1) They look awesome and give a lifter that athletic "power look."
2) They provide an important platform for the barbell during movements such as squats and behind the neck presses.
3) They are insanely powerful muscles which aid in pretty much every compound movement.
4) They support stability in the upper back increasing the amount of weight lifted in the squat, bench, deadlift, and Olympic lifts.
5) Weak people have small traps. Larger traps correlate with a strong person.
During my unfortunate and unavoidable hiatus from lifting one of the areas I wanted to bring up quickly was my traps. For the reasons above and others. They are a very important muscle to focus on. For me, the more beef I have on my back the more weight I can comfortably set on my back to squat. Also, strong traps make any type of pulling movement easier. Whether it is off the ground, vertically, horizontally-- and so on.
I would like to share with you what I did to focus on building distinguishable trapezius muscles. First, let me share with you before, during, and after photos. They are not the best of quality, but will give you an idea of what some simple persistent training can do for you.
First off, this is me around December 2012:
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| Dec. 2012 |
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| June 2013 |
...and finally, about 6 months after that at the end of 2013.
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| December 2013 |
This is what I did. Nothing fancy, just a combination of classic bodybuilding schemes and olympic assistance work. Regardless of your weekly split, just add these in accordingly however you would like, and what compliments your training days. 3 x 12 reads 3 sets of 12 reps.
Weeks 1-4
Day 1: High Face Pull 3 x 12
Day 2: Snatch Grip Hi Pull 5 x 5
Day 3: High Face Pull 3 x 12
Weeks 5-8
Day 1: High Face Pull 3 x12, pause for 1 second at top contraction
Day 2: Snatch Grip Hi Pull 3 x 3
Day 3: High Face Pull, Drop Sets 3 x 25, no rest between sets.
That is it, I pretty much cycled that for a solid year and the only thing I changed was increasing the weight every chance I was able to.
Now remember this is all assistance work. So this should be used in conjunction with a solid strength training template. If you're looking for a solid strength program check out my article on An Effective Variation of 5x5. It will get you strong and jacked, guaranteed. Hope this helps.
