Smith Machine Behind the Back Shrug
Trains the Traps.
- Equipment
- A machine
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set the Smith machine bar at about mid-thigh height and stand with your back to it.
- Take an overhand grip a little wider than your hips and unhook the bar so it rests behind your thighs.
- Stand tall with your chest up and your shoulders relaxed all the way down.
- Shrug straight up, lifting the shoulders toward your ears without bending the elbows.
- Pause briefly at the top.
- Lower until the shoulders are fully down, and re-hook the bar at the end of the set.
Common mistakes
- Bending the elbows to get the bar higher. Once the elbow bends it is an upright row, and the arms are doing what the shoulders were meant to do.
- Standing too far from the bar. Behind the body, the fixed line means the bar can only travel vertically — standing forward of it drags it against your legs the whole way.
- Rolling the shoulders. The shoulder blade travels up and down; adding a circle changes nothing about the load and puts the shoulder through an unsupported range.
- Cutting the bottom short. Letting the shoulders come all the way down between repetitions is what gives the elevators a full range to work through.