Traps are the new abs!!

You may be a big guy at the gym or a guy who is ripped to the core or you may be someone who has T-shirt tearing biceps but unless you don’t have muscular traps you will not be as visually appealing. You know just by looking at a guy who has towering traps that he is not here to kid around. Those muscles around your neck can give you that strong aesthetic look. Nobody wants a slope running through their shoulders. If you are someone who is struggling to break though the plateau I have just the perfect routine for you. Read on to know more.

Training your traps should be more than just doing shrugs at the end of your back or shoulder workout. Shrugs are a staple for training traps but after sometime it become too monotonous. Also I have seen people doing shrugs with extremely heavy weights ultimately losing both form and the point of doing the exercise.

Training tip for shrugs: keep your arms neutral, head straight. Ensure you don’t bend your elbows cause that would activate your biceps and shoulders. Go heavy but don’t do ego lifting.

I have three exercises which would blast your traps:

1. Farmers Carry

I rarely see someone doing farmers carry at the gym. Which is exactly why you should be doing them. This is a long forgotten exercise. It’s too good of an exercise to ignore. It will not only hit the traps but your entire upper back. It also improves your grip strength which will help you with your other lifts. Just grab those 45s and start walking!

Training tip: Keep your head straight, chest forward, back upright and arms neutral. Don’t be afraid to go heavy on this. The whole point is to overload those traps.

2. Face Pulls

It’s a very effective exercise for targeting your middle traps. It is done using the cables. Hold the weight in front of your face then just pull it back as simple as that. A rope extension can be used to get a good contraction.

Training tip: Hold the contraction at the peak for a second and concentrate on eccentric.

3. One Arm Kettlebell Swing

Grab those kettlebells lying at the corner of your gym and put them to use. Starting position should be feet wide apart facing outwards, chest out, back arched, one arm behind your back. Start swinging.

Training tip: Focus on the way down through a controlled movement. That would engage your traps.

Try this routine:

• One Arm Kettlebell Swing 3 sets x 15 reps each side (30 seconds break in between sets)
• 1 minute break
• Superset x 3 (1 minute break in between sets)

          a) Face Pulls 15 reps (no break)

          b) Farmers Carry 60 seconds (no break)

          c) Straight into shrugs without dropping the weight

Try out this routine and let me know. You will surely see the changes in your trap development. Don’t let your traps be your weak point. Having those mountains behind your neck is what separates men from boys.

Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful. Enjoy your weekend. Cheers

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