For a "wider" look, should I ignore traps?

[Brian123]

Heres the situation

I'm about 6 ft tall ( 185 lb )

My stronger ( better looking ) muscles are my triceps, and back muscles.

I have a weak small chest compared to the rest of my muscles ( working on it )

In addition to my obvious chest weakness which i'm working on, I think I need a wider shoulder look.

I think its more about bones giving me that narrow shoulder look than it is about muscle since my shoulders arent too weak nor too small. Rear delts especially look great.

Shirts have to fit perfectly though or my shoulders just wont look good ( unless I take my shirt off )


Havent worked on my traps for a while and gave extra attention to shoulders and it SEEMS to be working.

Although traps give you the "big guy" look, I'm thinking leaving them alone would end up giving me a much better figure as long as i'm working on my shoulders.

I do want to look big and muscular but i'm not looking for that huge monster bodybuilder look.

Guess I want to make sure its the right "design" i'm looking for before ending up with ugly proportions finding out ive been doing the wrong thing all this time.

Problem is that traps help in keeping shoulders high which is needed for a good posture so i'm not exactly sure what muscles to focus on and what muscles should I ignore.


I'm also getting ready to do a cycle so i'd really like to read your inputs/comments/suggestions etc...

 

[youngguns]

dont ignore anything.

 

[Brian123]

dont ignore anything.

Why not? If there were a way to achive my goals without ignoring anything I'd love to.

Thats why i'm here asking

 

[muscelove]

look man you are not gonna get the answer you are lookin for here. the people here are and I are advocates of working the whole body as a unit. Not singling out body parts they want to improve. I suggest you check muscle and fitness. They have good articles that im sure would intrest you.

 

[NJL52]

Ignoring a muscle group requires you to do workouts that don't use them. In order to not use a muscle group you have to cut out compound workouts which means using ISOs which don't work for shit.

So grow your shoulders without traps extremely slowly

or

grow your shoulders and traps much faster

Easy decision for me.

 

[SgtSlaughter]

at 185lbs... you wont' be wide even if you started doing the right lifts...

You can do barbell rows (90* bent over), deadlifts and it'll help but only adding some muscle to your 6' frame will make you wider.

Ignoring traps is like tying your writing hand behind your back and using your mouth to hold a pen and write... you just don't do it.

it's not like they're going to blow up by some magically isolation... though genetics for me say otherwise but that happend with serious added bodyweight.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Heres the situation

I'm about 6 ft tall ( 185 lb )

I do want to look big and muscular but i'm not looking for that huge monster bodybuilder look.

I'm also getting ready to do a cycle so i'd really like to read your inputs/comments/suggestions etc...

Yikes. Don't do a cycle. You have plenty of natty growing to do, esp. once you learn how to train.

Ignoring your traps would be a bad idea. The best trap movemens are not 'trap' movements at all; deadlifts and overhead pressing come to mind as the hardest trap-hitters in my repetoire.

Feel free to ditch normal shrugs as they are worthless anyway

You might look into the Bill Starr 5x5 to address the size you'd like to put on. That and eating would do more for you in the long run than running a cycle when you don't know what you're doing in the gym coupld possibly do.

 

[Brian123]

Yikes. Don't do a cycle. You have plenty of natty growing to do, esp. once you learn how to train.

Ignoring your traps would be a bad idea. The best trap movemens are not 'trap' movements at all; deadlifts and overhead pressing come to mind as the hardest trap-hitters in my repetoire.

Feel free to ditch normal shrugs as they are worthless anyway

You might look into the Bill Starr 5x5 to address the size you'd like to put on. That and eating would do more for you in the long run than running a cycle when you don't know what you're doing in the gym coupld possibly do.

Shrugs work REALLY well on my traps. Thats why I ditched them hehe

Just for the record, I'm 28 and i've been training on and off for years now. I used to be REALLY thin. Now i'm at a pretty lean 185 not gaining as fast as I used to and chest is lagging and I accept that and i'm working on it.

I do have SOME experience. No expert and even if I were theres always something to learn.

Width, or lack of, in my case is related to bones, and general structure, which is why I think most of the replies, dont apply.

So what i'm thinking is NOT working on traps specifically since they'd be working, to an extent where they'd grow slowly anyway. And just work on shoulders. Anyway, size is not the question here. The question is about proportion. I've seen guys with huge chests and small arms it looked funny. Others with huge biceps that do NOT go with the rest of the body.


I want to make sure i'm NOT doing that by not working on my traps and giving extra attention to shoulders. I'm hoping it would give the illusion of wider shoulders. Its all about art. Once I get there I continue to work my whole body the way I used to.

Now my width problem is related to bones, not muscles. I hope to use muscles to hide that problem.


Thanks for your comments guys and looking forward to read more... especially ones related to body proportions in general and their workarounds.

 

[muscelove]

well body proportions are like this. Work all ur body light ull get minimal results in regards to size. Isolating your traps imo is worthless unless youre tryin to get onstage and your traps are lacking. Stick to heavy presses and your shoulders will grow.

 

[LiftHeavy123]

At 185 and 6ft just focus on compound exercises and eating. Screw shrugs if you don't want to do them. By sticking to compound exercises you'll work the entire body and increase your overall strength and size. Bench press, Deadlifts, Military Press/Incline Bench Press(45 Degree), (90 Degree) Bent Over Barbell Rows, Squats, Dips, Chin Up/Pull Ups...Also, don't use the Smith Machine for any of these unless you have to.