Most people think of the humps between their shoulders and neck as their traps but these are only the “tips” of the iceberg.
The trap muscle spans from the neck to your shoulder girdle, and all the way down to the bottom of your thoracic spine. It shrugs, squeezes, and depresses the shoulders, depending on the movement. Most people have weak mid and lower trap muscles, which cause shoulder issues or impingement.
The lower trap is essential for the stability of your arms when they are overhead, which is where the trap raise comes into play as a necessary exercise for shoulder health.
This exercise can be performed with many variations, but I prefer using a bar that allows me to have a wider hand placement. This way my arms follow the direction of pull from my lower trap fibers, and also removes contribution from my front delts.
