Exercise:

Smith Machine Shrug

Target Muscle:

Back (Traps)

Smith Machine

Set the bar on the smith machine at mid-thigh height and stand in front of it with your feet spaced shoulder-width apart and with a slight bend in your knees.

Grab onto the bar with an overhand grip spaced shoulder-width apart and rotate it off the pins.

With your shoulders positioned down and back, shrug the weight up as high as you can until you feel a strong contraction in your traps. Lower the bar back down and repeat.

- In the bottom position of the exercise, allow the the bar to "hang" downward so that you feel a good stretch in your traps.

- To increase the activation of your trap muscles even further, you can use a set of lifting straps or lifting hooks to fully eliminate your grip from the equation.