Dumbbell Shrugs: How-to Tips, Target Muscles, and Benefits

When anxiety, stress, fear, and similar emotional states dominate you, they badly affect your productivity.

No matter how disappointing your current results are, what you can do is always surprising. Doing dumbbell shrugs can help you overcome any negative emotional state and achieve extraordinary outcomes.

Anthony Robbins says that change your physiology, and the results will be entirely different. You become confident, courageous, and playful when you adopt a powerful posing- the exact pose you take as you do shoulder shrugs.

 

What Are Dumbbell Shrugs?

Dumbbell shrugs or shoulder shrugs are vigorous exercises that build your trapezius muscles that lie on both sides of your neck.

With bigger traps, your body looks intimidating. Besides, this exercise corrects your posture and enhances your neck strength when you make it part of regular workouts.

 

What Muscles Do Dumbbell Shrugs Work?

Dumbbell shrugs activate the following muscles if you perform this exercise with perfect form:

 

· Upper Traps
When you shrug with dumbbells, the upper trapezius is the muscle that gets triggered the most. The shoulder shrug makes a significant part of your endurance training as strong traps help you perform various exercises more smoothly.

 

· Rhomboids
As you move your shoulder up and down, it activates other muscles that include your rhomboids muscles and forearms.

The rhomboids are responsible for controlling the movements of your scapula (shoulder blades). Also, stronger rhomboids enhance the stability of your shoulder blades.

 

· Forearms
You pick heavier weights when shrugging with dumbbells. It would be best if you exerted power to hold dumbells into your hands. Regular shrugging makes your grip stronger.

Stronger grips are highly helpful inside the gym as well as outside when you lift weights.

 

How to Do Shoulder Shrugs Properly

Shoulder shrugs are equally beneficial for all experienced, intermediate, and aspiring bodybuilders to strengthen the upper body muscles. These exercises are simple to do. That said, you need to understand the form correctly to avoid injuries and get the desired results.

 

The following steps help you do these exercises correctly:

1. The first thing is to pick up the dumbbells. The best way to do it is to take two dumbells and get yourself into the middle. You can sit between the two dumbbells so that you can lift them with proper grip and form.

 

2. Now, pick your dumbbells straight up. Both of your palms should be facing your body. Here your body posture is essential. So, stand tall over your hip with a neutral spine. Put equal pressure on both of your feet. The distance between your feet should match the width of your shoulder.

 

Keep your chest and chin up. Retract your shoulder slightly back. And bend your knees a little forward. Never slump over or slightly turn your shoulder as it reinforces the wrong posture many people acquire due to too much sitting. Don’t touch the dumbbells with your body. Some experts recommend that you can keep your head either straight or slightly forward.

 

3. It would help if you held the dumbbells so that your fingers and thumb are wrapped around the bars of dumbbells, standing in a stable position on the floor.

 

4. Adjust your arms to reinforce a perfect posture before starting the exercise. What makes dumbbell shrugs better than barbell shrugs is the flexibility to adjust the dumbbells to improve your posture.

 

5. Now, elevate your shoulders slowly. Draw them up to your ears. Take your shoulders as up as you can. Move your shoulders up vertically. The slower you move your shoulders, the more impactful the results will be.

All the movements must be in your control. So, start with weights that you can lift comfortably. Shoulder shrugs are easy to do as compared to various others. So, you can start with a bit heavier, even if you are a beginner lifter.

 

6. Hold them there for a second or two when your shoulders reach the highest possible point for better results. Remember, the higher your shoulders go, the better it is for your traps. Keep in mind that slowly shrugging isn’t always the answer. You can increase the momentum when you build a solid foundation.

 

7. Slightly bring your shoulders back to the starting position. This downward movement must also be in your control. Repeat it until you reach your prescribed repetitions. Once you finish a set, put the dumbbells on the floor in the same position you were starting.

 

8. Repeat the whole process until you reached the prescribed number of sets.

 

Usually, beginners start with 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps each. You can start with what best suits your body. Put weight as much as you can comfortably lift.

You can always increase the number of reps, sets, and weight as your muscle grow more muscular.

 

Dumbbell Shrugs Benefits

If done right with proper form, the benefits of dumbbell shrugs are many. It changes your overall biochemistry. When you do it regularly, your body exhibits a confident and playful look.

 

The change in your physiology has a tremendous impact on your psychology. It changes your negative emotional states into a highly positive state of mind. And hence this single exercise tremendously increases your chances of getting success in whatever you do.

 

In the following few paragraphs, you are going discover some more fantastic dumbbell shrugs benefits.

 

· Best for Strength and Size Both
Shoulder shrugs with dumbbells improve your strength as well as the size of your trapezius. The trapezius muscles are divided into three parts: upper traps, middle traps, and lower traps. This exercise works, particularly on the upper trapezius.

 

However, doing it with certain variations improves some other muscles like the middle traps. When you shrug perfectly and regularly, you will observe a noticeable change in your upper traps pretty soon. Likewise, you feel the strength as well.

 

If you don’t get noticeable results in a matter of weeks, there must be some problem with the form. So, it would be best if you worked on your technics.

