's pretty much what I was going to say!

Deadlifts are also pretty good for trap development, although I wouldn't leave it to deadlifts alone to develop quality traps. But the first two lifts mentioned are great, especially barbell rows.

I don't really see the need in any specific trap exercise (i.e., the shrug), but if you're going to be doing shrugs, don't worry about how much weight you're lifting rahter than how much weight you can lift with the fullest range of motion possible. Some people get carried away and load as much weight as they can budge (dumb). Also, at the peak of the movement, hold the contraction for a moment before lowering the weight. When I do shrugs, I don't lower the bar all the way, rather, just barely below where my shoulders are parallel with the floor.
 
Keep your head looking down and at an angle when doing ur barbell rows to get the best possible contraction on the upper back. Pull the bar frm the floor, not a bent over row. Shrugs are useless imo.
 
traps are a tricky muscle, a lot of times a guy doesn't know whether to work em' with shoulders or with back, I actually work mine with shoulders, mainly because my back workouts a so intense that usually I don't have a lot left to give my traps on back day and because my traps seem more stimulated on shoulder day than on back, i do close grip shrugs followd by heavy upright rows, if you bend forward slightly on your upright rows your traps will take over, so remember to focus on your traps and not your delts, also if you have a tbar get on that and with your arms full extended use just your traps to lift the weight, basically a shrug that isolates the traps very well. I have noticed great gains in the overall mass of my traps with these exercises.
 
dedlifter1 said:
Shrugs are useless imo.
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Shrugs have worked wonders for my traps but only since I have been using lifting straps. Prior to that my grip would give out before my traps were properly worked.

Get some straps and do heavy shrugs with reps around 20 or so and you should notice some improvement in your traps. Cable and barbells rows are also good so incorporate these into your workout as well.
 
In my experience, as far as upright rows go, I feel the traps working most when you look up just a tad and when bringing the bar up to your chin. Also following the contor of your body and keep the bar close to you as you pull the weight up. (And keep your chest blown up)
 
sweet, and ironic how today is a shoulder day....iv been doing on a back day.....ill try it and switch it up...ill get back to you guys, thanks for the replies!
 
I do dead lifts every other week, so the week i don't do deadlifts i thow in a few sets of shrugs either with my shoulder or back workout.. When i do deadlifts I don't work traps directly that week.
 
i feel more tired in my lats....i think it was the dumb bell rows....ill see tomorrow whats sore and whats not.....
 
I guess I'm the only one that does Power Shrugs anymore....I love 'em. Another exercise I just threw into my workout was laying face down on the incline bench, and shrugging dumb bells up, really concentrating on squeezing the traps together. Works for me.
 
yah guys...my back is real sore but my shoulders arent......yesterday was a shoulder day and i usually hit em hard.....next time ill just include it in my back day instead......but thanks alot!.

P.S. ill try the shrugz your talkin bout next time
 
Deadlifts & shrugs, but the main thing that has helped me has been flexing/stretching post workout. Make sure to squeeze your shoulder blades together after a workout, bring the traps right out
 
different stances with shrugs is whats worked for me, barbell in front of you or behind you do shrugs, different grips wide, close, in between, DB shrugs everything you need has been said already so try em out
 
I think an overall attack on your entire back will add mass to those traps. Just dont get so caught up in developing ur traps that you forget to bang your back really good. I rotate these exercises quite a bit and my back is really taken off over the last 4 months or so..

HEAVY DEADS
(and im talking heavy. no pussy-footin around with 135 crap for 20 reps. Im talking 350 for 4-6 reps and try...try....try to keep a slow eccentric (i do 4s sometimes). I know some of u will think it is crazy trying to lower 350 for 4s, but it is possible, but it will blast your back. My back is pretty sore from this yesterday.

Weighted pullups (slow eccentric....sometimes 6 seconds...TUT is key)
BB Row (wide grip and rev. grip)
DB row (torso at about 45 degrees....pull and squeeze)
lat pulldown (dont lean back too far....too many people do this incorrectly)
BB shrugs
machine back extensions
weighted hypers
 
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