# FITNESS and NUTRITION FORUM > WORKOUT AND TRAINING >  Good exercise to target 'front' of traps?

## gbrice75

The rear of my traps are a pretty decent size, but from the front they just have that sort of 'straight line' from neck to shoulder as you can see in my avy. I would love to get that 'peak' look from the front. 

Other than shrugs and to a lesser extent upright rows, are there any other exercises that would help this to grow? I currently do rear shrugs on the smith machine (bar behind me) and dumbell shrugs held on the side and a bit in front, but only the rear seems to respond. What do you think?

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## serratus

there is no front raps before u post do some anatomy research

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## Noles12

Deads help my traps. Heavy shrugs are the only other thing i do. I really dont see what you find wrong with your traps. Maybe you are wanting more mass in them?

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## serratus

u mean upper traps

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## gbrice75

> there is no front raps before u post do some anatomy research


I'm pretty sure everyone on the board with half a brain knows what i'm referring to. 

Before *you* post, learn correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Once you have that mastered, refrain from posting unless you have something constructive to add. I'm sure everyone will be grateful, thanks.

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## 8iron

> there is no front raps before u post do some anatomy research


ur going to make friends quick!  :Chairshot:

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## CMB

Highpulls AKA upright row
Shrugs
Shoulder press

Its a full trap workout.

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## CMB

> there is no front raps before u post do some anatomy research


 Well he is correct that there isn't a "front trap". I believe its most commonly known as lower and upper traps.

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## bigboomer

Heavy barbell shrugs will make them grow...At least for me they work...Wide grip in front and normal grip in the rear..I work my way up to about 405...Smith machine I really cant feel it in my traps like I do with freeweights.

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## terraj

anyone who deads heavy has big traps.

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## G4R

> there is no front raps before u post do some anatomy research


You have been less than helpful in a majority of your posts. If you intend on sticking around this site, I recommend you try to be a little more courteous.

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## goodlifting

> there is no front raps before u post do some anatomy research


 :1hifu: 

to the OP: everyone suggesting heavy dead movements is correct. your traps will definitely develop overall mass because they are forced to support the weight that you're holding onto.

i don't think deadlift movements should be used to specifically develop the traps. i think that large traps are an awesome byproduct of doing them.

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## serratus

> You have been less than helpful in a majority of your posts. If you intend on sticking around this site, I recommend you try to be a little more courteous.


o my god next time i will roll out a red carpet before i post

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## serratus

> Well he is correct that there isn't a "front trap". I believe its most commonly known as lower and upper traps.


and middle fibers

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## G4R

> o my god next time i will roll out a red carpet before i post


Not what I am saying. Just try to be a little understanding. Just because the guy didnt call it by its proper name doesnt mean he shouldnt post until he does some anatomy research.

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## serratus

> Not what I am saying. Just try to be a little understanding. Just because the guy didnt call it by its proper name doesnt mean he shouldnt post until he does some anatomy research.


ok no problem

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## serratus

> Heavy barbell shrugs will make them grow...At least for me they work...Wide grip in front and normal grip in the rear..I work my way up to about 405...Smith machine I really cant feel it in my traps like I do with freeweights.


right with freeweights u have more free motion and multi angels

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## gbrice75

> Well he is correct that there isn't a "front trap". I believe its most commonly known as lower and upper traps.


I understand that, and if you (collectively) read my post, I simply said 'from the front' - I never called them my 'front traps'. I was simply referring to the view from the front. Like I predicted, everybody else seemed to get what I meant, this clown was just looking to be a wise ass. ANYWAY...

Thanks for the feedback guys. One exercise that is missing from my routine is deads.... and I KNOW I should be doing them as a mass builder if for no other reason... I just get lazy. I do see now how they could indirectly stimulate trap growth, never thought about that before, so I will definitely add them back into my routine!

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## tballz

Deadlifts are the way to go.

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## NotSmall

Listen to this guy about deadlifts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNJiHuQIbmM

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## Matt

> Listen to this guy about deadlifts:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNJiHuQIbmM


 
 :Haha:  :Haha:  :Haha:

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## gbrice75

LoL, great video! Funny, but does get the point across. Anybody wanting to add mass needs to do deads, no question. Now I just need to stop preaching it and start DOING it again!

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## serratus

> I understand that, and if you (collectively) read my post, I simply said 'from the front' - I never called them my 'front traps'. I was simply referring to the view from the front. Like I predicted, everybody else seemed to get what I meant, this clown was just looking to be a wise ass. ANYWAY...
> 
> Thanks for the feedback guys. One exercise that is missing from my routine is deads.... and I KNOW I should be doing them as a mass builder if for no other reason... I just get lazy. I do see now how they could indirectly stimulate trap growth, never thought about that before, so I will definitely add them back into my routine!


u want to challenge my knowledge? or u my want to train your posterior chest and your front lats?

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## serratus

to the moderator: u see i didin t ofend him and i didin t use names to describe him like he does

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## Big

> u want to challenge my knowledge?


I already did. I'm _still_ waiting for you to educate me on the "sustanon tabs" since you chose to correct me in this thread:

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=436023

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## armwrestler22

If found that seated dumbell shrugs have helped me to focus on the upper peak of the trap. also there is one machine at various gyms that is a seated / standing shrud machine where stand facing the machine , arms at shoulder width and grab the handles with palsm facing your outer quads and do a standing shrug. you can change the angle of stress on your traps by walking closer to the seat (for Front) or walking away from the seat to focus on the rear(keeping your hands in the same place on the grips though). in addition a new shock workout might help you. how about a drop set starting with the 120db's for ten reps and drop 10 lbs each time and go down all they way to the 40lb db's. a couple of those every few trap work outs might help to switch things up. perhaps also if you focus your chest workouts to encompass a lot of incline work and really hit your upper chest it will help to improve the clavicle area at the top of your chest thus creating a look as if there is a lot more depth / seperation between the front of your chest and your traps, also causing t-shirts to hang off of the peaks of your traps and chest giving you that "yoked" look. good luck. happy 4th.

