How to Perform Shrugs

The gym, for me, is a learning center. Not a week goes by where I don't learn or make a new observation in the gym. My latest discovery took place last week when I was working out my traps.

Before

Before my observation, I used to perform shrugs with a barbell to allow me to utilize heavy weight. The problem with this was that even do I would target my traps, I would also be utilizing other muscle groups and my form would break down quickly.

After

After my observation. I completely changed the way I train my traps. The first difference is I now use dumbbells to perform shrugs. I feel like this allows me to have a larger range of motion. The second difference is the tempo at which I perform shrugs. I now use a 2/2/4 tempo. What that means is I take two seconds to shrug upwards followed by a two second pause at the top of the movement ending with an extremely slow release of 4 seconds. I try to get the most out of the negative portion of the rep. Obviously when utilizing this tempo, you won't be able to utilize heavy weight. To give you an idea, I used to utilize 85 pound dumbbells and I have now started using 60 pounds. I get a much better pump with the lighter weight and generally feel sore more often now than before.

Conclusion

This method is working for me but it might not work for you. Everybody has a different percentage of specific muscle fibers. Some fibers react better to heavy weight and low reps whereas other fibers react better to light weight and more reps. The reason I saw this is to mention how my traps are probably part of the second group of fibers I mentioned. Again, the reason I am saying that is to say that this technique might work for me but not for you. Make sure to experiment and find out what your body reacts to best!

You guys can tweet me @LuigiBucci_ if you have any comments or questions on this article. The next article will go into detail explaining the different types of muscle fibers! Stay tuned not to miss it.

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