Trapezius muscle(traps) is a large muscle bundle that extends from the back of your head and neck to your shoulder. The functional parts are an upper region that supports the weight of the arm, a middle region that retracts the scapula, and a lower region that rotates and depresses the scapula.
Trapezius muscles can be stubborn when it comes to growth and many of you train your traps very hard but it cannot give you any result so you need to make some smart changes to train your traps. Many of you see pro-bodybuilders and think that is why your trap is not like them and you start training your traps hard and do all the exercises still you cannot see the results. Most people don’t have the kind of traps they want because they aren’t training them the right way. So, here are the five techniques that help you to train your traps.
FULL RANGE OF MOTION
Barbell shrugs upward for a full contraction
Everybody does one main exercise to build traps i.e. shrugs either by dumbbell, machine, or a barbell but one thing most of them do wrong is to go way too heavy which further reduces this exercise which is already in short-range motion. If you reduce the range of motion then your traps can’t lead to growth. So, you have to lift weight according to your potential and don’t do ego lifting. Your goal is to build traps so keep the range of motion as wide as you can then let your traps fully stretch at the bottom and shrug upward for full contraction. This will lead to the growth of the trap.
HIT TRAPS TWICE A WEEK
Any stubborn body part can only grow by giving extra attention. If your traps are not growing then start hitting your traps twice a week. Work them once at the start of your workout with back then again work them at the end of the workout with another body part (say, chest day or shoulder day). Hit your traps like this and your body will adapt to it. If they are always sore and they don’t get enough rest then change your format and start hitting once in a week, by the time you will see the improvements in your trap.
STRETCH YOUR TRAPS HARD
Trap stretching
Whenever you hit your trap exercise, make sure you try to do it slowly. When you perform the exercise slowly then only it will hit your traps hard and give you better results. At the end of your training, you will strap on a heavy barbell or heavy dumbbell and let your arm hang down in a fully stretched position and hold it for 30-60 seconds.it is one of those pains that feels so good.
HIGHER REPS
Since shrugs have a short range of motion, you have to do more reps than normal for the proper growth of your traps. If you are doing 8-12 reps then it is not enough for training your traps, you have to give more tension on your traps so move into the 12-15 or 15-20 rep range. You have to use heavy volume principles to train your traps. Once you did your reps you felt soreness in your traps that means growth is on the way.
THE EFFECTIVE EXERCISE FOR TRAP BUILDER
Shrugs are a great trap exercise but it is not the only exercise to build your traps, many exercises are there that can hit your traps hard (say, rack pull). This exercise won’t just train your traps but also increase your overall strength and make the better form for compound lifts. By taking the weight off the ground you can focus more on pull without taking the full range of motion and hold it. This exercise also gives proper attention to the trap.
To get your trapezius muscle to grow you have to follow all the techniques properly i.e. by doing a full range of motion for shrugs, higher reps, stretch your trap hard, hit them twice a week, and start concentrating on your traps at the time of exercise and focus on the movement of muscles this will ensure that you are not making any mistake in your exercise.
