Dumbbell Shrug
Train your upper back with this dumbbell exercise.
By Michael Yessis, PhD
Stand with your feet just inside shoulder width, your legs straight but not completely locked. Keep your head straight, shoulders back and chest out.
Hold a pair of dumbbells on the outside of your thighs (just slightly forward) with your palms facing in. Your arms and shoulders should be somewhat relaxed but still have sufficient muscular tension to support the dumbbells comfortably and to keep your shoulders from rounding.
Inhale, hold your breath and raise your shoulders as high as possible. Keep your shoulders back, chest out and eyes focused straight ahead. After reaching maximum height, tighten and hold for 1-2 seconds and exhale.Slowly relax the muscles involved as you lower your shoulders to the initial position under control. Pause momentarily, then repeat.
Workout Tips
To ensure a full range of motion, actively stretch your shoulders before beginning the exercise. Hang relaxed from a high bar with straight arms, then do several short-range pull-ups (4-5 inches) with a full relaxed hang between reps.
Don't relax the muscles completely between repetitions -- your shoulders will become rounded and the weights can move slightly in front of the body. If you start the exercise from this position, you'll create a rounded-shoulder posture rather than an effective shoulders-back, chest-out posture.
The higher you raise your shoulders, the greater the shortening of the upper trapezius and levator scapulae, which will produce greater muscle mass.Using excessive weight can minimize the range of motion and accentuate a sloping shoulder position. It may also contribute to greater compaction of the spinal discs.
Inhale and hold your breath on exertion to maintain a strong spinal position and rigid torso, allowing you to achieve effective muscular action and helping to prevent excessive compaction of the discs.
The shrug exercise is most effective for developing the uppermost portion of the trapezius. Do other exercises to target the middle and lower sections of the muscle.Look straight ahead to ensure proper spinal alignment.For maximum effectiveness, use dumbbells. If you use a barbell, your hands will be too far in front of your body, which can contribute to rounding off your shoulders.
Major Muscles Involved
The upper trapezius fibers, levator scapulae and rhomboid muscles run in pairs, one on each side of the spine. The trapezius covers the entire upper middle back, extending from the base of the skull, out to the sides to the top of the shoulders and to the bottom of the thoracic spine. The uppermost portion attaches to the clavicle (collarbone); the slightly thicker fibers directly below run from the spine to the scapulae (shoulder blades).
The rhomboid lies beneath the middle portion of the trapezius from the upper thoracic spine to the shoulder blades. The levator scapulae lie beneath the upper trapezius, originate from the cervical spine and attach to the shoulder blade.
Muscle/Joint Actions
In the shoulder shrug, the levator scapulae have a direct line of pull to elevate the shoulder blades, and the upper trapezius fibers play a similar role in raising the collarbone and shoulder blades. The rhomboid is crucial in the initial raising action, or retraction of the shoulder blades, and its role diminishes the closer the shoulders get to the base of the ears.
The upper portion of the trapezius is also involved in upward rotation of the shoulder blades; the rhomboid also rotates the shoulder blades downward. These muscles perform elevation by simultaneously canceling out the opposite rotational effects.
Sport Uses
For bodybuilders, the shoulder shrug is the main exercise for developing the upper portion of the trapezius muscle. Your posture and aesthetic appeal can be improved as well. In weightlifting, the shrug is used in bringing the bar up as high as possible before executing the drop under the bar in the cleans and snatch. Strong, developed traps are also important for the deadlift in both powerlifting and bodybuilding.
Shoulder elevation is a key action in raising the arms overhead, making it vital in all racket sports such as in the tennis serve and overheads, all overhand throwing, climbing and reaching. In volleyball and basketball, it helps raise the arms to catch, hit or shoot a ball. In gymnastics, shoulder elevation plays a crucial role in lengthening and shortening the radius of rotation when swinging on the horizontal bar, uneven bars and rings. In football, the shoulder shrug develops a stronger, more injury-resistant neck.
