Traps Development for Rookies
Zach Bashore
February 12, 2006
The traps are those stubborn, little muscles that run between your shoulders and neck. Learning the basics of trap development will increase your chances of success when trying to make them stand out. You are going to learn the muscles that make up the traps muscle, exercises to make them grow, and the best day to train them. Using this knowledge should give you the ability to incorporate what you`ve learned into your own workout program.
The traps are responsible for giving a person that v-shaped look. The primary muscles that make up the traps are the trapezius and levator scapulae. The trapezius` job is to elevate, adduct, and depress the scapula. The levator scapulae is responsible for elevation of the scapula. It`s very important that you know these different sections so you have the abiltiy to target those muscles in the gym.
If you have a gym membership and have access to machines, trap training is so much easier. The best exercises on a machine are the low-pulley row to neck, smith-machine shrug, calf machine shoulder shrug, and smith-machine upright row. However, if you workout at home and only use dumbbells you can get an effective workout doing upright rows, dumbbell shrugs, and dumbbell shrugs behind your back. Whatever equipment suits your needs, you can get a good workout with almost anything.
Many bodybuilders train their traps on the same day as chest and triceps, which is fine if you don`t mind training three bodyparts in one day. You can also train them on the same day as shoulders and deltoids or just by themselves. You also need to pay attention to the the amount of reps you perform. A good rule is if you`re looking to gain mass then you should use heavy weights with a low rep scheme. While cutting, it`s the exact opposite. You want to use light to medium weights just with more repetitions.
The traps are considered a small muscle group by some, but for the true bodybuilder, it is just as important of a muscle group as anything else. You rarely see a person with outstanding looking traps which is the first thing you can tell if someone works out. Stand out from the rest of the bunch and turn those traps into mountains. Until next time, later.
