When you see a physically imposing physique, one of the main muscle groups that draws your eye is the trap muscles.
Which leads to the question, how do you build traps that are massive?
I’ll let you in on a little secret that took those who grew up lifting in the pre-internet forum era… it’s not marathon sets of shoulder shrugs.
In this article, we’ll cover our top tips on building massive traps.
Let’s get started.
1. Prioritize Compound Lifts – Especially Deadlifts
First things first, if you want to build big, massive traps, you have to build your workouts around the compound lifts.
Doing so allows you to use greater loads to target the muscle group – even though it is through they may be targeted indirectly.
So, when you are designing your workout routine, always be sure to perform the fundamental movement patterns which includes the bench press, shoulder press, vertical row, pull, hinge, and squat. Loaded carries are also important, but we will get to that in just a second.
Especially important to prioritize are the deadlift, row, and vertical pull. All 3 movement patterns target the muscles of the posterior chain which includes your trap muscles. The deadlift will be the exercise you are able to perform with the heaviest amount of total weight and thus will elicit the greatest returns in terms of muscle growth.
Be sure to perform heavy sets of these exercises through a variety of rep ranges. While it is important to perform sets in the 3-5 rep range for maximum loads, higher rep ranges (6-12) will also provide a muscle growth response and can be used if you need to take a break from near-maximal lifts.
2. Loaded Carries
We referenced it earlier and now it’s time to circle back. Loaded carries are an exercise that will absolutely blow up your traps. The reason being is isometric tension on the muscle group… and if perform correctly, with heavy loads.
The best trap building loaded carry variation is the farmers walk. Taking two heavy dumbbells that add up to your bodyweight and performing 10-25 yard carries will challenge your grip, core, and (most importantly for this article) traps.
As you become proficient in performing loaded carries, you can increase the weight you use or the distance you carry. Either way will lead to progressive overload and adaptation in the muscle (i.e. bigger traps).
3. Shrug Holds
Next up we’re going to discuss another form of isometric tension. This time it will come by way of shrug holds.
Growing up, without the knowledge everyone has access to with refined google algorithms and the internet, I would marathon sets of quick shrugs. And while I saw trap growth, it was not nearly to the extent that I have experienced using slow methodical reps with muscle contracted holds.
That’s exactly what a shrug-hold accomplishes. You add time under tension to the contracted part of the rep by holding your shoulders by your ears for a count between 3-5 seconds. Doing so will require your trap muscles to be fully engaged for an extended period.
Next time you decide to perform shrugs, add the hold and perform 3-5 sets of 10-15 reps. You can even go a little heavier if you like and perform sets of 6-10. Either way, by adding the hold to the exercise, you’ll feel a huge difference and reap the rewards as your traps grow in time.
4. Isolate the Lower and Middle Traps
The next most common mistake people make is not doing anything to target the lower (and even middle traps). Focusing solely on the upper traps will result in muscle imbalances often leading to poor posture.
To prevent this ensure you incorporate a few trap exercises throughout your training sessions that target the lower and middle traps.
Some of my favorite exercises to do this include scapular retractions with holds, bent over reverse flys with bent elbows, and cable row scapular shrugs.
For scapular retractions, you can perform this anywhere and anytime. Simply stand up, tuck your elbows into your sides with your hands open palmed facing up and your forearms 90 degrees with your elbow. Then, using your back pull your shoulder blades in and down (like you’re trying to tuck them into your back pocket).
Your arms should look like you are making a “I don’t know” gesture. Hold for 3-5 seconds and reverse the movement. Perform 3-5 sets for 10-15 repetitions.
For the bent over reverse flys with bent elbows, grab a set of lighter dumbbells and hinge at your hips. Focusing on your mid back, raise the dumbbells up with your arms generously bent. It will look like a hybrid of a high row and rear delt fly. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps of this exercise in your back/trap workouts.
Lastly, the seated cable row scapular shrugs are performed on the cable row machine. Grab a double D handle and attach it to the cable pulley. Next, set up as if you were going to perform a set of rows. Instead of rowing, engage your mid back by contracting your shoulder blades without moving your arms. You’ll feel this in your middle back/middle traps. Perform 3 sets of 10-15 reps during your trap workouts.
5. Increase Your Training Frequency
Lastly, if you want to grow massive traps, you need to hit them both directly and indirectly often.
Building your workouts around compound lifts is an excellent starting point as you’ll naturally target the traps when performing deadlifts, rows, and vertical pulls as well as during pressing movements.
Next, you’ll want to ensure that you have a couple days per week that you add some direct work to your workouts. This can include the loaded carries as well as 1-2 of the other exercises mentioned throughout the article.
If you train your traps indirectly 2-4 times per week and directly 1-3 times per week, you’ll likely see the gains you are hoping to make.
All that said, begin with the minimum exercise dose and progress in frequency as your progress stalls. Doing so will allow you to progressively overload the muscle without risking soreness/injury by taking on too much volume to begin with.
Conclusion
If you have a goal of building big trap muscles, implementing these 5 strategies will help you tremendously.
Compound lifts will allow you to target the muscle with a maximum load. Loaded carries will allow you to target them with a heavy load with significant time under tension.
Shrug holds will allow you to directly target the muscle group with an increased time under tension due to the hold in a contracted position.
Targeting all of the muscle fibers of the trap will allow you to build depth to your traps as well as muscle balance that may help prevent injury.
And training the muscle group with a higher training frequency will allow you to target the muscle group, recover, and grow.
If you have any questions about training the trap muscles, please feel free to drop a comment below!