< strong>Tired of the traditional shrug? Try leaning over and shrugging!
When we talk about trap training, most people think of shrugs. Shrugs are great, but most lifters only focus on the vertical shrug. This puts their mid and lower trapezius muscles at a disadvantage!
Weak middle and lower trapezius muscles will affect your posture and cause your shoulders to shift forward. Internal rotation, chest hunching, scapula valgus and other bad postures!
At the same time, insufficient strength and tension in the middle and lower trapezius muscles will affect the stability of the scapula, and the normal functions of some shoulders (abduction, external rotation, horizontal abduction, etc.) will also be limited
p>
So, don’t always remember the vertical shrug training in your mind, you should try the horizontal shrug training!
As shown in the picture below: Lean over and perform shoulder shrug training (strictly speaking, it should be called scapula retraction)
Mainly target our mid-back muscle groups (middle trapezius and rhomboids)
Action process
1. The basics of the action are barbell rowing, holding the barbell in both hands, bending the hips and leaning down to be close to parallel to the ground! Your head can hold against a fixed object (chair) to help you better stabilize your trunk
2. Keep your arms straight, then activate your back muscles to retract the scapula, and maintain 5 at the top of the movement Seconds, squeeze your shoulder blades hard and imagine that the two shoulder blades can hold a pen!
3. Then slowly open the shoulder blades, maintain tension, and return to the starting position!
Notes
1. Feel the scapula movement (retract → open), keep your arms fixed at all times!
2. Open your chest, don’t hold your chest, and sink your shoulders (shoulder blades sinking) to avoid lifting your shoulder blades. During the process, it seems like someone is holding your shoulders firmly!
3. Keep the lumbar spine neutral and stable! There will be no displacement in any direction, and the core muscles will be used to help strengthen you!