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Shrugs - shoulder or back

Lizard King

Lizard King

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Sep 9, 2010
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Started my son with some light training, he's young but he is a little man at 5'3 and 115 at 11yo with a size 10 1/2 shoe so I know he has a growth spurt coming.
He has pretty broad shoulders and I want to start him on light shrugs. Back day was the most difficult for him so far, trying to find his form, does it matter where I put shrugs in for him?
I am not taxing him at all to where he is sore, just getting the movements down for now with bar work or light plates, but I want to ignite the muscle memory.
 
5.0

5.0

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Nov 3, 2012
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I found my best growth as a newbie in my traps! Slightly wider than shoulder gripth and 3 days/wk, or after anything but legs. Big feet = expensive shoes lol
 
FlyingDragon

FlyingDragon

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Nov 4, 2010
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Shrugs is part of my shoulder workout
 
HDH

HDH

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Sep 30, 2011
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I do them light on back and light on shoulders but if I did them on one day it would be shoulder day.
 
creekrat

creekrat

MuscleHead
Sep 9, 2012
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I hit mine on shoulder days but I can also squeeze them in on back days without adding other additional movements by exagerating the ones already in my routine.
 
CFM

CFM

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Mar 18, 2012
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Twice a week, once on shoulders day and once on back day.
 
Bigtex

Bigtex

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Aug 14, 2012
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Started my son with some light training, he's young but he is a little man at 5'3 and 115 at 11yo with a size 10 1/2 shoe so I know he has a growth spurt coming.
He has pretty broad shoulders and I want to start him on light shrugs. Back day was the most difficult for him so far, trying to find his form, does it matter where I put shrugs in for him?
I am not taxing him at all to where he is sore, just getting the movements down for now with bar work or light plates, but I want to ignite the muscle memory.

I always had good trap development. When I competed I actually never really trained shrugs. I got plenty of stress on the upper traps doing heavy deadlift. That being said, most people I think choose to train the traps on shoulder day. The middle and lower fibers of the traps on back day. The upper fibers of the traps are used for most shoulder exercises as a stabilizer. So they are already warmed up and ready to go.
 
two_slug

two_slug

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Mar 7, 2012
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I wouldn't worry about specific trap training at his age and experience. Have him stick to deads, bent rows and OHP's and traps will be taken care of. I train ppl for a living and don't stress on isolated trap work unless it's a weak point. Teach him proper form on back and shoulder work and his traps will grow.

What does his workout look like?
 
Bigtex

Bigtex

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Aug 14, 2012
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^^^Exactly what I found each year I trained high school football players. The biggest thing they needed was muscle mass. The best three lifts to get that are heavy squats, deadlifts and bench press. All three are easy to master and keep the kids excited because they can see a lot of plates on the bar. Its the ego thing.......they will also see some quick changes in the way they look.

I kept the reps between 1-5 alternating each week on the big three and then did a more BB type training with the assistance muscle groups like triceps, biceps etc in the 8-12 range.

Max Effort Bench press day (1-5 reps) - triceps, shoulders, upper back, biceps - 3 sets 8-12 (1 exercise each)
Max effort Squat/deadlift day (1-5 reps) - hip extensors, low back, abs - 3 sets 8-12 reps (1 exercise each)

All exercises are alternated every two weeks, reps on the heavy training are alternated each week. This will keep thekids constantly moving upward with the load and not needing to take time off to recover. 4 days a week should be plenty.

Above parallel box squats are also a great way to handle the heavier weight and put on the mass. Hell, I had girls volley ball players doing 225-315 on the box squats. Their vertical jump sky rocketed and they loved lifting weight for the 1st time. A couple of years training like this and any kid can figure out which direction they want to go with weight training and they already have a good solid base of muscle mass.
 
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