Comments on: Trapezius Workouts. 9 Ways To Get Your Traps To Grow https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/ free workouts to build muscle & lose fat fast Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:56:03 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: marcus https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69856 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:56:03 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69856 I have been looking round plenty of websites, and the good ones always say don’t snatch but go slow. Today I went extra slow in the gym. A big muscled guy there lifted a 30kg dumbbell swung it about using momentum, shrugged with 30kg in each hand, bent his elbows and each rep lasted about 1-2 seconds. He has a massive muscular build. I can’t help but think it wasn’t obtained the ‘natural’ way. Mark’s methods make sense, but sadly I am unable to follow his regimen to the letter. Nonetheless, the underlying principles are working for me, slowly, but working. Today I feel more pumped and energised than ever, but I still have a long way to go. And I haven’t had a cigarette in 4 weeks now. Missing ’em like hell (that’s what 43 years of smoking does for you) and I my work outs are already improving. If anybody else out there is still puffing on the weed, give it up guys, it’s for your own benefit.

]]> By: Mark McManus https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69855 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:21:45 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69855 @Ethan. Yes, consistent effort is most definitely required. However, those who reach the very top rung are those who have put in the effort and have the necessary genetics. For example, if you could actually see the genetics of IFBB pro bodybuilders, you would see that they have all the genetics advantages that the sport requires. Add in years of effort & drugs and you get an overly massive pro bodybuilder. Does this mean that a guy without these genetics can put in years of effort and take drugs to reach the top? No. He or she just doesn’t have the muscle fiber density, muscle length, the myostatin-deficiency advantage, and so on. See this article I wrote on 6 genetic factors that have a massive impact on bodybuilding success. https://musclehack.com/can-we-all-be-as-big-as-arnold-bodybuilding-genetics-explained/
@Mike Huber. Thanks, bud!

]]> By: Mike Huber https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69854 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:48:34 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69854 They are the best, low pulley shrugs. I just have to be stricter with cadence, especially at PCP. Slowing down and staying w/cadence works. It did wonders with my bench press last summer. I just get in that hurry up mode in life and sometimes it gets into my workouts. A good article and Thank You Mark!!

]]> By: Ethan https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69853 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:31:11 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69853 Agree with all of your points except:

“…those who reach the top level in the sport are only those who were dealt the correct genetic cards at birth.”

Genetics play a role (nature), but that’s only one part of peak performance in sport. Success for the athlete also relies on the training and environment of the individual (nurture), which can even supersede their genetic predictors of potential.

]]> By: Raymond Reid https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69852 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:49:28 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69852 I want to get bigger, so I guest will help me a lot, thanks.

]]> By: Mark McManus https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69851 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:18:00 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69851 @Jacob. Thanks
@John. You’ll get it next time. Regarding the trap bar, no. You get inside it, your arms are out to the side, really good for good form!
@Martin. Thanks. That would require a few thousand words to answer in full. However, I have covered the issue in other articles and probably most thoroughly in the THT4 book. You should read all the sections in there regarding intensity, volume, and frequency. I cover this idea that “total volume” is more important than intensity, which it isn’t. I also cover the “CNS-frying” nonsense too. There is also info on the limit of volume that should be used per body-part per workout. Optimal rest between sets is also very important when training with 100% intensity of effort. All principles of THT must be understand as a whole because these bodybuilding principles are interdependent.

]]> By: cudd2287 https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69850 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:16:42 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69850 great article i always tell whoever im training with the same things. they usualy lifting far to heavey a weight and their range of motion is about 2 inches. I always lift with a weight i can do full rom with. when i push my shoulders down as far as they can go then pull them up as far as i can my rom is about 6 inches and i get a far beter feeling in my traps

]]> By: John A Davis https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69849 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:41:32 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69849 Wish I had read this before the gym this morning.
I have lowered the weight, I am trying to hit my ears with my shoulder, I need to review arms straight, but I think I have it, my cadence could be slightly improved.
I’m thinking I could lower the weight even more even though I am hitting 8-9 reps for the last 40 weeks. . . . . .

That trap bar you show. Doesn’t that put your arms too far out in front of you. I have been dragging the Smith bar up my front basically as close as possible.

]]> By: jacob https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69848 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:26:41 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69848 hey mark, great info for us to work the traps.

]]> By: Martin https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69847 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:42:25 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69847 Hi Mark
I have had your site on my favorites since you did the podcast on living la vida lo-carb. Twice i lost my computer and your ebook with it.
This may be somewhat off topic, but I have wanted to ask this for a long time.
why do you go to failure?
From the research i have read, it seems that the main stimulus for muscle growth is progressive overload. Secondly the more volume you can do, the better. A third factor, but of much less importance, is hypoxia, which is where i expect failure comes in.
However, it seems to me that going to failure would stress the cns such that it would reduce the volume that can be done in a workout and the frequency of workouts. Since the rate of protein synthesis in muscle returns to normal in as little as 36hrs it seems to me that if you stay away from failure you can increase the volume and frequency, which would be better for growth.
However, you are well experienced in the field and that is why i ask the question.
Thanks for a great blog

martin

]]> By: Mark McManus https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69846 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:56:26 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69846 @Jason. Great point. Calf training is another example of where this technique works best.

]]> By: Mark McManus https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69845 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:54:56 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69845 @Wouter. Yeah I can only do them on my home equipment where I can add as much weight as I like 🙂
@Arjun. No I disagree with that. The more explosive the lift the lower the resistance because of the added momentum, it’s just physics. When you see large olympic lifters, it’s a good example of “accelerated natural selection”. It’s the same as swimmer’s physiques. People make the erroneous assumption that in order to get that type of body, they should just train the same way. Not realizing that natural selection over the years has eliminated those without the necessary genetics, meaning those who reach the top level in the sport are only those who were dealt the correct genetic cards at birth. It would require more explanation and I might write an article about it. Regardless, max growth stimulation in any exercise requires max muscle fiber recruitment; the technique described in my article will take care of this. Jump shrugs and the like won’t.

]]> By: jason https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69844 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:54:28 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69844 @arjun..I tried the explosive lifts with shrugs, infact in the beginning thats the only cadence i did with shrugs. My traps never grew and then I started doing them slower as it’s a short movement, you need to contract the traps at the top and get a full stretch at the bottom, the same I’m now doing with calf raises and it’s working great for me. If you are building by doing the explosive movements then carry on doing it, if your’e stuck then read this article again and do your shrugs slower.

]]> By: Arjun https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69843 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:24:00 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69843 Mark – i’m a great reader of your blog. However when you say slow the cadence – i don’t quite agree with this line of thinking for one reason.

Explosive lifting, ie the Olympic lifts and their variants add mass like no others to the traps. Think jump shrugs, high pulls, cleans, snatches. And they also add a different dimension to standard bodybuilding training.

]]> By: Wouter https://musclehack.com/trapezius-workouts-9-ways-to-get-your-traps-to-grow/#comment-69842 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:22:29 +0000 https://musclehack.com/?p=6107#comment-69842 Low pulley shrugs are the best, but I can’t do them anymore. Like you said – not every gym has that kind of weight on a pulley.

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