Training notebook09.07

Muscle & Fitness, Sept, 2007 by Jimmy Pena

INSIDE

TRAINING TRAPS ... BUT WITH WHAT? PG 58

BENCH PRESS SHIRT TESTED ... RESULTS INSIDE PG 60

FULL SUPPORT OF THE BARBELL ROW - LITERALLY PG 62

LAYING A FOUNDATION FOR STRENGTH PG 64

LET'S BLAST THE ARMS! PULLOUT

GOOD MORNING FOR A LIGHTS-OUT BACKSIDE PG 68

ONE-MINUTE LESSON

BY BILL GEIGER, MA

SPRING YOUR TRAPS

Should you train your traps as part of your delt or back workout?

ASK A SAMPLING of too lifters what muscle group they train their traps with and probably 50 will say back while the other 50 will say shoulders. That pretty well sums up the typical disagreement on the issue, but it would be a mistake to conclude that it doesn't really matter. The truth is, it does.

The traps, though of as one muscles with different movements. "The upper traps, which make up the most mass of the overall muscle, primarily lift and rotate the shoulder blades upward, as when shrugging the shoulders," says Jim Stoppani, PhD, M&F senior science editor and author of Encyclopedia of Muscle & Strength (Human Kinetics, 2006). "The midle traps primarily pull the shoulder blades together, and the lower traps rotate the shoulder blades downward."

Although trapezius training can be paired with either your shoulder or back workouts, Stoppani points out that most body builders train their traps, after shoulders because their primary interest is in developing the upper portion of the traps, and this area is already involved in most shoulder exercises. Following that logic, it makes sense to train them after shoulders, since they're warmed up and ready to go.Conversely, only the middle traps are involved in back exercises. For that reason, doing shrugs (upper traps) on back day might not be the wisest choice since they won't be warmed up.

But all in all. if you want to make the best possible choice between training traps with shoulders or back, go with shoulders or back, go with shoulders, Stoppani advises. Or if you want to take a slightly more complex route, divided your trap training between the two: Do shrugging moves with shoulders, and on back day (or in a separate stand-alone workout) hit your middle traps with your lower traps with lying dumbbell Y-raises to the front (which is like a front raise for delts, except you raise the bar completely overhead). We don't need a poll to know that's a great solution.

TARFET: TRAPS

Regardless of when you train traps, here are some moves to help target the large diamond-shaped slab of beef on your upper back.

AREA OF  BEST MOVES
TRAPS

UPPER    Shrug (barbell,
         dumbbell, Smith
         machine tra

MIDDLE   Row with any grip
         or handle
         (barbell,
         machine,
         dumbbell),
         especially those
         using a wide grip
         andbrought to the
         chest
         Incline dumbbell shrug
         Seated row shrug(1)

LOWER    Pulldown/pull-up
         Front overhead
         raise (barbell,
         dumbbell)
         Dumbbell Y-raise(2)
         Snatch


(1) On a seated row machine, keep your arms
straightwhile squeezing your shoulder blades
together.

(2) Lie facedown on a bench and lift dumbbells
up and out in a Y formation.

STRENGTH LAB

BY JIM STOPPANI, PHD

SHIRTS VS. SHIRTS

Is there actually clothing that can make you stronger?

THIS MONTH we investigate whether a shirt designed to give you more power can actually make you stronger in the gym.

* Your question: I noticed that Adidas sells the TechFit Powerweb shirt, which is supposed to give you more explosive power and stamina. Can it really help me lift more weight?

* What we did: To investigate whether using the Adidas TechFit Powerweb shirt can significantly affect bench press strength, we had a group of trained bodybuilders measure their six-rep max (6RM) on the bench press wearing either a regular shirt or the Adidas shirt. One week later they attempted as many reps as possible using the same 6RM weight, but wearing the opposite shirt as before.

* What we found: On average, every subject was able to complete about one-half of a rep more with the same weight on the bench press when wearing the Powerweb shirt. If you're wondering how we measured one-half of a rep, we didn't--the half-rep increase was due to the fact that half of the subjects got one more rep when wearing the Powerweb shirt while the other half reached six reps with the same weight regardless of the shirt they were wearing.

* For discussion: It appears that the Adidas TechFit Powerweb shirt does have a slight positive effect on muscle strength, allowing half of the subjects to increase the work they could perform on the bench with a given weight by one rep. The other half of the group experienced no measurable benefit from the Powerweb shirt; however, several of these subjects noted that the Adidas shirt gave them decent support in their shoulder girdle, which they appreciated--especially those with a history of shoulder issues.

* Final thought: With a price tag much higher than the old T-shirt you normally throw on when you train, it may seem like the Adidas TechFit Powerweb shirt isn't worth the money for such a small increase in strength. However, if you're serious about your training, you may want to reconsider. After all, getting just one more rep can make the difference between extra muscle strength and growth and stag- nation. Also, if you have shoulder issues, the support the Powerweb shirt offers can be more important, both physiiologically and psychologically, than even the best training partner.