How to pump up your trapezius at home?

Most muscles can be trained at home without special equipment, although this will require a little more time compared to training in the gym.



The trapezius muscles of the back are no exception, which can also be pumped up at home, and without the use of weight machines or any impressive sports equipment at all. How? – this is what this article will talk about...

As you know, the most important exercise in working out this muscle group is shrugs. Bodybuilders usually perform it with a barbell, but work with dumbbells, according to sports medicine experts, is considered much more effective. It allows you to significantly increase the range of motion and, consequently, the degree of involvement of the target muscles...

If you have collapsible dumbbells at home, then this option for working on yourself is quite realistic and accessible. If not, don’t despair, we will suggest very real alternatives at hand... But this will be discussed later in this article...

Shrugs with dumbbells.

1. Starting position: standing upright. Hands with dumbbells - at the seams or in front of the hips. Grab your hands with your fingers facing you.
2. Only using the trapezius do cyclic shrugs. In other words: without bending our elbows, we pull our shoulders up towards our ears.
3. After pausing for a few seconds at the top point of the trajectory, we move down to the lowest point, stretching the back as much as possible. It is very important to carry out all movements smoothly, without jerking, because getting a sports injury in this exercise is as easy as shelling pears.

Kettlebell shrugs.

This movement is also quite accessible for working with kettlebells. The execution technique is almost identical.

Shrugs with an expander or elastic band.

If at your home there are no dumbbells or weights at all, but you have a foot expander or a rubber shock absorber, it is quite possible to perform this movement with the help of these sports equipment. If only the load is suitable, since shrugs are usually performed with impressive weight. A rubber band is unlikely to be able to provide such a level of load... but as an option, you can try.

Shrugs with improvised projectiles.

If you have nothing at home at all, and there are no sports equipment as such, you still shouldn’t despair. Let's use improvised means. We can easily replace dumbbells with plastic bottles or buckets filled with water, bricks, or anything heavy. Simply hold the weight at your sides or in front of you and, without bending your elbows, shrug your shoulders. The technique of execution is extremely simple, and therefore, in principle, applicable to execution with any available weight.

In addition to shrugs, there is a whole range of various exercises available for implementation at home, in which the muscle group we are considering is somehow involved. Let's explore these exercises...

Push-ups to pump up your trapezius.

The muscles of the upper back work best when doing push-ups with clasped hands - the so-called “Diamond style”. Take the position as for regular push-ups, thumbs and index fingers should touch or be as close as possible to each other, the body should be in a straight line, feet together, back straight.

Slowly lower yourself until you touch your hands. Try to tense the muscle group we need. Ascend smoothly and complete the ascent in about 2 seconds. Make sure that your elbows are constantly pressed to your body.

Hand lift.

This exercise effectively affects the trapezius and will help pump them up. To complete it, you will need a regular wall without shelves, pictures, etc. Get into a handstand with your feet against the wall to maintain balance.

Lower your body down and then push your body up, tightening your trapezius. Do not lift yourself using your shoulders and hands; the main load should go to your back.

Work on the horizontal bar and uneven bars.

The previous exercises do not require any equipment at all and are suitable for beginners. To more effectively influence the trapezoidal group, you can use the simplest sports equipment: a horizontal bar and parallel bars - they are in every yard on any sports ground...

So, we have already learned how to pump up trapezoids at home with sports equipment and the weight of our own body, now we will learn how to do this with the help of parallel bars and a horizontal bar:

When exercising on the horizontal bar with a load on the trapezius, the grip should be open (thumb at the top of the bar) and wide. You can perform regular, classic pull-ups and head pull-ups.

For focused training of the trapezius muscle group, you need to climb onto the uneven bars so that your body is parallel to the floor. Place your legs on the bars. From the starting position, begin to stretch upward, trying to strain your upper back and neck to the maximum, and concentrate on the work of your muscles.

By adhering to all the listed rules and regularly working on yourself, over time you will be able to significantly improve your upper back, which is what we sincerely wish for you!