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traps are getting outa contol!

cteavin Posts: 1 Joined: 2003/07/09	2003/07/09, 03:06 AM Hey, I'm not exactly new to working out but for some reason my traps are getting ahead of my shoulders. I've been VERY careful to make sure I isolate targeted muscles when I exercize but they still seem bigger. And I don't do any trap specific exercizes. Any ideas or advice? Thanks, steven
azredhead57 Posts: 1,651 Joined: 2003/04/11	2003/07/09, 01:18 PM I hope you get an answer on this as I am curious. I refuse to do any trap exercises as I like nice square shoulders and not those that blend into the neck. Are you doing db laterals? I do them standing straight, not bent over, and keep my arms as straight as possible. They have given me nice definition on the top of my shoulders. -------------- ~Victoria~ ...There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.--Beverly Sills
plfitness Posts: 198 Joined: 2003/05/25	2003/07/09, 02:08 PM The bad news is that the overall shape of the traps is a genetic thing & the traps are involved in almost every shoulder & back movement that we perform, thus for those of us with genetically gifted traps, this is our curse. Now for the good news, the traps are basically resposible for stabilizing the shoulders & maintaining proper glenohumeral joint positioning. To put it simply, they keep the shoulders where they are supposed to be preventing injury! Also keep in mind that if you do not train a muscle, even a big one, it will become weaker. In my case this led to improper shoulder positioning & a chronic impingement in both shoulders. The solution?, train traps (both upper & lower) with back & train them for limit strength using heavy weight & very low reps. This will cause some growth but not as much as higher volume training will. In addition this leaves moretime for shoulder training & recuperation for shoulder workouts where you can concentrate on building the deltoids & obtaining the wide "squared" look. Also keep in mind that the traps will grow, but they can not exeed their insertion points both at the shoulder & the neck so at worst they will become rounder, but they will not grow to the point where they "overlap" the delts or the neck. In addition, remember that they cannot grow forever & eventually they will plateau, leaving us free to maximise the delts to create that "shelf" that gives us the appearance of broad shoulders. -------------- \\"Knowledge & persistence is all one needs to succeed\"\ ---Patrick L.