What a trip! I shot this video while down in Las Vegas for a few days with some friends. It was an awesome trip. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Vegas but it’s a tough place to get a workout in!
I’m pretty sure I was half asleep and a whole lota hungover when I did this workout, but I remember being glad that I got it done. Sometimes a good workout is what you need when you’re feeling like crap.
I often see the trapezuis muscle being improperly worked when I’m at the gym. A lot of people don’t know how to get a full traps workout in, their workouts pretty much consist of shrugs, shrugs, and more shrugs.
Shrugs are awesome but they only attack the upper part of the trapezius muscle, and I don’t know if you’ve seen the muscle before but it goes all the way down to the middle of your back.
To get the full trapezuis worked you have to attack the lower, mid, and upper traps as well. I love doing giant sets with traps – 3 or more exercises in a set – because it allows the blood to flow to the muscle more than simply doing single sets would.
For the workout I did in the video I incorporated a couple middle and lower trap exercises into the workout to build a thicker, fuller trapezius muscle.
1. |Incline shrugs are awesome for the mid-trap. Use a heavy enough weight and really pinch at the top of the lift to get the most out of your muscle.
2. Front raises on the bench are great for your lower-traps, an often neglected part of the muscle, and should be done with a lighter weight, but you really feel it working no matter how heavy you’re lifting.
3. Upright dumbbell rows are one of my favorite traps exercises. I always start out with a thin grip, but as the lift progresses my grip gets wider and wider. Remember to keep your elbows up.
4. I prefer to do the snatch exercise with a bar. It’s a great exercise to widen your traps as the grip is so wide, unlike any other exercise. But, if you only have dumbbell they are great as well. Just remember it’s a hips/power exercise so don’t do the lifting with your shoulders but rather your hips and legs.
Give this workout a shot next time you’re working your traps and get a full workout done for the muscle!
After the workout we hit the beach at the Mandalay Bay Hotel where we were staying for some much needed relaxation!
