Trap Work

I'm not a rocket scientist. Could you explain the relationship between the dl and the traps; does the same apply to stiff legged dead? How do you hold your shoulders during deads? Does this create the connection?

preach it brother! lol. i do agree with you for the most part. drawing from my own training experience and observations, i'd also add one more thing to this. most trainees shouldn't underestimate the importance of overhead pressing for the full development of the upper trapezius. while deads are probably the most effective "basic" movement for strength/size development of the traps, there are other elements worth consideration. example, traps are only trained in their "external" range on a deadlift. overhead pressing tends to train traps in their "internal" range. if one were to draw a parallel between trap work and bench work, it would be like saying 1/4 presses from the bottom position of a bench press will illicit the same strength and hypertrophy responses in the pressing muscles involved as doing lock outs off the pins. anyway, i'm not disagreeing with you, just trying to jump in on the fun and expand on what you said. hopefully someone will read it, and realize that perhaps if their trap development seems unacceptable even though they have an adequate amount of deadlift work in the routine, they might want to consider OH pressing more (and if they aren't doing any, why the hell not???)

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I'm not a rocket scientist. Could you explain the relationship between the dl and the traps; does the same apply to stiff legged dead? How do you hold your shoulders during deads? Does this create the connection?

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Stiffleg deads are mainly for your lower back, Hamstrings and Glutes.....

In regards to what "neuralterego" says about Overhead presses.......IMO....before anyone should consider doing Military presses, Arnolds etc...Take a good look at a side profile of your shoulder ......Most likely you will find that your front Anterior Delt is ahead in developement than eihter your Medial or Posterior Delt....If this is the case why cause more of an inbalance than you already have.....JMO....:-)

I would much rather have a symetrically built physique one that is in balance and has a better abillity to protect itself from potential injury....JMO...:-)

Peace Out!

Deadlifts no doubt provide extreme trap work especially when done in sets. I still like the feel of a few sets of heavy shrugs though.

in regards to overhead pressing and upper body posture/ rounded shoulders: please don't get me wrong. i'm not saying go hurt yourself by pressing a shit load of weight overhead if you have faulty shoulder girdles. i wasn't addressing injury treatment or prevention with my statement. however, i will say this- if your anterior shoulder development is so far advanced compared to your posterior delt and retractors, then before you should even be worried about building upper traps, overhead pressing, or anything else, you should fix this weakness. now, even if having this form of posture didn't expose you to higher risk of injury, and we look at this purely from an aesthetic/bodybuilding perspective, then you would want to apply the same logic for not doing military press to the bench press. in fact, you'd apply it to anything that develops scapular protraction, arm adduction, and perhaps even internal rotation. my point is, you shouldn't avoid certain exercises indefinitely because they might worsen an aesthetic imbalance. instead, you should fix the problem so you can take full advantage of any/all exercises that can aid you in your quest for a better build. one last note- if you ask a seasoned trainer or strength coach who's worked not only with the competitive athlete/builder, but has worked on the injury prevention/rehabilitation side of things, most of them will tell you that those trainees with the least amount of shoulder injuries/pain are those who press overhead. this isn't opinion, it's fact- if i can find the stats on this i'll post it asap. the common scenario is that a trainee is develops shoulder pain, and immediately deletes from their training anything that bothers the shoulder. however, if i have an L5-S1 disc herniation, i might feel pain in any deadlift variation or squat variation. this doesn't mean that i never DL or squat again- it just means i need to correct the problem, correct the imbalances that lead me to the problem, and reincorporate movements that make me big and strong.

I would agree....But....take a look around in the gym that you workout at.....And I believe you'll find close to 99% of all weight lifters have an inbalance in relationship from their Anterior & Posterior Delt....If they care to become a Competitive BB.....there is a real need to perform maintance on the strong areas and work hard to improve the weak areas as to create a balanced, symetrical Physique.....:-)....JMO....

Peace Out!

I know this thread is supposed to be about Traps but the conversation about shoulder injury/prevention was good. I'm a firm believer in training an injury, not resting an injury.

Here's a good read on Shoulder Rehabilitation. The guy's name is Dr. Ryan. He makes a lot of good points on how to train an injury, especially the shoulder.

Yes, many guys in the gym have overdeveloped anterior delts, but the result can be worse than just disproportion. They can develop a shoulder inpingement. (that's the burning pain in shoulders NOT because of lactic acid)