Best trapesius article I have ever read!

[Johan]

From Rippetoe's Starting Strength homepage

Strong Traps The Key To Shoulder Girdle Stability
by
Bill Starr

There was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when every athlete who trained with weights sported an impressive set of traps. Bodybuilders had them, shot putters had them, and, of course, so did Olympic lifters. That’s because they all did lots of heavy pulling movements in their programs. Currently, the only group of strength athletes who show any trap development are Olympic lifters, and those taking part in a scholastic or collegiate strength program which includes the power clean and shrug.

Yet, quite often, once an athlete finishes his high school or college sports career, he stops doing many of the exercises he did when playing his sport, which usually means dropping good mornings and shrugs, in many cases even power cleans. The emphasis is generally shifted to a routine built around exercises for the front of the upper body because what the athlete really wants is a set of Herculean arms and an imposing chest. These programs neglect the upper back and are one of the main reasons why there are so many shoulder injuries occurring to those who use this unbalanced sort of approach to weight training.

To many, traps aren’t that important unless they plan on lifting heavy weights from the floor to their shoulders or overhead. Since they aren’t interested in doing any such movements, why bother with the traps? The answer: they secure the shoulder girdle, and this has many implications that should be obvious to anyone who is aware of how his body functions. Without a stable shoulder girdle, a long list of problems can rear their ugly heads and when they do, the consequences can be severe. The trapezius, which is made up of four overlapping layers in the shape of a trapezoid is located on the upper part of the back and lying immediately under the skin.

The origin is at the base of the skull in the neck and a row of spinous processes of the vertebrae from the seventh cervical to the last thoracic, which is right about in the middle of the back. From the neck, the muscle fans out to the shoulders and inserts in the rear portion of the clavicle (collarbone), the top of the acromion of the scapula and the upper borders of the spine of the scapula (shoulder blade). Then it swings downward in the shape of a “V” to the middle back. Traps are the keystones of strength for the shoulder girdle just as the lumbars are for the lower body. When serious traps work is neglected the athlete displays rounded shoulders, and in some cases this rounding can be very severe. It’s basically a matter of disproportionate strength – a disparity between the strength in the higher portion of the front of the body as opposed to the strength in the upper back. This is usually a result of an athlete’s love affair with the bench press, or for an almost obsessive desire to possess a massive chest and arms like Arnold (not the current Arnold, the younger version, as in Conan). These slightly demented individuals pound away on flat benches, inclines, declines, flyes, dips, and a wild assortment of arm movements, sometimes at every workout and all the while they completely ignore their upper backs.

If they do anything at all for their traps, it’s typically dumbbell shrugs or some high reps with a light barbell. When those groups in the front of the upper body – primarily the frontal deltoids and pecs – become considerably stronger than those in the rear of the shoulders – traps and rear deltoids – the shoulders can no longer stay in correct alignment and begin to move forward. Since this is very unnatural, the shoulder joints and surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments start to complain. At first, it’s no more than a nagging pain, but if something is not done to correct the imbalance it escalates to a severe, stabbing sensation and can become so intense that the athlete cannot do any exercises that involve his shoulder girdle. And that is, as we all know, a shitload of exercises.

The epidemic of rotator cuff injuries can be directly linked to this infatuation with the bench press and the neglect of attention to the upper back. If the relative weakness between the groups that comprise the shoulder girdle has only recently revealed itself, it can be easily corrected. Easy, if you’re willing to put in the necessary work. The alternative is to stop doing many of the exercises you enjoy, or even worse, surgery. You really don’t want to resort to the knife. After any type of shoulder surgery, the majority of subjects never regain the same range of motion or are able to regain the strength they formerly had in their shoulder girdle. So that should be the last resort. The news that most do not like to hear is that the exercises that are the very best for strengthening the upper back require hard work.

