Lagging body parts

[bigcruz]

Hey Fellas hoping to get some insight from some of our veteran lifters. I have noticed that my traps & biceps do not grow like the rest of me does. I usually do trap work on shoulders day about 2 workouts @ 4 sets each 10-15 reps. Same for bicep on back day. Any tips on what I can do to help with growth in these areas? Should I throw them into my workouts twice a week? Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

[SwoleZilla]

For me I started hitting traps on back and shoulder day same as bi I hit them on back and arm day. Just upped the my volume and frequency. Try doin supersets for bus that helped me. With traps I dropped the weight and concentrated on the shrug movement more.

Hope that helps man

 

[1HungLo]

Here's an excerpt I ran across on Bodybuilding.com. This may give you some ideas.

Method One - "Less Is More!"

One common method to training traps, is technically a method for NOT training them! With the "less is more" method, it is assumed that exercises like lateral raises, deadlifts, and military presses stimulate the traps enough to achieve full development.
This seems very extreme to some people, but if you have been training your traps with minimal gains on them for a long time now, you might want to look into this method for a month or two.

Completely dropping traps from the routine is hard for most people because they think they MUST shrug to improve their traps. This method is worth trying if you haven't gotten what you want from other routines.

Method Two - "High Rep Trap Training"

Another thought about trap training is that they are one muscle that tends to respond to a higher rep range. I've heard accounts where guys start to see explosive new trap growth from just changing the rep range to 12-15 reps per set!
You would probably have to lighten weights significantly for this, but your new development may surprise you. With this method to training the trapezius, you should take quality over quantity.

Focus on flexing your traps at the top of each movement! Just like any other new training method, I would recommend giving this a shot only if the traps are a very weak visual point on the body.

Method Three - "Power Training"

The third method to training traps that can be incorporated is "power training". This method is just what it sounds like- you focus on explosive compound movements, and heavy weights, but low reps.
With this method, you should work with exercises such as hang cleans and power shrugs. This is because in these two exercises, you can use an appreciable amount of weight to fully overload the muscle, and it they work well in low rep ranges.

This explosive training method is not going to injure you if you can perform the exercises properly, so I suggest working on form.

 

[sneedham]

I could get into doing 21's for bi's or super sets or just running the rack, up or down. IMO when I want to get something growing again I shock the hell out of it. You could try doing 21's these are kind of old school but they will do the trick. You will think your bi's are on fire and the pump will be amazing. Maybe more power movements for the traps, method #3 suggested by 1Hunglo.......

 

[WeekendWarrior]

I always do upper traps on back day. Focusing more on compound back movements first and then using shrugs as a finishing exercise. Make sure to try different exercises and variations for your back and shoulders, especially when it comes to rows and cleans

 

[Gazhole]

For the traps I'd focus on squeezing at the top of the shrug for a second with each rep. I always find DBs work better for this.

For biceps the best thing I found is either something from a John Meadows workout - he does dB preachers just in the middle ROM after full range cross body hammer curls with a squeeze. Not as a superset, just 2-3 sets of each.

Pretty much the only thing I've done for guns in a long while has been a lift-run-bang thing - 100 reps with an empty bar without stopping. If you do that with some regularity the results are shocking.

Maybe up the frequency of your trap and arm work too. Do big sessions with the hard workouts, then feeder sessions once or twice a week, much much lighter to just get some blood in there.

Had a client get great results training every weak point 4x a week in this fashion and he did very well on it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Drex]

for your bi's you may try to train one arm at the time avoiding barbells. that's some advice I heard from Charles Poliquin and worked great

 

[bigcruz]

Thanks fellas!

 

[docdoom77]

For me traps seem to keep pace with my body with just 2 high rep sets of shrugs on back day (though that may change). Biceps are tough for me. I've found that really taking them to failure (or near) is important. In my case, biceps are easy for me to ?think? I'm done with a set, when I could really muscle up one or two more reps (very slowly and with a great deal of grunting and yelling). When I get in that zone, I get plenty sore the next day. If I don't REALLY push myself on biceps, then nothing, nada, zilch. So I guess, what I'm saying is, I have to ratchet up the intensity even higher for lagging parts.

 

[ANIMALHAUS]

Deadlifts until you puke.

 

[jimm]

synthol... lol

 

[jimm]

and the stuff mentioned abouve^^^

 

[SuperLift]

I'm a fan of training them 2x week if they are lagging. High rep/low rep, super set, drop sets(my favorite). After time it can wear on your joints though, or at least it does on mine. Biceps for example I'd go and trash them one day for maybe 16 sets, heavy, hard and fast. Then the second bicep training that week id do lighter weight higher reps, still make it tough! Just go more for pump and blood flow. I'm a big fan of giant sets & circuit training on pump days.