Significance of Shrug Bars

Many people ask what’s the difference between a shrug bar and a trap bar. Honestly, there is no answer for the difference is not much. The difference lies purely in the legal territory.

The trap bar keeps the legs strong crucial to the squat without aggravating the old lower back injury. As a result, the so-called shrug bar was designed to suit the same purpose with a slightly different shape and to prevent injury.

The shrug bar has space on its side, and space is what you need between your upper thighs and bar when training for squats and dead lifts. So if you’re a 6-footer or taller, you won’t have to trick the bar around your knees like you would with a straight bar. This means that you’re able to concentrate on what’s important to your form and progress.

Aside from dead lifts, the shrug bar can be used to perform the exercise it was named for shrugs, which aims at the entire middle back and upper traps. A shrug bar can also be used to carry out bench presses, military presses, lunges and squats.

To perform the lift it following is the way to go about it:

Start in squatting position, standing upright with feet shoulder-width apart and place the shrug bar on your traps.
Inhale and shrug your shoulders as high as possible imagine shrugging to your ears.
Pause for a moment then lower your shoulders, exhaling as you do.

If you want to build mass in your upper back and traps this is a perfect way to do it. And with time you will realize that performing shrugs has lessoned the need for a barbell pad when you position the bar on the traps for performing squats.