How much can you shrug?

[Smurf the little pea.]

I benchpress around 100 pounds. When I did shrugs for the first time yesterday, I found them extremely easy. The only hard part was having enough hand stregth to hold onto the bar the entire time. Do you people do a lot of weight when you shrug?

 

[saint808]

Shrugs have to be heavy to be truly effective. Although don't roll the shoulders when you do them... trust me, heh. Rotator cuffs are pretty sensitive. When doing shrugs your weight will be heavier than on most exercises because it's a very limited strict movement. Try doing them different ways like on a smith machine or with dumbells, or if your gym has a trap machine you can use that.


Rich

 

[bignate73]

tbar really blasts mine. i can actually move at the correct angle with it. i dont know how heavy i go. i go by feel and how much i can control it. i used to be terrible with form til i strained my back a few times, now im under control the whole movement. much better pump and development.

 

[devil245]

use dumbells for shrugs. i think you hit the muscle better then if using a bar.

 

[mekannik]

Agree on going for the feel of the movement.

Too oftern I see people loading up a Barbell or Smythe machine with 500+, then end up barely even moving the bar. But the TENSION is there - and they get all red faced.

Best bet - get some wrist straps (one of the few times I condone using them) - load up the bar with a decent weight. Shoot for 4-8 reps - but squeeze and hold the top part of the contraction for a 1 or 2 count. Then release.

You'll soon find out where your traps are and what a joy they are when they are sore.

 

[needsize]

I deadlift heavy first so I don't go heavy with the shrugs, but the key is that it should be the full range of motion, you don't get big from doing really heavy, partial bench presses, same goes with shrugs

 

[supersizeme]

i am relatively weak compared to everyone else on this board but shrugging is one of my favorite exercises. mainly because my traps are somewhat respectable compared to the rest of my lagging body parts. i use straps and last week i was using 280 for sets of 10 and 8, then dropped to 265 for a couple of sets of behind the back shrugs. i hold for a 2 count at the top of each movement. i don't use DBs for shrugs because i have trouble keeping the db from rolling around in my hands and my grips gets all fucked up. it's hard to explain but the DB always starts rolling in my grip with the straps. that and my gym's DBs only go up to 100 so the most i can ever DB shrug with is 200lbs.

 

[Fa2]

I wish my gym had some 100's they max at 85's so I'll start shrugs with the barbell and finish off with dumbells...

 

[ballast]

I generally do shrugs with dumbells.My current best is 135 ib bells for 5 reps.

 

[MonStar1023]

I would say around 125 lbs. dumbbells for shrugs and maybe more for barbell shrugs.. somehow my standard barbell shrug is relatively weak but my smith machine shrug is pretty strong. A lot of time my grip hinders my trap strength but I refuse to use gloves/straps.

 

[mekannik]

Monstar,

While I appreciate your stance on the non-use of straps - take a note from the Shadow (Dorian). He advocates using straps on SOME lat movements due to the fact that your gripping muscles will fatigue long before your lat muscles start working.

Adapt or die - so the saying goes...

 

[Belial]

I definitely use straps for heavy BB shrugs. There's no reason that my forearm strength should be limiting my trap/delt workout. That's just foolish.

 

[endpoint]

word up belial. grip/forearm/wrist strength should be included in all programs. why the hell would you train to lift a certain amount of weight.......but not be able to do it...because of a WEAK link.

Im not dissing you smurf. but as i said above grip strength is very important......and the exercises are easy to perform. its weird but i know people who cant handle these exercises.......but i reckon they are fun. like grabbing the biggest set of dumbells you can handle. let them hang by your side and leave them there. your forearms will set on fire. you will shake and sweat all from just holding onto the weight, drop the weight when you cant take anymore. there are plenty of more things you can do.....if you can be bothered. at the moment its a big part of my training. ill post more if anyone wants ideas.

we all know that shrugs should be done heavy.
but nobody has mention that time under tension is a very important factor.

 

[Poopy Butt]

I use 225 for about 3 times 6. I am 17.

 

[m1cron1x]

455 x6 using straps.

 

[theoak01]

use dumbells for shrugs. i think you hit the muscle better then if using a bar.

what if there arent big enough dumbells for you,then what? i use straps and shrug 350 for 5 sets of 6 with bb,i cant use db's cuz they arent big enough for it

of anybody noticed i edited its cuz i hit the wrong key and then jumped offline fast and didnt realize my mistake

 

[Arkan]

I used to use hooks for extra grip but I found I do not need hooks or straps. Just buy some climbers chalk, it worked miracles for my grip.

 

[big4life]

I use both BB and DB for my shrugs.
I don't use straps because I'm trying to
rebuild the strength in my wrists after
surgery on both.

 

[mekannik]

After doing a long deadlifting cycle... finally got around to doing some shrugs last week. Warmed up with 2 quick sets - then hit my work sets. Finished off with 475 for 7 reps holding the contraction at the top for a 2 count.

Granted I used straps for the work sets - but the soreness in my traps the next couple of days was worth it.

 

[cobratri]

i do 335 on barbell shrugs and the 140's on bumdbell shrugs. I only use straps on the heaviest set.

 

[jAcKiNDaBoX]

I do 4 sets of 8 with DB and 4 sets of 8 with behind the back BB. I only use straps on the DB. I've always had a problem holding onto the DB when I'm doing shrugs..... I don't know I guess I'm weird?

 

[louden_swain]

My upper back/traps has always been strong. I have been using shrugs in my routine for 7 years. When I first performed shrugs, I was using a 185lb barbell and 90lb dumbbells. Currently, I work out with up to 405lbs on the barbell for 6 reps, and 140lb dumbbells (heaviest that the gym supplies) for 12. I like to hold at the top position for a two-count and return to the bottom position. Heavy shrugs have helped my deadlifts and squats tremendously.

I never perform shrugs on the smith machine.

 

[Lumberg]

I am all about the DBs for shrugs because it isolates each side and evens the load.

I am similar to ssme and you in that my traps are very strong. When I was benching 205 I could shrug 100# DBs for 3 sets of 20. I was weak for my football team in the bench department but when it came to shrugs I used the most weight and reps. However I don't think most guys were concentrating on maxing out on shrugs

Oh yeah I was about 170 at the time.

Now my gym only goes up to 60s but I DL first which preexhausts the traps a bit.

I plan on buying Olympic dumbells and using those for shrugs and other things--you can make them as heavy as you want--I will just put on 4 25# plates and go from there.

JC

 

[coolcolj]

who's digging up all these old threads?

I don't do shrugs - Olympic lifts do the job well enough