Bodyweight Traps Workout (GET BIG TRAPS!) – ATHLEAN-X™

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Some think it is impossible to build big traps with a bodyweight traps workout. That’s not the case. In this video, I show you 6 bodyweight trap exercises that you can put together into one killer shrug free workout to develop complete traps. I will show you how to hit not just the upper fibers of the traps but the all important (and overlooked) lower traps.

Before we start however it is important to know the anatomy of the traps and their importance in the development of the back. This muscle group takes up almost as much space as the lats. Nobody ever forgets to train the lats but the traps don’t get nearly the same attention. The problem is, the traps are one of the most important muscle groups for providing stability for your entire upper spine during almost every other lift you do.

The trapezius is a large muscle group that takes up a long area top to bottom. The orientation of the fibers not only changes along this length but so does the function of the muscle as you work your way down. The lower traps are used to primarily depress the scapula and downwardly rotate them. The middle traps help to stabilize the shoulder blades medially and retract them. They also eccentrically decelerate and control scapular protraction (as would occur during a throwing motion).

The upper traps are most commonly trained as we all tend to do lots of shrugs. That said, even here a straight up and down shrugging movement is not really hitting the upper traps as effectively as they could be due once again to the orientation of the fibers on an angle. I actually covered this in a separate video on how to improve the way you do shrugs. It is posted here on this channel if you want to check it out.

In this bodyweight traps workout I show you six different exercises for hitting your traps without weights. Just two of them require any equipment at all. A pullup bar and a regular bar that you can set up in the inverted row position is all you need to do all of these. If you don’t have access to either of these pieces of equipment, you have nothing to worry about. Simply do the other exercises shown here to still get in a killer bodyweight traps workout.

For a complete program that utilizes absolutely no weights or equipment at all, be sure to head to and get the ATHLEAN XERO program. In just six weights, build ripped athletic muscle without having to use any weights or needing to have access to a gym membership or a gym in your house.

For more traps workouts and exercises to build big traps like Tom Hardy, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at

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