I'm two years late to this but THANK YOU SO MUCH. I am a woman who has genetically large traps but they have also been recruited to compensate due to my poor form on other exercises, specifically shoulder exercises but I also tend to use my upper traps to stabilize my body during squats and the like. I've been looking for ways in addition to focusing on improving my form to help my upper traps from taking over. Going to try these next week!
This is great, but I’d live to see a video on how to decrease trap too... I think this one just shows how to deactivate during workout. Have to get rid of these big things.
Excellent video. Been looking for an answer to this everywhere. Not much out there. This makes sense. I was perplexed why my traps were getting so big despite not directly working them. I don’t hunch when doing back exercises however I’m probably going way too heavy and compromising form without knowing it. I think my traps are recruiting to make up for it. I will lower weight on back and shoulder exercises and also do the ones suggested to activate mid and lower traps more and see if that works. Thanks!
I'm not sure if it's the same issue but I will find that I'm partially shrugging all the time. Just sitting at my desk or walking around. If I concentrate I can relax my traps but otherwise they will be partially engaged. Neck is always sore. I'm going to try these exercises and report back as i'm not sure what else to do haha
My question with the second exercise is this. How do I know it’s actually doing something? Because I know my traps are extremely overactive, but that movement also is extremely easy. Does that make any sense? If a Movement is easy, is it training anything? I just like understanding.
I'm 34, never worked out but have these perposterous traps since I can remember. It limits alot of my clothing options and my neck is also super messed up. In school our backpacks were very heavy and I think maybe that ended up causing them in part at least. Do these exercises make them go away?
I had an injury 1 year back in my right shoulder that leads to winged scapula.After recovery,whenever i train my right shoulder especially when i do lateral raises my right trap gets overactivated and this causes imbalance of my traps now plz suggest me something ?
Work on unilateral movements that teach isolated full scapula retraction/ protraction, as well as depression/elevation. Start with the side that had the injury and use the number of reps that you are able to correctly execute on that side to dictate how many reps should be done on the stronger side.
I love having jacked traps (as a female), but it limits my mobility under load and causes pain/headaches. Only my right side is overactive. The trigger for me is heavy compound movements like bench press, snatch and jerk. When I do these corrective exercises, I also feel tension in other areas like my triceps/attachment to lat. I've seen multiple physios but no ones been able to resolve it. Dry needling helps the most, but only temporarily and physios always comment on how tight sections of various parts of my body are, worse on the right side. Any idea what more I could do??
overactive traps does not always equate to strong and jacked traps. its great to be able to activate your traps when needed in specific movements and take the focus away from them in other movements. The movements in this video are helpful in the long run, but remember when you start them initially, the faulty recruitment patterning you have developed will also naturally recruit upper traps. You will have to be very conscious with each rep, using lighter loads and strict form, calling off the set should you start to engage the upper traps.
Why is it that when I look up why my right traps aren't activating, I get things like this. I can't take it, no one has been able to help me, I can't even find anything on why I'm having this issue
Sorry you haven't been able to find anything online to help. It sucks when you can't find the answer to your specific issues on the internet or even others who experience the same thing. Try talking to your medical provider. Maybe they can refer you to someone who can address the issue.
@Theorem my pcp doesn't even know where the serratus is compared to the rhomboids. Dismisses my concerns about muscle imbalances in my neck etc they're incompetent. I feel I've made more progress on my own than I have in my 3 bouts of PT. It's sad honestly
With these movements, you will not be able to lift much load to begin. The focus is on movement patterning and activation instead of muscle building. Essentially, it's about "re-educating" muscles to fire and help out the over-activated ones (upper traps for example) so as to achieve better strength and aesthetic balance
