# Shrugs



## CoffeeFiend (Aug 31, 2010)

What exactly do shrugs work? Obviously the shoulder but any parts in particular and also are they actually useful? Never see people talking about them but put all my weights into my dumbell case and tied some more 7.5kg discs onto the sides and started shrugging the whole lot earlier and damnnn my shoulders are killing!..

Are they useful or more just a end of workout thing?


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## 1Tonne (Jun 6, 2010)

Shruggs work out your traps. Same as Upright Row. And yes, imo they are a fundamental shoulder workout and i am yet to remove them from my workout.


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## mmts5 (Oct 27, 2009)

Traps mainly, but it seems people are divided about how effective they are, and there's a LOT of bad form doing this exercise, case of piling on the weight but limited ROM


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## Foamy (Jul 2, 2010)

Gotta love shrugs. Every shoulder sesh should have them on the end.


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## bry1979 (May 2, 2010)

shrugs work the upper traps mate, barbell and or d/b shrugs should be part of any shoulder routine.


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## CoffeeFiend (Aug 31, 2010)

1Tonne said:


> Shruggs work out your traps. Same as Upright Row. And yes, imo they are a fundamental shoulder workout and i am yet to remove them from my workout.


Liking the sound of this reckon im going to start making them a routine thing. Pretty much impossible to do wrong as well.


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## Foamy (Jul 2, 2010)

mmts5 said:


> Traps mainly, but it seems people are divided about how effective they are, and there's a LOT of bad form doing this exercise, case of piling on the weight but limited ROM


It's easy to chuck double the weight you should be shrugging on the dumb bells, but as said above, good form and a decent ROM comes from trial and error, start off low, say 30-60kg per side (dependant on build) and see if you are still getting your shoulders as high after a couple of sets of ten. If so, increase etc.


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## willsey4 (Apr 21, 2008)

1Tonne said:


> Shruggs work out your traps. Same as Upright Row. And yes, imo they are a fundamental shoulder workout and i am yet to remove them from my workout.





KRB said:


> Gotta love shrugs. Every shoulder sesh should have them on the end.





bry1979 said:


> shrugs work the upper traps mate, barbell and or d/b shrugs should be part of any shoulder routine.


Shrugs are great but I do not believe they are fundamental.

Heavy deads and other exercises will work the traps well.

Also if you do do shrugs and need to build your traps up then db shrugs imo are the way forward with very good range of movement and pausing slightly at the top and squeeze the traps in.

Its a common mistake that people think they need big weights and just "bounce" the weight up and down.


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## CoffeeFiend (Aug 31, 2010)

You guys are to damn useful reps to all :rockon:


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## willsey4 (Apr 21, 2008)

CoffeeFiend said:


> Liking the sound of this reckon im going to start making them a routine thing. *Pretty much impossible to do wrong as well.*


Again this is wrong.

One of the most common exercises to perform wrong.

*Edit - see my reply above. You will get more from slow big ROM shrugs with 30kg dumbells as you would bouncing 60kg dumbells.


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## evad (Mar 17, 2008)

bry1979 said:


> shrugs work the upper traps mate, barbell and or d/b shrugs should be part of any shoulder routine.


not sure I fully agree to be honest it depends on the individual, my traps have never been so big (for me anyway) and I used to shrug after deadlifts


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## CoffeeFiend (Aug 31, 2010)

willsey4 said:


> Shrugs are great but I do not believe they are fundamental.
> 
> Heavy deads and other exercises will work the traps well.
> 
> ...


Cheers mate, noted i was same with curls in a way when i first started out i would just do em as fast as i could instead of holding them up for a second to get a good squeeze and contraction before doing another rep. Need to keep applying quality over quantity to more things.


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## roadwarrior (Apr 29, 2006)

I find my traps respond better by just holding a weight for a long time, like carrying a heavy shopping basket or pushing a wheelbarrow.


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## evad (Mar 17, 2008)

roadwarrior said:


> I find my traps respond better by just holding a weight for a long time, like carrying a heavy shopping basket or pushing a wheelbarrow.


static grips!!!!

I've just started doing these again, love them :thumb:

I agree, I prefer them to shrugs, although I'm partial to the odd plate pinch too


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## ^King Leonidas^ (Aug 29, 2009)

Heavy deads and rows = huge traps imo iv never done shrugs and my traps are growing fine. Iv noticed powerlifters always have great traps must be due to heavy deads etc :thumb:


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## bry1979 (May 2, 2010)

willsey4 said:


> Shrugs are great but I do not believe they are fundamental.
> 
> Heavy deads and other exercises will work the traps well.
> 
> ...


not fundamental if you want average traps but there are if you want better than average. Sure deads will work them so will other compound moves, but to add that extra thickness they need to be isolated. Also d/b shrugs are only a variation of the move, bb shrugs, reverse bb shrugs, incline bench shrugs etc can all be used for good results.


