Fitness
Dorian Yates Shares His Go-To Exercise for Building Terrific Traps – Muscle & Fitness
While six-time Olympia champion Dorian Yates is famed for releasing his Blood & Guts bodybuilding video guide in 2003, the Englishman still has plenty of exercises to share that didn’t make the cut. Here, “The Shadow” explains the importance of the simple shrug to his legendary success.
“Here’s a few shots of myself performing barbell and machine shrugs,” explained Yates in a recent Instagram post. “I did them throughout the years and often switched them up with dumbbells. For traps, it was only ever one exercise, whether that was barbell, dumbbell or a machine, only one direct exercise.”
Why Shrugs Are Superb for Taxing the Traps
The traps are a muscle group that can be seen front and back. They are the bulging piles of mass that sit between your neck and shoulders, on either side of your frame. Your traps serve to provide that coveted triangular look in the upper shoulder area.
“On slides 2 and 5 is when I trained with Mike Mentzer using the Hammer Strength shrug machine, using 8 plates per side!” recalls Yates. “It was an excellent machine and was the first time I used their brand of equipment and was impressed. I had a contract with them and had some great machines in for Temple Gym after. And, on slide 3 is at Temple Gym where I used this machine to do shrugs. It could be used as a chest press too, but I used it for traps.”
The man they call “The Shadow” would spend countless hours in the Temple Gym in Birmingham. This is where he began training his physique for bodybuilding success. Shrugs build mass and strength in the upper back, resulting in improved performance in other lifts such as the deadlift. The actual shrugging aspect of the movement occurs when you drive the barbell or dumbbell up. By focusing on the shoulders. They key is to bring the shoulders up towards the ears as you raise the bar, relying less on your arms. The next step should involve a brief pause to make sure the traps are fully activated at the top of the lift, before lowering the weight.
”With traps, I did utilize partial reps when failure was reached to fully exhaust them,” explains Yates, recalling those long and brutal sessions training for each Olympia. “I mixed it up from time to time, you get more freedom with dumbbells but can go heavier with a barbell and machine.”
Not everyone is built like Dorian Yates in his prime, so be sure to choose a weight that doesn’t strain your traps, as that would be counterproductive. Work on your form and progressively add weight, sets, and reps as you go. “In Temple Gym, I eventually had to get 100kg dumbbells made… I was the only user!” shares the legend.
For more fitness inspiration follow Dorian Yates on Instagram
You won’t find dumbbells or weight machines in the gym Sean Keogh runs. At Calisthenics Club Houston, it’s all about training with body weight.
“That’s all we do,” Keogh said — but that’s enough to keep new members coming through the doors, excited to learn moves like handstands and pullups.
Keogh and his members have plenty of company. These days, content creators, independent gyms and megachains alike are promoting calisthenics, an age-old form of fitness that uses little or no equipment and instead relies on body weight for resistance.
In July, President Donald Trump even reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test, intending that youth across the country will again practice old-school exercises like situps, pushups and pullups.
It’s little surprise that these no-frills moves are making a comeback in our over-scheduled society, said Anatolia Vick-Kregel, director of the Lifetime Physical Activity Program at Rice University. “We don’t always have time to go to the gym,” she said. “This is what you can do at home or in your office.”
Another reason might be economic, said Michael Stack, an exercise physiologist and president of the Physical Activity Alliance, a coalition of groups that promote physical activity. With no equipment required, calisthenics-based programs are affordable for exercisers and profitable for gyms that offer them. Plus, people may have gotten used to exercising with few accoutrements during the pandemic.
“This trend has been building,” Stack said. “The pandemic definitely accelerated it.”
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
How effective are calisthenics?
There’s plenty of research to suggest that calisthenics can improve everything from muscle strength to aerobic conditioning, Vick-Kregel said.
“Body weight is phenomenal,” she said.
But there are limits to its effects, said John Raglin, a professor of kinesiology at the Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington. “It can be effective,” Raglin said. “But I think the idea that it can or should replace the use of even simple equipment is wrong-headed.”
