Best exercise to do in place of shrugs...

[kunta]

Ok i just recently hurt my back doing shrugs (2nd time) what would be the best alternative to doing shrugs in the future?

 

[theoak01]

once your back gets better deadlifts,since ive hurt my back and cant do deads nor shrugs my traps havent grown a bit,i hope it all gets fixed soon

 

[Abbaddon]

Ok i just recently hurt my back doing shrugs (2nd time) what would be the best alternative to doing shrugs in the future?

The exercise isnt what hurt you. Your form or the amount of weight you were using is what hurt you. Go back to the drawing board on your form. Make sure your picking the weight up properly and doing the exercise properly. The other portion is weight. I see a lot of the younger guys trying to put way to much on the bar or trying to use dumbbells way to heavy for them and they end up using their legs to throw the weight up or they end up slumped over trying to hold the weight up. Shrugs should be done with heavy weight but not so heavy that you cannot stand up straight and you should never use your legs to start the movement of this exercise as the weight comes crashing down on your spinal cord on the downswing.

I know everyone wants to be strong and all but its not always about the weight your lifting right now its about the weight your training to enable your body to lift.

 

[kunta]

what about upright rows?

 

[needsize]

Upright rows are a very dangerous exercise as they place an undue amount of stress on the rotator cuff, my shoulders hurt like hell for days even if I do light ones, I stay far away from them, but some guys can do them and never get hurt.
It's your call.

 

[Skeeter1]

ditto, upright rows, go with a narrow grip to hit the traps and minimize delt involvement. also using dumbells allows more freedom of angle to releive rotater cuff stress, they are not inherently dangerous;however, some people my have difficulty.

 

[CycloneHWT]

I have really bad rotator cuffs and i dont have a problem with upright rows, in fact i love them

 

[sysopt]

it's not only the rotators; it's the elbows and wrists as well

 

[Ingram]

Upright rows are a very dangerous exercise as they place an undue amount of stress on the rotator cuff, my shoulders hurt like hell for days even if I do light ones, I stay far away from them, but some guys can do them and never get hurt.
It's your call.

I totally agree here, I can do them pain free but have friends that can’t even look at someone doing them without hurting. If you can do them without pain it’s a great exercise for your traps.

 

[DaCypher]

I've actually heard that even if you don't feel any pain from doing some of the known dangerous exercises for your shoulder (upright rows, behind the head pulldowns/military presses) you could still be causing damage. I stay far away from those exercises...