Dumbbell workouts can offer you impressive benefits but what are some trapezius, aka trap, exercises you can do with dumbbells?
Dumbbells are handles with weights attached to them, they are one of the most popular types of gym equipment, and for a good reason. You can use dumbells in many exercises for a wide variety of muscles, including your trap muscles.
Keep in mind that even though there are upsides, your injury risk is generally also higher when you do exercises with more weight/resistance. You may want to talk to your primary care provider before starting a new workout routine. That being said, here are 10 dumbbell exercises to build bigger traps.
Table of Contents
1. Upright row
To do an upright row take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and your arms hanging in front of your body with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Let gravity do its work on your arms so they point downward. Keep the dumbbells close to your body throughout the exercise.
- Raise the dumbbells upwards to about shoulder height. If you feel any pain in your shoulders that may be a sign you need to raise the dumbbells less high. Keep your hand palms facing backward throughout the exercise.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells back into starting position.
2. Regular shrug
The shrug is one of the most popular trap exercises and for a good reason. To do a shrug take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and your arms hanging by your side with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Let gravity do its work on your arms so they point downward. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Raise your shoulders as far as you can in a controlled manner.
- Slowly lower your shoulders again.
The dumbbell shoulder shrug does not look like the most impressive motion but this dumbbell exercise can be great to help you improve your trap muscles.
3. Incline dumbbell shrug
For this next exercise you will also need a weight bench. To do an incline dumbbell shrug take the following steps:
- Sit on the 45-degree to the ground incline bench with your front towards the bench and your arms hanging down with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Let gravity do its work on your arms so they point downward. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Raise your shoulders as far as you can in a controlled manner.
- Slowly lower your shoulders again.
By doing the shrug at an incline angle the exercise targets your middle traps more.
4. Farmer’s walk
The farmer’s walk is a resistance training exercise where you simply pick up two dumbbells from the ground and walk a certain distance or time. Make sure you keep your posture upright and your palms facing your body.
This exercise is a type of isometric exercise. In simpler words, this means that you engage your muscles in a more static way, without moving your muscles through a big range of motion.
On the other hand, you have isotonic exercises where you engage your muscles in a dynamic way, by moving.
Isotonic exercises are generally more useful for growing and strengthening muscles. That means that the other isotonic exercises on this list are likely better than the farmer’s walk for building bigger trap muscles.
That being said, training muscle endurance in your trapezius muscles can also be helpful. Depending on your training goals, a farmer’s walk could be a good addition to your workout routine.
5. Bent over y
To do a bent over y take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and your arms hanging by your side with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Let gravity do its work on your arms so they point downward. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Tilt your upper body forward until it is at about a 45-degree angle with the ground. Keep your back straight throughout the exercise.
- Raise the dumbbells upward to the front and outward in a controlled manner until you make a Y-shape with your upper body.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells again into the position in step 2.
6. Reverse dumbbell fly
To do a reverse dumbbell fly take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and your arms hanging by your side with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Let gravity do its work on your arms so they point downward. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Tilt your upper body forward until it is about horizontally with the ground. Keep your back straight throughout the exercise.
- Raise the dumbbells upward to the side in a controlled manner until your upper arms are in one horizontal line.
- Lower the dumbbells back into the position in step 2 in a controlled motion.
7. Dumbbell face pull
To do a dumbbell face pull take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and your arms hanging by your side with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Let gravity do its work on your arms so they point downward. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Tilt your upper body forward until it is at about a 45-degree angle with the ground. Keep your back straight throughout the exercise.
- Raise the dumbbells upwards to about face height.
- Lower the dumbbells back into the position in step 2 in a controlled motion.
8. Dumbbell overhead carry
The dumbbell overhead carry is similar to the farmer’s walk but instead of letting your arms point downward, you make them point upward.
This exercise is more challenging both in terms of balance and muscle effort than during a farmer’s walk so you likely want to use lighter dumbbells.
9. Dumbbell scaption
To do a dumbbell scaption take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and your arms at about a 45-degree angle to your upper body with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Move the dumbbells forward and up in a controlled motion. Keep your arms at the same V-angle as the starting position.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells again into the starting position.
10. Lateral Raises
To do a lateral raise take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and your arms hanging by your side with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hand palms should face your body. Let gravity do its work on your arms so they point downward.
- Slowly raise the dumbbells out to the side as high as your shoulder joints comfortably can. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Lower the dumbbells back into starting position in a controlled motion.
