No more mousetraps

Men's Fitness, March, 2003

My training partner and I do the exact same routine, yet he has huge traps while I have small ones. What gives?

--P.J., CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Could be genetics, could be exercise selection, could be exercise technique. "If you have genetically underdeveloped traps, then it's probably not a powerful muscle for you, so you tend not to use it; this can become a vicious cycle," says Tom Seabourne, who has a doctorate in exercise science and coauthored Absolute Abs with Scott Cole.

"Many guys with excellent traps development either come by it genetically or because they naturally use them when they weight-train," Seabourne adds. "Often, guys with poor traps will put excess effort into training their traps, or ignore them altogether. Neither of these strategies is the best way to overcome this problem." Seabourne suggests doing the following instead:

* "Focus on overall shoulder development rather than exercises designed to directly hit your traps," he says. This means you should do overhead pressing movements with dumbbells and barbells. "When you work your shoulders with these weights, your body must work to stabilize the weight," he explains. The trapezius muscle is an important stabilizer and a secondary source of power. Place these pressing movements at the beginning of your shoulder work.

* Include full-body training in your workouts. "Anecdotally, I've noticed that guys who do a lot of full-body movements, such as deadlifts and clean-and-presses, almost always have well-developed traps," Seabourne says. "While these exercises don't directly target the traps, they take so much strength and power to perform properly, the traps are naturally stimulated."

* Don't overemphasize isolation exercises. "When you do isolation movements, you don't have as great an ability to develop your entire body," Seabourne says. A guy who tries to isolate his traps by doing only shrugs and upright rows may miss out on all the benefits of our program that not only affect the traps, but the entire body as well (see chart, opposite page). Seabourne suggests keeping traps-isolation movements to one exercise at the end of your shoulder work.

* Pay attention to your form. When you include exercises that directly hit your traps, such as shrugs or upright rows, you should keep the weights light enough so that you can really isolate them. "Using too much weight for an exercise such as shrugs turns it into a full-body cheat movement," Seabourne says. "If your goal is to stimulate trapezius growth, you need to work that muscle with as much intensity as possible without recruiting a lot of other supporting muscles."

Finally, Seabourne recommends changing your training routine so that you have one full-body-training day a week (see chart, below). "Try this training split for two or three months and see if that doesn't make a big difference in your trapezius--and overall--development."

For specific form tips, we turned to Dave Harris, C.S.C.S. Like Seabourne, Harris advises focusing on overall body movements and when directly working the traps, using an exercise that isolates them as much as possible.

FULL-BODY MOVEMENTS

Deadlift. "The deadlift is a similar movement to the squat," Harris says, "except you lift the weight from the ground instead of allowing it to rest on your shoulders. One crucial difference is that you can readily recruit your traps for deadlifts."

To perform the exercise: "Squat down and grab hold of the bar as it rests on the floor. Holding your body tight, with your back flat and your spine in its neutral position, drive through your heels, using the power of your legs and back until you're standing upright. Lower the weight using control."

Clean-and-press. To perform the exercise: "Hold the weights with an overhand grip, with the bar at upper-thigh level," Harris says. "Throw your elbows forward and raise your upper arms at the same time, allowing you to flip the bar and catch it near your shoulders. This really activates the traps, as well as many other muscles. Next, holding the core of your body tight, press the barbell overhead. Reverse the process, returning the weight back to your chest and then to your upper thighs." (For each exercise do four sets of six to eight reps, pyramiding up in weight.)

ISOLATION MOVEMENT

Seated single-arm shrug. "My favorite traps-isolation exercise is the seated single-arm shrug," says Harris. "It allows for the least amount of cheating, which gives you the greatest amount of isolation. Generally, higher reps are better for isolation movements because they increase the time under tension."

To perform the exercise: "Sit on a bench and hold a dumbbell in one hand [or both, if you prefer, for balance]," Harris says. "Shrug the weight up and hold it for a second at the top, then lower it slowly in a controlled negative. Both of these techniques expand the time under tension. Use a moderate weight that you can maintain control over through the whole set. When you use too much weight, you don't get a full contraction and you don't get as much development." (Perform three or four sets of 12 to 15 reps.)