While six-time Olympia champion Dorian Yates is famed for releasing his Blood & Guts bodybuilding video guide in 2003, the Englishman still has plenty of exercises to share that didn’t make the cut. Here, “The Shadow” explains the importance of the simple shrug to his legendary success.
“Here’s a few shots of myself performing barbell and machine shrugs,” explained Yates in a recent Instagram post. “I did them throughout the years and often switched them up with dumbbells. For traps, it was only ever one exercise, whether that was barbell, dumbbell or a machine, only one direct exercise.”
Why Shrugs Are Superb for Taxing the Traps
The traps are a muscle group that can be seen front and back. They are the bulging piles of mass that sit between your neck and shoulders, on either side of your frame. Your traps serve to provide that coveted triangular look in the upper shoulder area.
“On slides 2 and 5 is when I trained with Mike Mentzer using the Hammer Strength shrug machine, using 8 plates per side!” recalls Yates. “It was an excellent machine and was the first time I used their brand of equipment and was impressed. I had a contract with them and had some great machines in for Temple Gym after. And, on slide 3 is at Temple Gym where I used this machine to do shrugs. It could be used as a chest press too, but I used it for traps.”
The man they call “The Shadow” would spend countless hours in the Temple Gym in Birmingham. This is where he began training his physique for bodybuilding success. Shrugs build mass and strength in the upper back, resulting in improved performance in other lifts such as the deadlift. The actual shrugging aspect of the movement occurs when you drive the barbell or dumbbell up. By focusing on the shoulders. They key is to bring the shoulders up towards the ears as you raise the bar, relying less on your arms. The next step should involve a brief pause to make sure the traps are fully activated at the top of the lift, before lowering the weight.
”With traps, I did utilize partial reps when failure was reached to fully exhaust them,” explains Yates, recalling those long and brutal sessions training for each Olympia. “I mixed it up from time to time, you get more freedom with dumbbells but can go heavier with a barbell and machine.”
Not everyone is built like Dorian Yates in his prime, so be sure to choose a weight that doesn’t strain your traps, as that would be counterproductive. Work on your form and progressively add weight, sets, and reps as you go. “In Temple Gym, I eventually had to get 100kg dumbbells made… I was the only user!” shares the legend.
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