How to pump up a trapeze at home

Currently, a toned and athletic body is an integral element of the image of a successful person who is always able to find a few hours a week for self-development. And many people, sincerely wanting to get in shape, but unable to attend the gym, work out at home, writing their own programs that focus on the main muscles (pectoral muscles, back muscles, etc.). At the same time, when the question concerns the muscles of the back, 90% of people pump the latissimus muscles, but not the trapezius.

This muscle group is one of the most important adductors in the body that have the functions of the main motor mechanisms. The paired muscles of the trapezium are located on the back on both sides of the spine, and the appearance of each individual muscle remotely resembles a triangle, and combining them gives a trapezoidal complex of muscles. The trapezoid connects the back of the head, shoulder joints and partially the shoulder blades, being lowered just below the back.

Important: the trapezius muscles act in most cases with the muscles of the forearm, therefore, these muscle groups should always be pumped simultaneously.

The main function of the trapezius muscle complex is to carry out the movement of the blades of the cyclic movement up and down: the contraction of only the upper parts of the complex sets the movement to rise, the lower ones to lower. Obviously, work on the trapezoid should consist in performing exercises that make the shoulder blades rise and lower, plus they bring them together. The most useful exercises, therefore, are various wiring-summaries using average weights, not maximum, exercises on horizontal bars, parallel bars, classical push-ups.

Weight Training

It is no secret to anyone that bodybuilders, working in the gym on their figure, always use different dumbbells and barbells to exert a greater load on certain muscles. Controlled heavy load leads to rupture of muscle fibers, their rapid healing and the emergence of new, stronger.

Important: it is impossible to pump the trapezius muscles without working with additional weights; exercises that are performed with their own weight can only help lose weight, but no more.

A classic exercise is the so-called "Shrug", which, firstly, is very easy to do at home, and secondly, they have a simple technique. This exercise focuses on the vertical work of the muscles and gives an excellent functional load (therefore, it is recommended to always perform it at the beginning of the workout). The exercises are performed as follows: dumbbells (or bottles filled with water or sand) are taken in each of the hands, a standing position is taken with the feet wide apart, then you only need to raise your shoulders up, as if giving a negative answer to any proposal. You must complete at least 2 sets of 15-20 repetitions.

A variety of shrugs are weighted shrugs behind the back, which are also aimed at the forearms and help correct posture, so you should also pay attention to it. The back should be straight while doing, and the spine line should be natural. On inspiration, shoulders rise with straight arms behind the back, but at the same time, both legs and chest, and, importantly, hands should not bend in any direction. Only shoulders should work here.

Tip: upon reaching the highest point, you should tighten the muscles of the trapezium in order to give them maximum tension and, as a result, the best pumping effect.

Exercise "Traction", which will give the necessary load to the trapezius muscles - dumbbell drafts up on an inclined hard surface. Usually, the back of the chair acts as such a surface, which is inclined at an angle of 45 degrees to the wall or sofa. The point is that you should lie on your back with your stomach down, so that your legs feel confidently on the floor, while your arms hang down. Again, dumbbells are taken in each of the hands, which is necessary to pull upward, working exclusively with the back muscles, not with the biceps and triceps, that is, with your arms slightly apart. Raising your arms as high as possible is not necessary, just an amplitude of 15-25 centimeters is enough.

Tip: these exercises will give the best effect to muscle growth if performed together, therefore it is important to first give the maximum load to the trapezium with the first exercise, and after that - finish it with the second.

If the joints of the hands are quite well developed, then the trapezius muscles can be pumped with the help of rotations performed with dumbbells. To complete the exercise, it is enough to pick up the shells, and then describe circles of diameter about 40-50 cm with them, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. It is enough to complete the exercise 40 times (in two approaches).

Since the load on the trapezius muscles cannot be given without loading on the muscles of the hands, the latter can be severely damaged when choosing a too heavy sports equipment to perform exercises. Therefore it is important:

1. Conduct a set of warm-up exercises before training aimed at working out the muscles of the back and trapezius muscles.
2. Pre-lubricate the back with warming creams.
3. Follow the technique of each exercise.

There is also an exercise “Craving for the chin,” which requires some kind of bag or container that is convenient for lifting — a few filled bottles or something weighty should be put in it. Initial position: the legs are shoulder width apart, and the lowered hands hold the backpack or bag with a narrow grip (that is, hands drop from their width to almost the same point). The exercise is as follows:

1. For inhalation, slowly pull the backpack to the chin so that at the highest point, the elbows are slightly higher than the wrists.
2. At the highest point, hold the backpack a little longer to give the muscles a feeling of tension.
3. After that, the weight slowly drops down to its initial position.

Bodyweight Exercises

Although it is impossible to give volume to the muscles without a forceful approach, it is possible to work out the trapezius muscles with the help of special exercises that use the person’s own weight.

Classical in this area are push-ups, familiar to every person from the school bench. They are performed as follows: initially such emphasis is laid, so that the back, hips and arms are within the same line, while the elbows are maximally reduced to the body. The palms should be placed approximately at the level of the center of the chest; push-ups themselves are performed very slowly in order to give a load to each joint and each muscle in the trapezium. It is necessary to lower yourself until the chest touches the hands lying on the floor. Three sets of at least 30 repetitions should be followed.

You also need to pay attention to the exercise "Cobra", which has a little in common with the "Planck". The starting position for this exercise is the emphasis on lying on the arms and legs. After taking the starting position, you should lie on your stomach, then trying to lift your head, arms, legs, and shoulders from the ground at the same time and try to keep them at the highest point for a long time (at least a minute).

The classic "yard" exercise, which focuses on the trapezius muscles, is considered pull-ups on the bar with a wide grip.Such a grip implies fixing the hands on the horizontal bar at a width significantly exceeding the usual grip (shoulder width). Pulling - lifting due to work on mixing the blades; in this case, you can help yourself a little with biceps, but only to achieve going beyond the crossbar up; lifting itself should be carried out only due to the trapezius muscles.

Tip: usually when doing pull-ups with a wide grip, they approach the crossbar at a small angle (between the racks of the horizontal bar and the plane of the person, it can reach 20 degrees). This will help to pay more attention to the trapeze, and not to the biceps.

They work out the muscles of the trapeze pull-up well with the head. To perform this type of exercise, you should place your hands on the crossbar with your usual grip, and pull yourself almost perfectly straight, at the end of which to move your head forward so that the neck slightly touches the horizontal bar. Here, it is much more important than in the previous exercise to ensure that only the muscles of the trapezium work, because with a large number of repetitions, the body will involuntarily help itself, including biceps and triceps in the work.

Most athletes devote two days a month to training the muscles of the trapezium and forearms, since these muscle groups are more leading, and they are involved in other exercises, for example, aimed at the widest. In any case, at least sometimes it is necessary to pay attention to pumping the trapezius muscles a full training day. Trapezius muscles belong to the group of muscles that are quite easily amenable to increase in volume, so the result with the proper approach will not take long.

Well-developed trapezius muscles reduce any pressure exerted on the joints of the shoulder, cervical vertebrae, which, obviously, minimizes the risks of any kind of injuries, sprains and tears. At the same time, with developed trapezius muscles, posture is much easier to keep due to the fact that the curvature of the vertebrae will simply interfere with the volumetric muscles. The mass growth of the trapezius muscles is impossible without a forceful approach, because with time you will have to increase weights and you can’t do anything with plastic bottles of sand and water.

Video: how to pump a trapeze without iron