[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

okay welcome everyone to a new episode

of technique Tuesday this week we're

gonna be looking at how to perform

several different shrug variations with

perfect technique but before we get into

the technique itself let's have a quick

look at the biomechanics and anatomy

involved first so with the shrug were

mainly targeting the upper trapezius

levator scapulae muscles through

scapular elevation so basically just

lifting your shoulder blades up i will

also be performing the scapular upward

rotation because we shouldn't simply be

shrugging the barbell straight up but

also bringing the shoulders in closer to

the neck

so in viewed from the back you can see

that this is going to result in the

shoulder blades rotating upward and

actually handled by the upper and mid

traps exclusively and this upward

rotation component is important as I try

to remember it as we'll be applying it

here in a minute and even though we

won't emphasize it much there will be

some degree of scapular retraction

occurring in the mid and lower traps

will be active to some degree as well so

the traditional shrug where you load the

barbell up and just shrug it up seems to

be a bit of a hit-or-miss

exercise some people feel a very strong

upper trap contraction while others feel

it mostly in the levator scapulae muscle

more along the side of the neck and

while there's nothing necessarily wrong

with engaging the neck musculature we're

going to be covering that in a separate

future a technique Tuesday episode with

direct neck training exercises and we're

going to instead focus our efforts here

I'm really isolating those beefy upper

trap fibers so there are two important

concepts I'd like to emphasize here from

the outset that we're going to be

applying pretty much to every shrug

variation first one in 1994 ever study

found that because of the orientation of

the upper trap fibers they can't as

effectively elevate the scapula when the

arm is in neutral meaning that the traps

will be recruited more effectively with

the arms in about 30 degrees of

abduction and second the traps are more

effective at scapular upward rotation

than the other shrugging muscles meaning

that if the goal is to isolate the traps

we should be focusing on this a scapular

upward rotation component of the lift so

with this in mind I'll just say up front

here that my current personal favorite

on the shrug is the trap bar shrug and I

like it because it automatically forces

your arms into just about thirty degrees

of abduction because you stand inside

the bar frame you don't need to worry

about the barbell rubbing up against the

front of your body as you shrug however

not everyone has access to a trap bar so

we'll be covering the traditional

barbell shrug here first and then some

creative alternatives after now but

you'll just want to keep in mind that

most of the same basic techniques will

apply across these variations now in

general I recommend loading the shrug in

a more moderate rep range something

around eight to fifteen reps because

loading the shrug more heavily will more

often than not impair your ability to

take the weight through a full range of

motion especially at the top end of the

range now a power struggle leg drive

involved to help waist the weight up can

be used as an advanced cheating

technique however it should still be

performed with be centric control

meaning you don't just let the weight

fall down and it should be used

sparingly and only once you've already

mastered technique on the proper strict

shrug first so you want to set up the

bar and a power rack above knee height

so you can easily unwrap the barbell

without fatigue in your lower back grab

the bar with a double overhand grip at

about 1.25 to 1.5 times shoulder-width

and I think that using straps to truly

overload the traps on the shrug will be

necessary for most lifters however if

developing grip strength is an equal

priority for you you want to make sure

you do at least one heavy set without

straps while maintaining a neutral lower

back you want to drive your hips forward

to unwrap the bar similar to how you'd

flock out a deadlift you're standing

inside the rack you can just stay put

but if you're shrugging outside the rack

is I'll do here for demonstration

purposes and you can take two or three

steps and back with the bar and plant

your feet slightly wider than

shoulder-width with a slight foot flare

at this point you want to lean your

torso slightly forward by about ten

degrees by hinging at the hips and you

want to make sure that your scapula

aren't protracting meaning your upper

back should be neutral and engaged your

knees should be nearly straight however

a slight bend in the knees and hips can

prevent the bar from getting in the way

of your manhood on the way up so you

want to elevate your scapula but not

only lifting your shoulders up but also

pulling them

