Exercies that doesnt involve the traps.

[ShortMonster]

Im looking to improve my shoulder and back with. I usually do bent over BB rows, clean and press, lateral raises, bradford press. But they all hit the traps too much, maybe its my forum? Any shoulder/back exercises you guys can think of that doesn't hit the traps?

[Montague]

Lateral raises hitting too much traps is a form/technique issue.
Oftentimes, it is caused by using too much weight.

[dyslexic]

Running around with traps that are too big has never been a problem for anyone I know.


If you want to widen your lats, just tie your wrists to a chinning bar and hang there for a few days. If you want to create more of an "illusion' of width, do shit-loads of dumbell side lateral raises.


I would say in all seriousness, just blast your back and delts with anything and everything (including DL's)-- don't worry about your traps hitting your ears. If they aren't already overblown, they probably never will be.


Good luck.

[tbombz]

behind the neck press, military press, barbell upright rows, barbell rows, deadlifts, pulldowns/pullups, pullovers

[_bruce_]

behind the neck press, military press, barbell upright rows, barbell rows, deadlifts, pulldowns/pullups, pullovers

These helped + change of posture during training and other activities...
Try to pull your shoulders back "to the side"... all traps was when I let my shoulders slump forward...

[ShortMonster]

behind the neck press, military press, barbell upright rows, barbell rows, deadlifts, pulldowns/pullups, pullovers

Dead lifts involve the traps dude.

[tbombz]

Dead lifts involve the traps dude.

they do, so do upright rows, and to a lesser extent all of those exercises.

[ShortMonster]

they do, so do upright rows, and to a lesser extent all of those exercises.

Im looking for exercises that DONT involve the traps.

[haider]

u can experiment with different variations of presses- military presses, db presses, etc.

try lateral raises more strcitly making sure you're moving your elbow as far away from your body as possible.

I would check the form on bb rows, making them a little stricter with your torso parallel to the ground and your elbows in. There's also a whole variety of rows and vertical pulling (pulldowns/ chinups) that you can try.

[Montague]

I prefer doing upright rows/high pulls – raising the bar only as high as the sternum, using a very wide grip.
To give you an idea of the grip, my forearms are perpendicular to the floor at the topmost part of the rep.
Keep the shoulders back, lead with the elbows and keep the bar close to the body.

Done in this manner, most of the stress is placed on the side delts.

As Dizzy mentioned above, many compound movements involve traps as a secondary muscle.
Form & technique modification can help reduce trap involvement in some of those movements.

[jpm101]

Another challenge and trick question(?) from SM I see. He's testing us, I do believe.

All forms of overhead presses (BB, DB or cable) involve the traps. When, on the way overhead, the elbows reach a little below shoulder level, that is when the traps come into play strongly. Traps come into play with most pulling exercise, almost from the very start. Haider makes a good point about elbows. The elbows can be very important in most exercises and where you may want the main focus of an exercise; traps, chest, delts, etc.

   The traps are one of the main stable forces of the upper body. Any extension exercise (out and away from the body) like lateral, front and rear raises hit the traps also.  So, in a lot of ways, your SOL when trying not to involve the important short range and very powerful traps. Even benching comes into trap play. Squats have the traps as a main player.

Here are some suggestions, for what they may or may not be worth. But in any event, the traps will not be taken completely  out of these movements. But than again, why would you want to?

 For the lat's/back you might try pullovers (straight or bent arm), an exceptional stretch and lat mass builder.Can work up to some very impressive weight with the bent arm version, either BB or DB.

With delts try lying side raises, but from a different angle. Lay on your side and have a DB, on the floor, by the upper legs. Now raise the DB up directly  overhead and lower it behind the body. Raise it up back overhead and lower it to the front original position.That's considered one rep.   Use the floor/mat/bench or a incline bench but an incline bench may offer better tension on the delts through the whole lift. Switch it up now and than. Can also do front incline raises.

Sure there are other ways to limit the traps, lot of good ideas of GB. Experience is a good teacher. I'm kind of tapped out myself on much more than what had been suggested. But no matter, taking the traps out of any exercise may be near impossible. Gironda tried, but with limited success. Good Luck.

[ShortMonster]

Another challenge and trick question(?) from SM I see. He's testing us, I do believe.

All forms of overhead presses (BB, DB or cable) involve the traps. When, on the way overhead, the elbows reach a little below shoulder level, that is when the traps come into play strongly. Traps come into play with most pulling exercise, almost from the very start. Haider makes a good point about elbows. The elbows can be very important in most exercises and where you may want the main focus of an exercise; traps, chest, delts, etc.

   The traps are one of the main stable forces of the upper body. Any extension exercise (out and away from the body) like lateral, front and rear raises hit the traps also.  So, in a lot of ways, your SOL when trying not to involve the important short range and very powerful traps. Even benching comes into trap play. Squats have the traps as a main player.

Here are some suggestions, for what they may or may not be worth. But in any event, the traps will not be taken completely  out of these movements. But than again, why would you want to?

 For the lat's/back you might try pullovers (straight or bent arm), an exceptional stretch and lat mass builder.Can work up to some very impressive weight with the bent arm version, either BB or DB.

With delts try lying side raises, but from a different angle. Lay on your side and have a DB, on the floor, by the upper legs. Now raise the DB up directly  overhead and lower it behind the body. Raise it up back overhead and lower it to the front original position.That's considered one rep.   Use the floor/mat/bench or a incline bench but an incline bench may offer better tension on the delts through the whole lift. Switch it up now and than. Can also do front incline raises.

Sure there are other ways to limit the traps, lot of good ideas of GB. Experience is a good teacher. I'm kind of tapped out myself on much more than what had been suggested. But no matter, taking the traps out of any exercise may be near impossible. Gironda tried, but with limited success. Good Luck.

Once again thanks for the response, always detailed and highly explanatory. To be honest with you bro im not testing anyone. Im asking questions that I should of asked 4 years ago when I started training. Plus if I was to ask these on BB.com I definitely would not get the same answers as I would here.