Exercise of the Week! - Shrugs!

Most people know about the kind of shrugs that imitate that look and feeling that you give someone when you don’t know the answer.

However there are actually 2 variants of shrugs. One where you move weights with arms lowered and the other where you move weights arms extended above.

The two target areas are trapezoids and serratus anterior respectively.  Now there are exercises that target these areas as part of the compound movement. Traps are hit during dead-lifts, dumbbell squats and any time you pick up dumbbells from the floor using your arms, the serratus are hit every time you carry out an over head shoulder press or work incline on chest exercises. But there are ways to hit these muscle groups more specifically!

Why would you want to hit these muscles specifically?

As I have just described, these groups get used during regular exercises that you do every week, but as these are assistance muscles, you can target them for more growth and more strength, thus making those larger movements more efficient and allowing for more lifting or more endurance.

So how do you shrug?

Well for the arms down shrug you have three arms positions to start on, in front, to the side or behind. Obviously dumbbells are best for the side and barbells are better fro front and rear arm positions. Then the next part is simple… really simple… so simple that you’ll see people at the gym making it look difficult. Raise the weights up, contracting your trap and moving your shoulders closer to your ears. Keep your head still, body tight and aim to touch your shoulders to your ears. Then lower the weights and go again!

Yep that’s it, no rolling, no bounce, no swaying, just simple up and down shrugging.

Ok how about this arms over head shrug you speak of?

Well there are a couple of ways to achieve it, one way is to lie on an incline bench and hold dumbbells or barbell above your head as if to start a chest press. But drop your shoulders back, then stretch them back up as if you are reaching for the ceiling. Simple, the other way to do it is with a cable or a fixed end barbell. Stand (or sit on an incline bench if you are using the cable method) then raise the bar (or weight) out in front of yourself, one arm extended. Then brace yourself, drop your shoulder back, slightly flexing the arm, then push out again as if to reach beyond your grasp. Repeat!

Here are my tips on shrugs of both types.

Go heavy when you can, these are small muscle groups and are surprisingly powerful.

Fatigue them for a great feeling the next day (you will know every answer the next day and after doing the serratus shrugs you will having a feeling of being hugged all day)

Insert into shoulders day and back day. The serratus is tucked in behind the lats and you use it on shoulder day so it can be fatigued well for growth. You use the traps on back day during rear deltoids exercises and on shoulder day when performing lat raises.

So who’s shruggin?

I don’t know…