Close grip upright rows working better than shrugs

[Aggression]

I used to do barbell shrugs for my traps but I have replaced them with close grip barbell upright rows.

For the last 3 weeks I have been doing this exercise 5 sets reps of 10,8,6,4 and one last set until failure all while INCREASING the weight each set.

My traps are bigger and from the back my traps look alot better. Anyone else get better results from close grip upright rows than shrugs?

[Bigpup101]

i've done shrugs heavy, low reps..light high reps..to the front to the side behind the back..never had any type of real growth or soreness till i started doing power cleans

[RoNNy THe BuLL]

A lot of it has to do with your Rear Delt development. It brings a whole new look to your back and traps.

But if you're lookin' better, then stick too it. I may give it a shot for a few weeks and see what happens.

[63190]

I've done those and never really noticed any difference in soreness. I started totally blitzing them with a vengenace to get a good pump/burn.
4x8 Clean and press
Push press 6, 4, 2 (10lb increase every set)
Heavy Up-right row 8, 6, 4 (10lb increase every set)
DB shrugs 4x12 as heavy as possible. Shoot to fail on the last rep. Hold at the top for a second or two every rep. At the end of the set grab some DB's that are to heavy to lift but try any way for a 30 second count.
Pitcher pours 4x12
That works for me. On my light shoulder days:
Seated Behind the neck military press
Super set dumbell laterals 5lbs 13-14 reps or so
Seated DB press
Super set dumbell laterals 5lbs 13-14 reps or so
Shoulder press machine
Super set dumbell laterals 5lbs 13-14 reps or so
Seated Cable Lateral raises. Make sure your starting point is across from the shoulder you working on. IE: For your left shoulder starting point is your left hand across to your right hip. You can do these infront or behind the back.

[Merlin_TM]

The reason this has been working for you is because you haven't been working your entire traps with shrugs. Don't make the mistake of thinking that the traps are two separate muscles above your shoulders. It's one big muscle with a few different parts, each of which performing different functions - so obvisously a wider variety of exercises is beneficial.