The good news, however, is that the traps respond very quickly to specific exercising. I could never figure out why someone didn’t like to do trap work. I’ve always found the exercises for that bodypart to be more fun than work. And for the majority of strength athletes, more weight can be handled when doing trap work than for any other exercise in the routine. While heavy shrugs are the very best exercise to build strength and size in the upper back, I do not start my athletes off with this movement. I want them to have a substantial base before really overloading the upper back, and they also need to learn the proper line of pull in order for shrugs to be beneficial. I start them on power cleans, add in power snatches, move on to high pulls, and then they’re ready for shrugs. Even if you’re already doing power cleans, a refresher course can’t hurt. When correct form is utilized on this exercise, learning how to high pull and shrug comes much easier. All lifting movements start with the feet.

Rest of the article in this link

[Johan]

yepp. Including as much of the clean hip drive as possible.

[Narkissos]

Originally Posted by Narkissos

^^Oh... i.e. a deadlift/shrug hybrid.

Gotcha.

hm... I wonder how it would compare to deads w/ regard to specific hypertrophy.

I mean, if a bodybuilder can get more from a clean pull than a deadlift, why would be do a deadlift.

Get what i'm saying?

^^Edited my post while you were posting Jo.

Awaiting your input on the rest.

[Johan]

^^ Was starting to think the same actually. If squats hits the lumbar better than deads, and shrugs and clean/snatch pulls hits the upper back better. Then it seems one could do fine without deads altogether?

Perhaps its better to use deadlifts as a test of strength, while one focuses on squats, pulls and shrugs to actually build strength and size.

Kind of like what Simmons, Tate and the Westside bunch have been saying about deads all along.

On a related note, look at this freak of nature. He never does deads in training. Only squats, cleans, snatches. And he pulls 310kg(684 ibs) like its nothing with a damn wide grip and in weightlifting shoes!

You Tube

You Tube

Broz states in the comments that they test dead every now and then and it stays usually within 10-15kg of the max squat.

[Narkissos]

Sweet Jesus.

[Travis Tilley]

Do I think you can gain on your dead even though you aren't training it? Yes
Do I think you can gain more on your dead by training it? Yes

There is a huge correlation between heavy squats and gaining on your deadlift. WS uses speed pulls to compensate for the lack of explosion off the floor.Of course they aren't trained nearly as much as "squat building" movements,but a lot of those same movements are directly there for strength gains in your hips(carryover on deads as well).

Also,just throwing this out there...If you are a full meet geared powerlifter,you aren't pulling a ton out of a deadlift suit..its just not going to happen..Squat suits however....Well haters could say "ridiculous"..I'm not a hater. Keep in mind these guys are training to have the highest total,and that's it. That's what wins

[Johan]

Good points mate, how often do you dead Travis?

[Travis Tilley]

Right now I just incorporate them with my back day. If i'm training specifically for strength(powerlifting) I will do a deadlift "movement"(consisting of either rack pulls, ME days,or speed pulls,DE days). If I feel that isn't doing the job I will absolutely do them (full deads) on ME days. I think you have to gauge that kind of thing with progression that's shown. It may vary a lot with the individual.

I've always felt the deadlift is a true test of strength,and always will. There is no arching your back for 30+ or knee benders for 100+lbs..You either lift it or you don't. I think a lot of people hate that.

I've pulled 690@212lbs(gym),and 660@201(meet) raw. There is nothing as satisfying to me as pulling a massive amount of weight off the ground and holding it in your hands. It's orgasmic,and completely fulfilling.

[Johan]

I agree with the true test of strength statement, there is zero ambiguity in a deadlift.

Personally I see good progress if I do some kind of pull often but light 2-3 times a week or seldom but heavy, once every two weeks or so. I broke 200 kg by pulling 3 times a week but not pushing 90+% so often.

Deadlifting tends to wreck me however. Gonna stick with the cleans, snatches, clean pulls and low impact deads like snatch grip or Romanian and see what happens.

[Johan]

Those are absolutely sic numbers btw mate