Snatch Shrug
Trains the Traps.
- Equipment
- A barbell
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a loaded barbell in a rack at mid-thigh height, or lift it there.
- Take a wide overhand grip, as for a snatch.
- Stand tall with the bar against your thighs and your arms straight.
- Dip slightly at the knees, then drive up hard through the legs.
- As the legs finish, shrug the shoulders hard toward your ears.
- Lower under control and reset before the next repetition.
Common mistakes
- Shrugging before the legs have finished. The leg drive and the shrug are one movement in sequence; starting the shoulders early means the legs contributed nothing.
- Bending the elbows. Once the elbow bends this is a partial snatch pull, and the shrug has stopped being what moves the bar.
- Taking a clean-width grip. The wide grip is what makes it a snatch shrug — it lowers the bar at the start and changes where the shoulders have to finish.
- Treating it as a heavier trapezius exercise. The leg drive is what allows the load; a plain shrug puts more of it where you can control it.