Traps. Shoulder or back day?

**bigfish** · 10-17-2006, 10:33 PM

I've always done my shoulders and back on the sam day. I'm going to seperate them and was wondering what day do you guys do traps? I'm not really sure but I think they are considered an extension of your shoulders.

**IBdmfkr** · 10-17-2006, 10:45 PM

Traps are part of your back.

**Leader05** · 10-18-2006, 01:09 AM

I find traps are the easiet part of body that expand quickly. Lookout for exercise guide to know what technique is good for u, and equipment (barbell, dumbell, or cable) is suitable to ur exercise needs.
good luck

**ccampbell33** · 10-18-2006, 07:48 AM

Ive Always done them with shoulders works great for me

**doby48** · 10-18-2006, 08:48 AM

Target the traps on back day, however, on shoulder day traps will be a secondary muscle group hit for many different shoulder exercises.

**helium3** · 10-18-2006, 09:00 AM

i look at it this way deads work my back and traps so i do traps on shoulders day instead,makes more sense,they get some extra work.

***Doc.Sust*** · 10-18-2006, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by helium3

i look at it this way deads work my back and traps so i do traps on shoulders day instead,makes more sense,they get some extra work.

OR the flip side of the coin is, you may be overtrain with your aproach,because you get alot of trap use on the day you deadlift. it may not be necessary to do traps at all if you are real beat up from doing the deadlift, or you can look at it like this, after you deadlift, your traps are already fatigued, you may consider doing a few sets of shrugs or high pulls that day to finish them off for the wk. it cuts down the number of exercise needed for a body part. i call this approach"killing 2 birds with one stone" i do this often with chest and tri's and back in bi's . always do the major movement first, pre fatigue the auxillary muscle , and than when finished with the major movement , time to finish off the minor. does that make sense to you?

the answer to your question isthis, it is a personal choice, there is not one unified answer, it depends on you

**IBdmfkr** · 10-18-2006, 11:03 AM

Exactly DocSust.. many ppl over train them leading to stunted growth and small traps.

**italianplayboy09** · 10-18-2006, 12:14 PM

i do them on shoulder days, dumbells for the front...barbell for the back

***Doc.Sust*** · 10-18-2006, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by I**mfkr

Exactly DocSust.. many ppl over train them leading to stunted growth and small traps.

many ppl over train everything!!haha, les is always better, more volume does not always = more size, it is a fine line you have to learn to walk

**peteroy01** · 10-18-2006, 03:29 PM

i work my traps with my shoulders cause they are already preexausted after shoulders. i grab some dumbs and do 4sets of shrugs thats it. Truthfully when i do deads i feel my traps being worked but not as much as lifting shoulders. i guess everyone here is on one side or the other. try both and see for urself.

**ITALIANMAN** · 10-18-2006, 04:06 PM

i do them on shoulder day...i do 3 sets with dums to the front then behing the back with barbell

**RuhlFreak55** · 10-18-2006, 06:17 PM

i do em with shoulders.......not nearly enough time on back day for trap exercises......

**Superhuman** · 10-18-2006, 07:02 PM

I do traps like once a month and I do them on Shoulder day... I only do like 3 sets of Dumbell Shrugs. My traps grow easily

**rukus43** · 10-18-2006, 09:50 PM

I do traps on shoulder day as I don't have the time nor energy to do them on back day...try it out and see what you like best.

**V_Vandetta** · 10-19-2006, 07:08 AM

I like sholders and traps .. Isometric is key IMO training to restrict the flow of blood to one muscle ... with out useing the secondary muscle

**helium3** · 10-19-2006, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by Doc.Sust

OR the flip side of the coin is, you may be overtrain with your aproach,because you get alot of trap use on the day you deadlift. it may not be necessary to do traps at all if you are real beat up from doing the deadlift, or you can look at it like this, after you deadlift, your traps are already fatigued, you may consider doing a few sets of shrugs or high pulls that day to finish them off for the wk. it cuts down the number of exercise needed for a body part. i call this approach"killing 2 birds with one stone" i do this often with chest and tri's and back in bi's . always do the major movement first, pre fatigue the auxillary muscle , and than when finished with the major movement , time to finish off the minor. does that make sense to you?

the answer to your question isthis, it is a personal choice, there is not one unified answer, it depends on you

i agree to an extent but my workout involves adjusted volume so i never overtrain.

**IBdmfkr** · 10-19-2006, 09:03 AM

Adjusted volume so you don't overtrain? The intensity and rest causes overtraining not the volume.

Wouldn't it make more sense to do max intensity volume and take more rest days as it'd provoke more growth than just lowering intensity to avoid overtraining?

**helium3** · 10-19-2006, 09:24 AM

depends on the workout,this past year ive been doing full body 3x per week hst style,so even though i use high intensity in each set the number of sets and exercises has to be reduced,otherwise id overtain,

hst follows a progressive load protocol and also uses multple rep formats.one if its main principles is to avoid failure most of the time,to allow for cns recovery.all i can say is that its worked for me.im not saying its better than anyother training regimen.

but thats why i made the comment on adjust the volume.

**helium3** · 10-19-2006, 09:27 AM

basically put my muscles can pretty much take what ever i throw at them as long as i avoid failure,only going to failure at the end of each training block.