Snatch grip high pulls, variations of the snatch/power snatch, hang/ power cleans, and BB/DB shrugs.
Honorable mention to Trap 3 raise for mid-traps.
If you have a solid base of strength, I think loading the barbell with heavy ass weight and doing power shrugs can be great. But I agree with others about the explosive lifts too. I like doing power cleans sometimes.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
IMO shrugs are overrated as a solo trap exercise tho. I don’t have ronnie coleman sized traps, but at 245-250 I have what most would consider proportionately large traps. I very rarely if ever do shrugs. I do tons pf power snatch and overhead squat though, which creates a massove load on the traps and back in general. Shrugs shine as a FINISHER for a workout, not as a standalone imho.[/quote]
I’ve heard similar advice to this. Can’t speak from personal experience per se, but I have heard others saying that their traps grew way more from things like power cleans than shrugs.
I just played around with OH BB Shrugs yesterday and felt some very good upper trap burn like I’ve never felt with DB shrugs.
However, my shoulder “socket” never really felt “right” and I’m wondering if there are some cues to groove the movement better?
[quote]giograves wrote:
I just played around with OH BB Shrugs yesterday and felt some very good upper trap burn like I’ve never felt with DB shrugs.
However, my shoulder “socket” never really felt “right” and I’m wondering if there are some cues to groove the movement better? [/quote]
Not a fan, unless you have excellent mobility and or proficiency at the Oly lifts.
My opinion.
Deadlifts and deadlifts. Then some more deadlifts. Followed up by some additional deadlifts…
…but, trap bar shrugs and face pulls also work exceptionally well. Squats too.