2 Unusual Barbell Shrug Variations

Let’s face it, big traps are super impressive – intimidating, even. One of the key ways in which traps are built is by shrugs exercises, most commonly with a barbell. From checking out forums, it seems people lack variety in their shrugging, and the only type of shrug that seems to get performed is the barbell in front variety. Here are 2 other ways to make your barbell useful for shrugs…

Barbell Behind Back Shrugs

When performing front shrugs, people often have the tendency to lean forward and slouch their shoulders too much which ruins the effectiveness of the exercise. Behind the back shrugs eliminate these problems. When behind the back shrugs are done properly, you can get a good range of motion and will really feel the traps working hard.

The only difficulty is getting the bar above the butt – a problem lifters with long arms and a short torso will certainly have. Significant bending at the elbow may be necessary to help get a heavier bar over your butt but this shouldn’t be of any negative consequence provided your shoulder girdle still moves through the full possible range. It’s only when overall bar movement is focused on (not traps movement) and the bending of the elbows gives the impression full ROM has been achieved based on bar movement that you are shortchanging yourself. So – make sure you focus on how far the traps are moving, not the bar, and elbow bend will be of no consequence.

Also, strong abdominals are important here to help counter the now-backward force of the barbell.

One Hand Barbell Shrugs

In this variation the barbell is held in one hand to the side of the body, much like a dumbbell, and one side is shrugged at a time (or you could, if you wanted, use 2 barbells simultaneously but it’ll be tricky, as I’ll explain in a moment.

You may be wondering why you would use a barbell for this and not a dumbbell and the answer is it reduces drag. When you shrug with a dumbbell, the plates will inevitably drag on your sides on the up and down – a barbell with its long bar eliminates this entirely.

They can get tricky, however, because the bar must be held exactly in the center or it will be off-balance and will rock and you will quickly lose your grip. With this shrug variation controlling the balance of one bar can be difficult enough without trying to co-ordinate two at the same time – but by all means, try it.

You could, if you wanted, experiment with increasing the stability of the bar by using an EZ Curl bar, and where the high points where the index fingers would sit, attach each end of a chain or industrial straps and hold the middle of the chain/strap instead.

Check out our other muscle building articles for more great training tips.