video how, with one training secret, you can see his traps in the mirror every single day.

What's up guys? Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM

Today we're going to talk about one of the hottest topics now, even though the movie

is old now, Batman. Tom Hardy is still one of the most popular guys in Hollywood, and

people talk about guys in our community that like to lift weights, they're talking about

mostly not just his whole physique but mostly his traps.

And there is a training secret that you can use when you're doing your traps that isn't

all that secret, but I think guys are really missing the point. A lot of times I think

there are two mistakes that I think people are making.

Number one, they do barbell shrugs as opposed to dumbbell shrugs, and I'll show you the

reason why. If you do a barbell shrug, you're pretty much limited by the position of the

bar of how far back you can go.

So most of the time guys are doing their shrugs straight up and down. And again this might

look pretty familiar if this is what you're doing, or guys that do behind the back shrugs.

But again you're limited as to how much you can actually move the bar. Right?

It's a little bit awkward to be gripping it behind you and pulling it up, and here you're

limited by your thighs as to how far you can move the bar back.

The reason why that's a big deal is you have to understand what the traps do. They don't

just elevate the shoulders or the scapula upward, but they also retract the scapula

and pull them back.

So unless you have that component in the exercises that you're doing to train your traps, you're

not going to have the elevation that you want or the development that you want on them.

So we've switched to dumbbells and importantly we do something very different with the dumbbells

when we do the shrug. So when I grab a set of dumbbells here, I will turn to the side

first, what it allows me to do, is not just pull up. Ok?

When I pull up, I'm actually kind of doing this with a rounded shoulder because that's

really the tendency that guys have to develop that forward posture.

We don't want to go just up, we also want to go back, ok, because retracting at the

same that we elevate we really contract the traps at time that we elevate, will really

contract the traps. And understand that guys, I say it all the time, you want to contract

the muscle that you are working.

Ok,so if I turn, you're going to be able to see the difference. Here is a normal shrug

with dumbbells or with the barbells with my hands in front of me. I shrug up, ok, definitely

getting some activation up there, but not what we could do if we get the retraction

at the same time.

So here we go, from here, retract and back. Ok so I can squeeze the traps.

So I can squeeze back, rotating back, so you see here it is rotating up and then up. And

then up, ok, so if you look at it again, then you see the big difference.

That is actual true trap activation and that is going to lead to true trap development.

So a lot of times we find ourselves in the gym just going through our workouts but not

really thinking about each movement that we're doing or even every rep on the exercise that

we're doing, and it is an important point I think that we need to address and correct.

And with AthleanX, what I try to do is focus on those smaller things, because those smaller

things done repetitively will add up to big differences in how you look and the results

you can see from your training.

So even though, people say, Jeff you're a physical therapist so you're going to nitpick

on those things, it is because that's what is going to lead to the best end result and

that's what I want for you.

So, guys if you haven't already, head over to AthleanX.com right now.

Grab the training program that the top guys are using to get into the best shape of their

lives.

Some of our top row athletes, they need a big strong foundation up here, but they also

need strength everywhere else. Power, and I show them how to do it. And then I show

you how to do it, also.

I will see you guys back here in 7 days.

In the meantime, I'll see you over at AthleanX.com.