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

My traps got bigger as i stopped shrugging and started taking deadlift seriously

Jim Wendler who has big ****ing traps and is some one whos nuts I ride also advises doing heavy deads and not alot of shrugging


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

Also i dont like doing shrugs because when i use a BB i just seem to scrape my nuts


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2010)

I gotta disagree with doing them slowly and squeezing all the time, I did that for along time and never really saw any size gains in my traps. I started doing shrugs real heavy with a bit looser form and within 5 months my traps have grown a hell of alot. Everyone reacts differently


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## Andrew Jacks (Sep 29, 2010)

^King Leonidas^ said:


> Heavy deads and rows = huge traps imo iv never done shrugs and my traps are growing fine. Iv noticed powerlifters always have great traps must be due to heavy deads etc :thumb:


Fully agree :thumb:


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## littlesimon (May 24, 2010)

I'm also in the "Deadlifts are better" camp.

I know of some guys who use shrugs as part of their assistance work for deadlifts. Olympic lifters perform alot of power shrugs.

I understand people performing shrugs from a Bodybuilding point of view, but I don't think they're much use if a trainee isn't deadlifting or rowing heavy weights.


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## CoffeeFiend (Aug 31, 2010)

Hmmmm cheers guys this advice has all been pretty useful to me. Was originally asking because i thought they worked the shoulders but im hearing traps which are like very top upper back muscles right? So do they work the shoulders as well just to a lesser extent?

And its recommended that a good technique is a slow shrug, up hold, little squeeze and contraction then down slowly, rep done repeat. Rather than bouncing off loads of fast ones?

I neglect my shoulders i want em bigger


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

Sy. said:


> Only really shurg every 3rd shoulder session. dont see the need with heavy deads.. wouldnt say my traps are lagging anyway..
> 
> From what ive seen its lower traps people need to pay more attention to


You dont look very "thick" in your avi though mate, so maybe you should start doing heavy deads and squats


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

CoffeeFiend said:


> Hmmmm cheers guys this advice has all been pretty useful to me. Was originally asking because i thought they worked the shoulders but im hearing traps which are like very top upper back muscles right? So do they work the shoulders as well just to a lesser extent?
> 
> And its recommended that a good technique is a slow shrug, up hold, little squeeze and contraction then down slowly, rep done repeat. Rather than bouncing off loads of fast ones?
> 
> I neglect my shoulders i want em bigger


Do over head/militairy press for shoulders


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## Smitch (Dec 29, 2008)

See loads of knobs doing 'shrugs' with the 45kg db's down at my gym, they can't even actually shrug them and just look stupid.

I occassionally do them using the 27.5's, they don't do much for me if i'm honest.


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## Robbo90 (Mar 6, 2008)

Do heavy rack dead lifts instead. They'll give you big traps.


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## xpower (Jul 28, 2009)

Started doing shrugs for a few weeks,but the bar rubs in the wrong place down below lol


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## Barker (Oct 1, 2009)

Always wondered whether people did these on shoulder or back days


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## Ash1981 (Jun 16, 2009)

for me shrugs are to be done on back day.

but i respond to heavy deads, anything else is just a time filler, my back grows(inc traps) with just picking some heavy **** off the floor

love it


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## nelly1972 (Jun 15, 2010)

Deadlifts and farmers walk for me, also do power cleans and rows so my traps get a good workout through the week..


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## thereisnoexit (Aug 26, 2009)

You simply cant go without shrugs... they directly hit the trapezious (upper) and indirectly the biceps deltoids (all heads) forearms, spinal erectors, lower and upper back.

Make sure your form is good but personally i've founds sacraficing some form for weight on this exercise has actually been beneficial (this is literally the only exercise I've found to be the case).

I personally lump the weight up on a straight bar up to about 200kg then on the final set dropset the weight down to around 60kg in stages improving form and slowing reps as i drop down in weight.. do 3 sets with the final being the drop set.

Then follow this up with dumbell shrugs.. do as many as i can both hands then start single shrugging each shoulder.. do this to exhaustion for maybe 2 sets.

Traps are easliy one of my best bodyparts and I attribute this (in part) to this form of training them.


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