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The trapezius is the visual center of the upper back and ties together the neck, delts, and lats. Traps play an especially important role during contest prep because they are visible during both front and rear poses.
It is important to keep your trapezius development in proportion with the rest of your body. If they appear too high or slope down to abruptly, it will make your deltoids appear smaller than they really are.
As a described in an earlier post, most beginners should begin training using heavy compound movements to build a solid foundation. Compound movements such as upright rows and deadlifts will definitely put stress on your traps and lead to muscle growth. Lateral raises also stress the traps at the bottom of the movement.
As you advance in your bodybuilding training you can begin adding heavy barbell and dumbbell shrugs. These can be performed from the front or rear.
I train traps after shoulders because they are slightly involved in many shoulder exercises I perform. I usually perform 2 exercises of around 3-4 sets each. For others struggling to build up your traps I would add in another exercise to target the trapezius. Mine respond very well to heavy weight so I don’t have to train them with many sets.
To really get the most growth out of your trap training, you should really invest in some lifting straps. These will allow to focus on letting your traps do all the work and not focusing on holding onto the dumbbell or barbell. Also unless you have crazy man grip, you will be able to shrug more weight using straps. I can almost double my total wight on barbell shrugs with the use of straps. I will provide a link at the bottom for Valeo lifting straps. I have used them for years and never have had a problem. Plus they are only $3.
How nice would it be to increase your gains without having to alter your training?
Well, its very possible.
Mainstream bodybuilding nutrition says that more protein is always better and will lead to more muscle gains.
Increased protein intake is good, but you could eat a whole cow and still not gain any muscle if your body isn’t in the right condition to uptake the amino acids and utilize them effeciently.
The more important question should be, when should I consume protein?, not how much?
The most important time to consume a fast digesting protein, like whey, is within the hour window just after your workout. This is the time your body is starving for nutrients to stop muscle breakdown and begin the processes necessary for protein synthesis.
How are you going to get those amino acids from your gut into your muscles?
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What Optimum Nutrition Says about their Casein Protein
Sometimes slower is better – especiallywhen it comes to the rate of protein digestion. While rapid protein absorption is desirable immediately before or after exercise, delayed release is probably more beneficial throughout the remainder of the day.
Casein proteins are pH sensitive and gel in the acidic environment of the stomach. As a result, it can take more than twice as long for caseins to be broken-down into their amino acid sub-components than whey and other proteins. Because of their unique time-released qualities, caseins are aptly described as anti-catabolic or muscle-protecting proteins.
24 g Instantized Blend of Slow-Digesting Casein-Based Proteins
Rich in Highly Anti-Catabolic Micellar Casein
Over 9 g of BCAAs, Glutamine, and Glutamine Precursors per Scoop
Only 3-4 g of Carbs
My Review
I have been taking optimum’s casein protein for over two years now. This is definitely something you need if you are currently not taking a casein supplement. This is so important because of the rate of digestibility that casein offers. It is the perfect before bed shake giving your body hours of nutrients while you sleep. Amino acids will be constantly dripped into your bloodstream over the night. Meaning your body will not be forced to break down muscle tissue for energy over the long fasting period during the night. It is also ideal for times when you are not able to eat for several hours. I am a college student, so sometimes when I know I’ll be on campus for a few hours, I’ll take a couple scoops of casein. This will ensure I have the necessary amino acids I need to build new muscle and I won’t get hungry.
The quality of all Optimum Nutrition’s products are the best, including their casein protein. It mixes easily and comes in multiple flavors that are quite good. You can’t beat the price either. For the 2lb tub, it’s only $25. That usually lasts me 5-6 weeks.
Optimum Nutrition Casein Protein Review5Admin2010-03-05 16:38:34What Optimum Nutrition Says about their Casein Protein
Sometimes slower is better – especially when it comes to t…
Optimum Nutrition Reviews,Supplement ReviewsOptimum Nutrition Casein Protein ReviewWhat Optimum Nutrition Says about their Casein Protein
Sometimes slower is better – especially when it comes to t…
The ideal frame as a bodybuilder is to create the classic V-taper, with wide shoulders and a narrow waste. Depending on your experience, your shoulder training will vary. Below I will detail some basic guidelines for training deltoids as a beginner, advanced, and preparation for a competition.
Training the Deltoids:
There are two types of exercises that you can perform while training your shoulders, raises and presses. Raises allow you to better isolate the different heads of the delt. You need to perform raises to the front, side, and rear to achieve overall shoulder development. The great thing about raises are that they almost completely isolate your deltoids with little to no tricep involvement. On the other hand, presses are also a necessity to building great massive shoulders, but do involve other muscle groups like the triceps. You can better isolate the shoulders while performing presses by doing several things like:
changing the width of your grip
moving between dumbbells and barbells
using various machines that vary the angle of the press
Beginner:
As a beginner, your total shoulder development is very important not for only great looking shoulders, but assisting the development of other large muscle groups like the back and chest. This is why I suggest many power movements as a beginner. The shoulders respond very well to heavy weights for compound movements, such as seated shoulder press. Not only will this help your overall development, but it will assist you in increasing your other power exercises like the dead lift and bench press which require lots of deltoid strength.
Advanced:
Now that you have developed a solid foundation, its time to start focusing on exercises that specifically target the individual heads of the shoulder. Continue to execute your power movements, but now include more side, front, and rear raises. You can vary these exercises by:
using dumbbells, barbells, cables
supersets
descending/ascending sets
This is also the time to start focusing on the development of the traps. Remember the traps allow you to finish your pressing or lateral movements while your arms are above the level of your head. With this in mind, I always train the traps after shoulders because they are already pre-fatigued. I will discuss more on trapezius in another post.
Competition:
Here’s when you get to show off all those long hours in the gym. However, your work is not done yet. Training up to your competition is usually the hardest part because the lack of calories your eating to get into optimal shape. It is your ultimate goal to achieve total separation of each head of the delt, from the traps, and from the pecks. To achieve this I suggest increasing your training intensity. You can do this using many techniques including:
Supersets
Trisets
Giant sets
Stripping Method
Now is also the time to look at yourself in the mirror and determine your weak points. I will be discussing soon how to reorganize your training sessions to lessen those weak points.
