A few newsletters back I mentioned that the upper traps retract the shoulder blades; they don’t lift the shoulder girdle. That’s the job of the levator scapulae muscles…
To clarify, here’s a quote from hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley and an illustration:
The upper trapezius runs vertically down the neck and then diverts horizontally across the clavicle. It cannot elevate the scapula, since it is not attached to it… Historically, the trapezius has been trained by shrugs. Yet, research suggests that the trapezius is not the prime mover during this exercise…. In fact, the levator scapulae is the main prime mover during shrugs, while the trapezius is more strongly activated during scapulae retractions.
That means to hit upper traps, you should lean forward a bit on shrugs and pull your scapulae back—retract. Don’t stay vertical and do your shrugs straight up and down.
Notice at left in the illustration how the upper-trap fibers run. But maybe we should also train the levator scapulae muscle, which lies under the traps—see top right of illustration for location.
Maybe at one trap workout, do your shrugs with a forward lean and retraction; at your other have your torso completely vertical, raising your shoulders to build the levator scapulae muscle.…
New size on that “under” muscle will push the traps up, giving your upper-trap and neck area the illusion of more mass…
Similar to how building the brachialis muscle can add to the appearance of more biceps mass or thickening the soleus muscle can add some beefiness to the calf….
Remember, a more muscular neck/trap area is important. It’s one more strategy to avoid being called Old Noodle Neck. (Wives can be cruel.)
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