Sometimes, Raglin said, using equipment can actually make exercises simpler or safer to perform. Many people, for example, do pushups with improper form.
“If you’re not strong enough or you have joint issues or arthritis, then lying on a bench and using small hand weights can actually be safer and more practical,” he said.
It all depends what your goal is
Beyond safety, people looking to significantly increase their strength or muscle size will likely see more dramatic results if they use weights, Raglin said. Doing so “utilizes more of your muscle and generates more force than you could otherwise,” he explained.
Lifting weights also damages muscle tissue in a way that can be productive, as muscles grow larger through the body’s repair process. Over time, though, it may take larger amounts of weight to keep seeing gains. Progress plateaus as the body gets used to exercises it’s done before.
It’s not impossible to grow muscle through calisthenics, Vick-Kregel said; it’s just harder to continuously level up exercises for sustained progress without increasing external weight.
“After you’ve done a couple workouts of squatting with your body weight, your body’s going to need external load to get stronger or to build muscle tissue,” Stack agreed.
In other words, if you’re after bulging biceps, you may need more than calisthenics to get there. But if you’re just looking to get moving and improve your health, your body is probably enough.
Particularly for the roughly 75% of Americans who aren’t meeting federal physical activity guidelines — which call for at least 75 minutes of vigorous or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, plus two strength-training sessions — calisthenics are a great option, Stack said.
“Body weight is the simplest apparatus you can use,” Stack said. “I would encourage anyone who’s not exercising to start exercising with just their body.”
How to begin a calisthenics routine
First, assess your current fitness and mobility, Vick-Kregel said. With the help of a mirror, workout buddy or trainer, see if you can do exercises like planks, pushups and squats with correct form. If not, look for modifications, such as doing pushups from your knees.
Once you feel confident with the fundamentals, aim to perform calisthenics in 10- to 30-minute chunks, two to three times a week, she suggested. (For a little more structure, you can consult the The Five Basic Exercises Plan, or 5BX, a classic calisthenics program developed by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1950s.)
Progressively increase the duration and intensity of your workouts as you get fitter. “Gradual progression is critical,” Vick-Kregel emphasized.
As you get more experienced, though, calisthenics can be performed at high intensity. Keogh maintains that these exercises are not just for beginners. There are plenty of ways to increase the difficulty of body-weight exercises over time, making them both highly challenging and effective, he said.
For doubters, Keogh has a blunt message: “Try it.”
Physical activity saves lives, but now it turns out there’s a “precise dosage” at which it becomes especially effective in preventing heart disease.
Exercising is key to longevity; it’s been associated with everything from improved cardiovascular health to increased strength to a longer life. But there’s one exercise, in particular, that a doctor says women over 50 should add to their routine.
Meet the expert: Steven Bowers, D.O., board-certified family physician and author of Secrets of the World’s Healthiest People
Daily strength workouts may help boost all aspects of life, Steven Bowers, D.O., board-certified family physician and author of Secrets of the World’s Healthiest People, previously told Prevention. Physical fitness makes functional tasks like carrying grocery bags from the car, opening jars, and lifting heavy items easier.
There are plenty of moves to try, but Dr. Bowers says the one that should get top billing in your routine is the plank.
While planks challenge your whole body, they’re particularly great for strengthening your core. “Core muscle fibers tend to shrink and become less supple as we age, which can put more strain on your back,” he previously said. Having a strong core is important for balance and stability, and it can help you go about your day with more ease.
Wondering how long to hold a plank, and the proper form? First, place your forearms on the floor. Your elbows should be right below your shoulders, and your arms should be parallel—not turning in or out. Your feet should also be shoulder-width apart. Press your hands and toes into a mat on the ground, lifting your body, squeezing your glutes and quads for support. Your body should create one straight line from head to toe. Don’t lock your knees or arch your back, and keep your neck straight by looking slightly in front of you.
Hold this position for 20 seconds. “As you get more comfortable and your core gets stronger, hold the plank for as long as possible without sacrificing form or breath,” Dr. Bowers noted. It’s that simple! Whether you’re a pro or want to test your plank skills, adding the simple move to your routine may be what your core has been waiting for.
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