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You have never really seen a need for shrugs. Your traps connecting your neck and shoulders seem thick enough, right? Nothing is really lagging all that much. You hit them with overlap, as they serve a secondary role in exercises such as rows, deadlifts, and shoulder raises and presses. You enjoy the primary trap work that upright rows, deliver too, right? Wait –

Did you say upright rows? The exercise which is single-handedly responsible for more rotator cuff injuries than basketball pickup games and heavy infants combined? Are you really still living in the 1960s, where coaches encouraged their athletes to just whip around the weights with no regard for human life, much less your precious shoulder sockets?

Unless you happen to be married to a surgeon that can repair your RC and AC joints anytime you like, and you feel 6-month breaks from training are reasons to spend more time at the beach, you are crazy to still be using upright rows in this day and age, as we become more and more aware of the dangers that this movement provides to the very delicate shoulder joints. You shouldn’t be using them. There are far more effective means of hitting shoulders (including cables, dumbbells and now kettlebells) which allow them the ability to bend with gravity instead of forcing undue pressure upon the tendons with upright rows. And traps? You do know how to effectively target them too, right?

Shrugs! They’re an excellent way to build up your ‘bull neck’ and give your entire upper body an appearance of thickness and presence. You can complete them with a barbell on a standard bench, with dumbbells right from the rack, or with cables, pulling directly from a low set cable bar. Keep your reps in the 6 to 15 range, giving your body a nice variety of stimulation for both slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers.

If you discover that your grip – your ability to hold onto that very heavy dumbbell – is failing in your sets long before your trap muscles are giving out, then it is time to use dedicated grip work such as barbell wrist curls or some specialized wrist machines.

Beyond that, get shruggin’! Stop subjecting your body to the perils of upright rows. Your chiropractor will thank you, as will your body as you can keep training without limitations brought about by injury caused by upright rows. Stick with shrugs, and you’ll enjoy plenty of thickness as a result!