as if trying to touch your shoulders to

your ears and this inward drive is

really important because remember that

we not only want to perform a scapular

elevation but also scapular upward

rotation so to emphasize this further

you can think about pushing your arms

slightly outward as if doing a lateral

raise which is really gonna drive the

shoulders and both up and in you want to

shrug the weight all the way up until

you reach terminal elevation or the

point where you can no longer elevate

the scapula any further regardless of

the load and you can think about

squeezing at the top but there's no need

to pause or hold the shrug in that

terminally elevated position simply just

reverse the motion by lowering the

weight back down under control as the

traps actively stretch resisting the

load on the way down now there are a

bunch of creative modifications on the

basic shrug that I like the Smith

machine shrug can be used if your lower

back is hurting or fatigued as it can

take some of the stress off your lower

back when you beam slightly forward

however just in general I think that a

smith machine shouldn't permanently

replace a free weight option and similar

to the trap bar dumbbell shrugs are a

nice alternative since they eliminate

the problem of having the barbell rub up

against you however trying to maintain

some degree of abduction can cause the

lateral delt to become a limiting factor

and most dumbbells may simply be too

light at a certain level of advancement

but I do like them for doing high rep or

slow rep work a standing calf raise

shrug is another reasonable option for

isolating the traps if your grip ability

happens to be compromised so these are

all fine but I think my favorite

creative variation is the dual cable

shrug just almost always a great fix for

anyone who's struggling to feel their

traps firing with traditional shrugs so

you want to stand in the middle of a

cable rack and grab the two D handles so

that when viewed from the side the

cables run directly through the mid

frontal plane lean your torso slightly

forward as before by about 10 degrees

and think about shrugging the cables up

in in toward your ears you can also

slightly abduct your upper arms similar

to what you do in a lateral raise I'm

just gonna increase the upward rotation

range of motion allowing the upper traps

to reach peak contraction and here you

can see dr. Mike Israel performing the

same basic exercise about allowing his

arms to bend a bit near the top which

isn't required but may

you get a stronger track contraction and

I think this variation is more

effectively loaded a bit lighter than

the standard shrug so I'd recommend

uploading more in the 12 to 20 reps on

here focusing more on establishing a

strong mind muscle connection rather

than focusing on overloading with heavy

weight now I would say the most common

error that I see on the shrug is simply

going way too heavy how the shrug

shouldn't be a test of how much weight

you can hold with straps on and going

too heavy can really cut the range of

motion way too short I remember that a

properly performed shrug actually should

have a pretty large range of motion and

you should be making it a goal to reach

that point of terminal scapular

elevation on every rep so just because

you're loading up the bar with

progressively heavier weights doesn't

mean you're actually progressively

overloading the traps you may just be

progressively reducing the range of

motion so don't be afraid to lighten the

weights get your form in check and

gradually build your way back up well

keep informed consistent from tweak

another very common error is rolling the

shoulders forward or backward or

allowing your scapula to protract and we

tracked the upper traps can elevate the

scapula most effectively when they're in

neutral or retracted so you should keep

them in the same position and maintain

that upper back tightness throughout the

range of motion and rolling your

shoulders is only going to throw you out

of position and create form

inconsistencies if your protracting to

avoid hitting your crotch I think you

should instead create that slight

forward lean by hinging at the hips or

using dumbbells or one of the other non

barbell variations that we discussed how

so guys that is all that I have for the

shrug now there's still our other

programming factors like frequency

volume and other movements like the

deadlift and rack polls that I've

discussed in detail in my neck and trap

science explained it video if you'd like

to check that out and I'll have that

link down below and I always get

questions about my training gear so

stuff like belts and straps so you can

check out the description box for my

recommendations there and some discounts

I don't forget to hit the like button if

you enjoyed the video subscribe to the

channel so you don't miss future

technique Tuesday episodes and I'll see

you guys all here next Tuesday

[Music]