Shrugs are the easiest exercise to perform and can be performed by using both dumbbells and barbell rods. Despite being the easiest exercise, many bodybuilding enthusiasts often perform it the wrong way. If you want to know the right way of doing shrugs, then you’re in luck because the biggest arms in bodybuilding history title holder Lee Priest is here to guide you. 

In a recent reel uploaded to a widely followed Instagram page, fitgenious shared a video snippet of Priest explaining how he used to perform shrugs back in the day. He mimicked people who just focus on weights instead of form and contraction. Let’s delve deeper into the matter. 

Not heavy weights, but focus on feeling the contractions in bodybuilding

At the start of the video, Priest was asked whether he preferred using dumbbells or barbell rods. The IFBB Pro replied that it came down to the individual’s choice of what he prefers more, but he doesn’t have any preference; he can use both. Then the 51-year-old former bodybuilder explained the right way of performing shrugs and said, “Your arms stay here; you shrugging up as high as you can, like you want to try get up on your ears.”

Priest mimicked people who don’t pay any attention to the contractions and strains felt by doing shrugs. He highlighted that they just aim to lift heavy weights and push the weights up and down without any sense of understanding. The former IFBB Pro shared that he had gone heavy previously, but he sticks to the medium weight.

The IFBB Pro uses medium weights to feel the proper contraction and stretch on the muscles. “If you don’t feel these things after your workout, you need to work on your form and weight choices to witness changes.” Just like Priest doing shrugs, the six-time Mr. Olympia also shared how people miss the simulation while performing shrugs.

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Are people missing out on the stimulation?

In an Instagram post uploaded by Dorian Yates, the six-time Mr. Olympia himself, on his account, he shared the right way of performing shrugs. The Shadow sheds light on the fact that shrugs are only an effective exercise if one does them in the proper form. He emphasized that shrugs are a good exercise for building traps.

The Shadow communicated, “I often see most people perform shrugs with a ‘straight up and down’ motion. Yes this works the traps, but only really the upper part of the muscle.” He added that by exercising like this, people miss out on stimulation of the entire muscle. 

Lifting heavy weights will not make shrugs effective; instead, performing shrugs with the right form is going to make them effective. After insights from two bodybuilding giants, will you focus on contraction instead of weight? Let us know in the comments.

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