 

· Better Posture
The global pandemic has caused a massive push in already increasing sedentary time. Most people are now working from home. When you spend too much time sitting in a chair, it badly affects your posture.

 

Bad posture due to too much sitting can strain your upper body, particularly your neck and shoulder. Exercises such as shoulder shrugs are highly effective in relaxing your shoulder and neck muscles. Also, it corrects your posture.

 

You can perform shoulder shrugs exercise from anywhere. You can do it at your home. You don’t need to go to the gym if you don’t like to. You can do these exercises either with or without weights. Shrugging your should for a few minutes a few times a week can benefit you a lot.

 

· Do shrugs help with neck pain?
Yes, shoulder shrugs or dumbbell shrugs are highly helpful for neck pain. Studies show that exercises that increase the strength of shoulder and neck muscles are good for neck pain.

 

That said, you must consult your physiotherapist if you’re feeling much pain in your neck. You can start doing these exercises when your physiotherapist recommends you.

 

Should I Do Shrugs with Back or Shoulder?

It is an important question that how you can incorporate dumbbell shrugs into your training. You should be a little creative depending on the training program you are following.

 

In the traditional way of hitting the gym, bodybuilders focus on two muscle groups per day. With this approach, you can either do dumbbell shrugs with your back or shoulder.

 

But, if you target the whole body, it is tough for you to make shrugs a part of your workouts. Doing shrugs won’t’ get you the desired results when you are completely exhausted. So, incorporate it somewhere in between your training.

 

Some people prefer to do their workouts with the upper-lower split approach. In this case, you target your upper body muscle on day one and the lower on the second day. This way, you can do shrugs with both the back and shoulder. There is no harm in it. The point is your body has enough energy to perform every rep perfectly.

 

How Do I Get the Most out of Dumbbell Shrugs?

You can get the most out of dumbbell shrugs when you perform them with proper form. To get more surprising benefits, you can do them with variations.

 

Usually, you start slowly with lighter weights. Of course, only the slow pace and lighter weight won’t get you great results. So, you can increase the weight with time. Also, bring momentum to your movements.

 

It’s great if you are shrugging separately. But when you do shrugs with other exercises, give them due time. When targeting more than one muscle a day, some ignore dumbbell shrugs and do them in the last. Doing so won’t be much helpful.

 

When you are tired, shrugging up your shoulder to the highest level can’t be possible. You already know that you have to hold your shoulders as you draw them up. Doing so is highly difficult when you are tired.

 

Only controlled movements aren’t enough, although it’s a best practice when starting. As you develop some strengths, do some final reps with much momentum.

 

And the most important thing: you need to give a minimum of 24-48 hours for a specific muscle before retargeting them. To get the desired results, you should train your body smart. And give it the time to get recovered. Also, don’t forget the importance of diet.

 

Dumbbell Shrug Variations

You always start with the traditional way of doing shoulder shrugs with dumbbells. When you master this specific style, you can try the following variations for even better results.

 

· Behind-the-back Dumbbell Shrugs
You can do shoulder shrugs with barbells as well. The benefit of doing dumbbell shrugs is the flexibility with which you can adjust the dumbbells.

For this particular variation, you put the dumbbells behind your back and start elevating your shoulder. The traditional dumbbell shrug targets the upper traps. But the behind-the-back dumbbell shrugs also cover your middle traps.

 

· Seated Dumbbell Shrugs
This particular variation is easier to do. You sit on the bench. Slightly lean forward and start shrugging. While doing seated dumbbell shrugs, your focus muscles are your upper back and shoulder.

 

· Single-arm Dumbbell Shrugs
As the name suggests, you will move one arm at a time in this particular variation of dumbbell shrugs. What differentiates this exercise from other dumbbell shrugs variations is that you understand the form better.

 

How Heavy Should I Shrug?

There isn’t a hard and fast rule that how heavy should you shrug. It depends on how big you can lift comfortably. Some people are okay to go with heavier weights than others. And it’s perfectly acceptable.

As dumbbells shrugs are much easier to do, people tend to go with heavier weights. Doing so can cause more harm than good. As a beginner, your goal is to master the form first. Once you master the technic and build a strong foundation, you can go heavy.

Remember, you always do your first set with lighter weights no matter how experienced you are. For better results, you can do the latter sets with slightly heavier weights. Likewise, you increase the speed at you shrug in your final sets.

 

Safety Tips

Doing your workouts with proper forms is essential for your health. If you commit any mistake, it will cost you in the long run. You must consult your physical therapist before doing dumbbell shrugs if you have pain in your shoulder or neck.

 

Following pointers are essential for your safety and to get the most out of your workouts:
1. Never roll your shoulder, as it can cause severe shoulder injuries .
2. When starting, don’t go too hard and heavy.
3. Start slow and light.
4. Take sufficient rests
5. Warm your muscles up before lifting weights

 

 

The Final Thought

Anybody can do dumbbell shrugs. These are location-independent exercises. You can do shrugs anywhere you want. These exercises are straightforward to do and won’t take much of your time.

Yet, the results overwhelm you.

Doing shrugs with the correct form frees you from anxiety and pain in your upper body muscles. These are the best exercise to improve your posture.