Trapezius muscle

[tlash88]

Any of you guys help me out with some good workouts to increase the size of my shoulders, more trying to increase the size of the trapezius muscles. Thanks for the help guys!

[JWP806]

What are you doing currently?

[oatmeal69]

Shrugs of any kind... Behind the back barbell seems to work pretty well for me. I find though that I can't get much out of the traditional 6-12 reps to failure workout. I like to do them quickly - as fast as I can do the movement and about 20 reps or so. You can always squeeze another one out but try to keep your form strict.

[tlash88]

Alright I'll try that, I'm currently doing front and lateral raises, seated dumbbell raises, then up right barbell rows

[Philly82]

Concur heavy shrugs with dumbell and barbell for mass. Upright rows are more for separation between delts and traps.

[Turkish Juicer]

Like Philly said, perform heavy shrugs with dumbell and barbell for mass. You can always perform upright rows as a follow-up exercise to pump blood into the previously trashed muscle. Your traps will fill in like a balloon, which means you are promoting growth by stretching the fascia.

Try the upright row with cable, maintain decent form, use low-medium weights with medium-high reps.

[tlash88]

Alright I'll try that guys, can any of you post up a good shoulder routine for a day at the gym, that would be appreciated!

[Turkish Juicer]

1. Dumbell Shoulder Press or Shoulder Press Machine: 2 warm up sets, 4 working sets at 6-12 rep range.

2. Standing or Seated Dumbell Lateral Raise: 1 warm up set, 3 working sets at 6-12 rep range.

3. Standing One Arm Dumbell Front Raise: 1 warm up set, 3 working sets at 6-12 rep range.

4. Seated Rear Dumbell Shoulder Flyes or Rear Shoulder Fly Machine: 1 warm up set, 3 working sets at 6-12 rep range.

5. Dumbell or Barbell Shrug: 1 warm up set, 3 working sets at 6-12 rep range.

6. Standing Cable Upright Row: 3 working sets at 6-12 rep range.

Implement the pyramidal system on your sets and reps; that is, start with lower weights and higher reps, continue with higher weights and lower reps as you proceed. Do NOT exceed 1 min. of rest time in between sets. Try NOT to rest for more than 45 seconds if you feel regenerated and hence ready for the next set.

[oatmeal69]

Is the pyramid thing part of a HIT system?

[srt4wad]

Do you really need to do a warmup set each exercise? Seems like a lot of warmups for the same group of muscles. Just asking I thought a couple of warmups before you started a group would be good. If a warm up is need before each exercise then I need to start doing that.

[Turkish Juicer]

Is the pyramid thing part of a HIT system?

Not necessarily.

Pyramiding is a proven system concerning hypertrophy and it yields results for many people. Muscle fibers react well to a system where you do higher reps with lower weights and lower reps with higher reps within the same exercise. In this system, both fast and slow twitch muscle fibers (or Type I and Type II fiber types) are worked. Also, risk of injury is also reduced by making sure that the targeted group is warmed up before entering the heavy sets.

It is one of the systems I have adopted and benefited from in the past, and I truly believe that it is one of the systems that needs to be practiced by every lifter at some point.

I would not advice HIT to someone who asks for a workout scheme to develop trapezius muscle, since it becomes obvious at that point he is on a beginner level.

[Turkish Juicer]

Do you really need to do a warmup set each exercise? Seems like a lot of warmups for the same group of muscles. Just asking I thought a couple of warmups before you started a group would be good. If a warm up is need before each exercise then I need to start doing that.

There are benefits of performing a warm up set for each muscle group before you start trashing the given muscle group.

Warm up sets actualize the muscle-mind connection before entering working sets with heavy weights and several reps, which is proven to promote further growth; they reduce the risk of injury; they pump blood into the muscle that is about to be trashed and blood shuttles oxygen, amino acids, glucose and every other agent that not only protects and muscle but also promotes growth; they also warmup your joints and related tendons/ligaments before entering the heavy sets; they provide the lifter with an ongoing ''pump'' throughout the working sets when conducted properly.

There are many people who approach warm up sets for each exercise as a waste of time, this is something I personally strongly disagree with.

I have NOT suffered from an injury regarding the muscle tissue that was due to not being warmed up throughout all years of heavy lifting, and most of this I owe to the relentless warm up sets that I have performed before entering working sets as I have often underestimated practice of stretching also (which I know is a mistake).

On a last one, Dorian Yates, the great practitioner of the HIT system has always implemented two warmup sets before entering the two heavy working sets. He still advices accordingly. The guy must have known better than the most, I presume.

[oatmeal69]

Pyramiding is a proven system concerning hypertrophy and it yields results for many people. Muscle fibers react well to a system where you do higher reps with lower weights and lower reps with higher reps within the same exercise. In this system, both fast and slow twitch muscle fibers (or Type I and Type II fiber types) are worked. Also, risk of injury is also reduced by making sure that the targeted group is warmed up before entering the heavy sets.

It is one of the systems I have adopted and benefited from in the past, and I truly believe that it is one of the systems that needs to be practiced by every lifter at some point.

Haven't tried it. I've always kinda done the reverse - start heavy and lighten up. To mix things up sometimes I go with a higher rep/lower weight session or a lower rep heavier weight session. Maybe I need to try this!

[Turkish Juicer]

On a personal note, I know for a fact that pyramiding system does not work for everyone.

I personally have benefited from it the most concerning my shoulders. My shoulders respond very well to this system for some reason, especially when it comes to shoulder press exercise.

Again, you will see the majority of pro BBs adopting this system especially for upper body exercises, where they start benching with 2 plates at a higher rep range and eventually go up to 3-4 plates a a lower rep range.

Pyramiding is possibly not the best system for lower body training, however. If you have been into this sport for several years and have developed your leg muscles to an extent where they do not respond to anything other than a 20-25 rep range, then you basically have to stick to a high rep format throughout the exercise, period.

As for reverse pyramiding system, which is starting heavy with low rep and proceeding with lighter weight & higher rep format, your body is more prone to injuries if you have not warmed up properly. I have come across with a few human studies as well as some rhetoric that argues for the benefits and overall superiority of reverse pyramiding training system.

In the last result, one should stick with what seems to have worked the best for him.

[oatmeal69]

Yeah, I agree on the reverse pyramid thing and injuries. I try to walk the line between a good warm-up set or two, and really kicking the muscles ass on the first set.
I'm still making gains in my lower body just by doing traditional exercises in the 8-12 rep range. I'm finding I don't really need to even take most sets to total failure.

My sticking points are my arms, I just can't seem to get them to grow! Even my shoulders are overtaking them. Perhaps I will try a pyramid with them next week. I've never done that with them. At the very least - it's changing up the routine which is never bad.
My chest was a sticking point too, but I seem to be having some luck lately by switching up exercises.

[PumpMasterFlex]

Behind the back shrugs with the cambered bar. Lee Haney said your traps are behind your back, so the bar should be behind your back. The cambered bar helps avoid hitting and rolling the bar into your butt. This changed my traps completely. Go as heavy as you can with the full range of motion, you want your traps to almost reach your ears. Be sure you're looking up toward the ceiling so you don't hurt your neck.

Standing barbell rows help a lot too.

[kelkel]

^^Agree totally with the behind the back shrugs. I just use a smith machine for them. Gotta work with what you got! Vary the weight, reps and speed of reps during different workouts also.

Turkish Juicer: Very well written posts on this thread!

kel