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## armwrestler22

sorry, typing while eating...correction, walk closer to the shrug machine seat to hit the rears and farther back to hit the fronts. cheers

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## o-lineman60

> u want to challenge my knowledge? or u my want to train your posterior chest and your front lats?


Whoa bro, there is no need to be like that at all. Chill the hell out.

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## The Gladiator 911

Yawn

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## DHew

hahaahaahahhaahahahahahaahaah

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## bmit

x2 what armwrestler said. My traps come in pretty easy, but from my research they are fast twitch fibers so best trained with low reps. Doing traps with my hands in front of me seems to hit the "front" and the "insides" of the traps more, where as the more i place my hands to the side and to the rear of my body it seems to hit the "rear" and the "outsides" more.

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## gbrice75

> u want to challenge my knowledge? or u my want to train your posterior chest and your front lats?


My man.... what is the deal with you? You have now posted several times in my thread and have yet to offer anything of substance. Instead, you feel you're in a pissing contest with everybody. Defensive much?

I'm not interested in challenging your knowledge; you're clearly a kid (c'mon, it's obvious) who thinks he knows everything because you read Arnold's book or something. I did nothing more than refer to the front 'view' of my traps, and you are attacking my knowledge of anatomy? 

Keep digging your hole, you are begging to be banned, and i'll sit back and enjoy the show! 

PS - keep working on the grammer, you're getting there!  :Bbiwin:

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## gbrice75

> to the moderator: u see i didin t ofend him and i didin t use names to describe him like he does


I guess i'm bored right now which is why i'm even entertaining this. I didn't call you an insulting name, I stated a fact. You were and still are being a wise ass. Grow up please!

To everyone else and armwrestler22 - I do have that machine at my gym and used to use it (I did some sets facing it and some facing away just to target different areas) but dropped it for the smith/dumbell routine I currently do. Do you think I should swap again, or simply incorporate a 3rd exercise into my current routine?

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## gbrice75

> I already did. I'm _still_ waiting for you to educate me on the "sustanon tabs" since you chose to correct me in this thread:
> 
> http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=436023


LoL Big, I can deal with him messing with me, but now he's challenging the vets???!!!

Serratus, God bless you bro, I wish you a million dollars a minute!

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## goodlifting

> My man.... what is the deal with you? You have now posted several times in my thread and have yet to offer anything of substance. Instead, you feel you're in a pissing contest with everybody. Defensive much?
> 
> I'm not interested in challenging your knowledge; you're clearly a kid (c'mon, it's obvious) who thinks he knows everything because you read Arnold's book or something. I did nothing more than refer to the front 'view' of my traps, and you are attacking my knowledge of anatomy? 
> 
> Keep digging your hole, you are begging to be banned, and i'll sit back and enjoy the show! 
> 
> PS - keep working on the grammer, you're getting there!


dude screw that a-hole. hopefully he/she gets banned soon. i find people like him/her quite annoying.

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## G4R

I still cant find any sust tabs.... I wonder why?

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## goodlifting

> I still cant find any sust tabs.... I wonder why?


it's a fvckin mystery, dude. i can't find them either.

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## gbrice75

sust tabs? LoL. If only it were that easy. Maybe then my wife wouldn't have found the syringe, needles and vial of test I accidentally left out yesterday.... =(

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## sean_holland

gbrice - You've been a nice guy in every thread I've been in not sure why you caught all this flack here. I knew what you were referring to when you mentioned 'front traps' clearly that's not an actual muscle, but the angle of sight that you meant.

I use Upright Rows as the second exercise in my delt training, and I get some good trap and lateral delt results from it. I use a EZ-Bar and not a Straight Bar cause my wrists tend take some punishment with a straight bar.

Otherwise, shrugs have always worked. For some reason my traps have always been fairly large even when my training routines were lacking or at a stand still.

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## baseline_9

My favorie trap exercise is shrus on smith machine.

I find the key is to take a step backwards so that your traps are not only being pulled down, but also spread to the front if u kno wat i mean.

Sound like bad form but i like to let my upper back round at the bottom on the movement to help stretch my traps even more

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## gbrice75

> gbrice - You've been a nice guy in every thread I've been in not sure why you caught all this flack here. I knew what you were referring to when you mentioned 'front traps' clearly that's not an actual muscle, but the angle of sight that you meant.
> 
> I use Upright Rows as the second exercise in my delt training, and I get some good trap and lateral delt results from it. I use a EZ-Bar and not a Straight Bar cause my wrists tend take some punishment with a straight bar.
> 
> Otherwise, shrugs have always worked. For some reason my traps have always been fairly large even when my training routines were lacking or at a stand still.


Sean - thanks for the kind words bro. Message boards will always have clowns looking to get a rise out of people. Personally, I don't mind - I just let them self destruct. I used to get into it with them, but these days I take the high road, more or less. 

I've recently incorporated upright rows using the EZ Curl bar as you mentioned, and I noticed that I was able to do more weight this way, so it's definitely a good suggestion and it definitely hits the traps. Once I get to the top of the movement, i've been squeezing, actually shrugging with it. Not nearly enough weight to be considered a real shrug, but I always like to extend and contract the muscle as much as possible, so I figured it couldn't hurt.

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