The Barbell Shrugs Free Weight Exercise

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Manny Castro, exercise physiologist. This next exercise, we’re targeting the trapezius muscles, that lead from the shoulder to the neck, and also the upper back muscles. This particular exercise is called a barbell shrug. What we’re going to do is use an overhand grip. We’re going to use a neutral grip, meaning that we’re going to be in between the knurlings here, perfectly in between the knurlings, or just about an inch or two outside of the hips. Again, watch your back on this exercise when starting. Notice that I’m using a little help with the power rack here. Now, our starting position is our elbows are straight, arms are straight, feet are nice and flat, and about shoulder width apart. What we’re going to do is, from a stretch position here, or an extended position at the shoulders, we’re going to shrug all the way up, keeping our arms straight. Then right back down. Again, you want to pause at the top a little bit. I like to think of this movement, and exaggerate the movement, by thinking that I’m shrugging all the way up to my ears. Really, what that’s doing is tightening the trapezius muscles at the top of the movement. Then I want to make sure that I stretch shoulder muscles at the bottom, or the shoulders at the bottom. I’m going from a stretch position to a tight position. Again, now I’m doing about 3-4 sets, and 12-15 repetitions to start. This exercise is a bit easier in intensity, and you could probably go a little higher in weight. So experiment with your weight; and then as you get stronger, you can come down on repetitions and up in weight as your strength increases."