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Key Timestamp Links:
0:00 Intro
1:02 Overview of the traps (trapezius)
2:00 Techniques: Lift unilaterally, depress your shoulder & tilt your neck
3:59 Angle variation 1 demo
4:20 Angle variation 2 demo
4:59 Angle variation 3 demo
5:00 Techniques: Hold the contraction & rotate
5:36 Free weight alternative (dumbbell)
7:01 Upper trap anatomy deepdive
8:00 How to achieve max extension
8:57 How to achieve max contraction
9:29 Why shrugging straight up isn't effective
10:29 Angle variation 1 benefits
11:38 Angle variation 2 benefits
12:04 Angle variation 3 benefits
12:44 Free weight version benefits
14:58 Intro to my full online programs

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in this video, I’m going to show you how to use several sciencebased techniques to work and grow your upper traps many times more efficiently and effectively than you ever have before.

The word “traps” is short for Trapezius, and the trapezius is one of the largest muscles in the body its fibers have origination points that start all the way up at the base of the skull, and don’t end until down in your lower back. Because it’s so big and covers such a large area, the Trapezius is split up anatomically and functionally into three different parts. There’s the lower trapezius also called the ascending trapezius then there’s the middle or transverse trapezius and then the upper or descending trapezius. In this video, we’re only going to focus on the upper trapezius.

When you’re figuring out the best ways to hit any muscle, you need to look at the origination and insertion points, and the direction of the muscle fibers. Many of the fibers of the upper trapezius originate all along your neck, and then insert on both the lateral end of the clavicle or collar bone, and on the acromion of the scapula. Now, if you really want to work a muscle to its fullest extent, you need to hit its full range of motion from full extension to maximum contraction. So now that we know the origination and insertion points of these fibers, we can figure out that to get full extension, we need to move them as far from each other as possible. That’s why with the first technique I show, you want to depress or drop your shoulder on the side you’re working, and then tilt your neck and head to the opposite side, stretching those fibers. And then for max contraction, not only do you want to shrug your shoulder up, but you want to bring your neck down to meet it.


Watch the video for the rest!

Disclaimer: I have not finished my medical training and am therefore not yet a licensed physician. The information in this video should not be taken as medical advice.
Credits: The anatomy models used in this video are from Complete Anatomy, from whom I have a teaching license.