How to Do the Barbell Shrugs

How to do it

1. Stand with a barbell racked at about hip height, grip it just outside shoulder width with an overhand grip, and position your feet hip-width apart directly under the bar before you unrack it.
2. Unrack the bar by straightening your legs and stepping back one small step, then let the bar hang at full arm's length with your shoulders in a natural, unpacked position so you start each rep from a dead hang rather than pre-shrugged.
3. Take a breath into your belly, brace your core, and keep your chest up so your torso stays upright throughout the movement rather than leaning forward with the weight.
4. Drive your shoulders straight up toward your ears as high as they will go, thinking about trying to touch your traps to your earlobes, and avoid any forward or backward rolling of the shoulder joint.
5. At the top of the movement, hold the contracted position for one full second so you can confirm the traps are actually squeezing and you are not just bouncing the weight up with momentum.
6. Lower the bar under control back to the fully depressed starting position, letting your shoulders drop all the way down so the traps get a genuine stretch before the next rep rather than a shortened range of motion.
7. Reset your brace at the bottom if needed, then initiate the next rep cleanly from that stretched position rather than immediately bouncing into another shrug.
8. After your final rep, walk the bar back into the rack under control rather than dropping it, and make sure the bar is fully seated before you let go.

Form cues

• Shoulders go straight up, not in a circle
• Hold the top for a full beat
• Full drop at the bottom every rep
• Chin stays level, don't tuck into the shrug
• Arms stay passive, no bicep pull

Common mistakes

• Rolling the shoulders forward or backward: this puts unnecessary stress on the shoulder joint and actually reduces trap activation because the movement becomes rotational rather than pure elevation, so keep the path strictly vertical.
• Using a weight so heavy that the range of motion collapses to a quarter inch: a small shrug with 400 pounds trains nothing well, and dropping to a load that allows a full range from depression to full elevation will produce far more trap development over time.
• Bouncing reps with momentum from the hips or knees: dipping and then jerking upright transfers the load away from the traps and into a full-body heave, which defeats the entire purpose of an isolation movement, so control the tempo.
• Skipping the hold at the top: the traps are notoriously hard to feel contracting, and rushing through the top position means you never confirm the muscle is actually doing the work, so slowing down and pausing builds both mind-muscle connection and time under tension.
• Gripping the bar too wide or too narrow: a grip much wider than shoulder width pulls the shoulders into a mechanically awkward position, while a very narrow grip creates crowding and discomfort, so staying just outside shoulder width keeps the shoulder girdle in the most neutral, efficient alignment.

Why do the Barbell Shrugs?

• The traps play a significant role in neck stability and upper spine support, so building them with direct loading has carryover to posture during heavy squats, deadlifts, and overhead work.
• Because the barbell allows for heavier loading than most other shrug implements, it gives the traps a stimulus they rarely encounter in compound work, which can translate into visible thickness across the upper back.
• The controlled eccentric lowering phase of a barbell shrug, when the shoulders descend fully, stretches the traps under load in a way that contributes to both hypertrophy and shoulder health over time.
• Strong traps contribute to scapular stability, which supports the shoulder joint during pressing and pulling movements, making shrug work relevant beyond just aesthetics.

Barbell Shrugs variations

Smith Machine Shrug

A useful starting point for beginners who are still learning to keep the bar path vertical, since the machine locks the bar into a fixed track and removes the balance demand.

Trap Bar Shrug

The neutral grip and centered loading of a trap bar reduces wrist and forearm fatigue, making it a good option for lifters who find the overhand barbell grip fails before their traps do.

Barbell Shrug with Pause and Slow Eccentric

Adding a two-second hold at the top plus a three-second lowering phase dramatically increases time under tension, making this a harder progression for someone who has plateaued on standard shrugs.

Behind-the-Back Barbell Shrug

Holding the bar behind the thighs shifts the torso position slightly and changes the feel of the contraction at the top, which some lifters find hits a different portion of the trap more effectively.

How to program it

Barbell shrugs typically show up at the end of a back or pull session, after compound rows and deadlifts have already fatigued the primary movers, so the traps can be targeted with focused isolation work. Many lifters use them in the 8 to 15 rep range for hypertrophy, though some strength-focused programs also include heavier sets in the 4 to 6 rep range to build the capacity to stabilize heavier deadlift loads. Because the traps recover relatively quickly and can handle significant volume, two sessions per week is a common programming frequency. Straps are widely used once loads get heavy enough that grip becomes the limiting factor rather than the traps themselves.

Barbell Shrugs alternatives

Dumbbell Shrugs

Dumbbell · Isolation

Upright Row

Barbell · Compound

Reverse Pec Deck

Machine · Isolation

Farmer's Carry

Dumbbell · Compound

Deadlift

Barbell · Compound

Power Clean

Barbell · Compound