Upright Row Issues

B

beingisbeing

New Member
I get weird elbow/fore arm pains at times when doing upright rows, as I'm approaching my 5s, I'm worrying.

What do you guys suggest/like to do for your traps, delts?

My other shoulder exercise is DB presses.

If your answer is shrugs, what kind?

Perhaps I should drop the 2nd shoulder exercise all together?

I'm avoiding lateral raises (I think thats what they're called) as they tend to cause a tendon type flare up as well!
 
Have you tried doing URs with dbs or using an EZ-curl bar? I do URs with one of those bars and with my hands spaced close together. That works for me but I never suffered from arm pain when performing them so might not help you.

Shrugs are great for a trap blast. I just use a regular Oly bar in front and pile on the weight.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Shrugs are great for a trap blast. I just use a regular Oly bar in front and pile on the weight.</div>
I agree that shrugs are great for traps. I usually do them with DBs.
 
Super heavy power shrugs, bar in front. I have to use straps at these weights (400+), and I actually try to keep the reps high, 6-15, depending on where I am in the cycle.
In case you don't know how to do PShrugs, pull the bar off the pins and let it hang, the shoulders drop, the head drop...then explosively straighten the back, pull with the traps and try to hold the shoulders to your ears for one second in a static hold.
When you come up, you want to very slightly rock the hips forward, so the bar just clears your gear and comes to a rest against the lower abdomen at the top of your pull.
One thing very noticable on the cut I did was my traps standing up there, proud and sassy! Very similar to the 'love' handles that won't go away...
sad.gif
 
How high are you bringing the bar up?

Try this experiment. Put your left hand on your right shoulder. Relax your right arm completely. Now begin to raise your right arm mimicking your upright row movement.

When do you begin to feel your lateral delts activate? Immediatley right? Then there is no need to bring your elbow anywhere near past your shoulder hieight. In fact if using a BB you should not bring it up past your Xiphoid and should aim for some point in between the Xiphoid and the Belly Button.
 
Quad:

Sounds like a challenge. I'll try and do a few on friday. &quot;Clear your gear&quot; hahah. All the roid heads at my gym do this exercise, and they always slam their little peckers on the way up. Probably why I avoided it!

At my gym they have that ovular bar that you stand inside of. I see guys doing shrugs with that thing, putting the arms at the sides as opposed to in front with the pronated grip as you described. Do you think the power shrugs have an advantage over this method?


Dan: You def have a point. I guess I was coming up higher trying to activate my traps more. I feel the delt working without coming up that high at all.

And the pain I speak of only kicks in as I move higher, as the wrist starts to bend. Where exactly is the Xiphoid?


As usual thank you for all the sagely advise gentlemen!
 
<div>
(beingisbeing @ Jun. 12 2008,3:23)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Where exactly is the Xiphoid?</div>
About three buttons down...

Think: Solar Plexus or thereabouts
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">At my gym they have that ovular bar that you stand inside of. I see guys doing shrugs with that thing, putting the arms at the sides as opposed to in front with the pronated grip as you described. Do you think the power shrugs have an advantage over this method?</div>I think power shrugs have an advantage over anything else you can do, because it's two exersizes in one, you can move a LOT of weight, and has a lot of TUT, due to the static hold.
Pulling from the side also works well, but I still prefer the pronated grip. I don't think power shrugs would be the same from the side, as you can't use your entire trap to pull the bar IMO...but I haven't really tried it that way, so be my guest. Hanging from the front loads everything up. Be ready for serious DOMS at first.
 
<div>
(beingisbeing @ Jun. 13 2008,6:19)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">what are DOMS?</div>
Dan Owns Max Stim
 
Yeah, I definitely wouldn't be looking to upright rows for trap development. I think they are great for shoulders, but not traps. I'm assuming you are deadlifting and doing rows. That seems to be sufficient for me. Rack pulls are good too. But if that is not enough, then I'd recommend shrugs with a bar. Power shrugs are a lot of fun.
 
No deads because of knee issues, but yes I'm doing barbell rows.

I tried barbell shrugs as per Quads suggestion. I got the burn of my life in my traps
smile.gif
Thanks Quad!

Now here is a question thats going to reveal my newbie ignorance...

so the 'power' in 'power shrug' does that make this different than &quot;barbell shrug&quot; or what? Or does &quot;power shrug=barbell shrug.&quot;

And Quad, the little rock of the hips we talked about. Is that just for purposes of clearing your junk, or is that to get your back involved, or what? Some guys seem to do it without a rock of the hips (and schwack their gear on the way up, of course
smile.gif
). Looks more controlled to me that way, though.
 
Power shrugs, if my understanding is correct, refers to a move where you are focussing on explosive trap power so speed is important rather than a nice steady bb type movement. I also use a slight amount of hip movement. I don't bother with a static hold. For me it's all about blasting the weight up and then dropping it down again. I think Ripp recommends doing them in a rack so that each rep starts from a dead stop. I'm happy to get a really good stretch at the bottom and use the stretch reflex to help power the bar back up again. This invariably leads to really sore traps!
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Lol: which movement, explosive speed, or controlled movement, do you think is more likely to cause hypertrophy? (Either way my traps are sore as all hell right now haha)

Tot: I really don't know. There is plenty I can do, that becomes unmanageable after a few weeks due to gradual inflammation

(my right knee cap doesn't track properly, thats the essential issue. any movement that puts pressure on the knee plus a little flexing can get irritating over time, even if for the first week I feel fine. Then one day I'll wake up with a softball in my leg lol.
smile.gif
)

I just successfully re introduced leg presses for the first time in a while, so far, so good. so for this cycle, i'm not going to push it. will keep it in mind for next though.

Deads pretty much hit front/rear delts, traps, lower back, all that good stuff huh?
 
The power shrug is involving more muscle than regular. I guess the static hold is optional, but I've had no trouble involving them as instructed. The hip movement is solely to clear the gear and is so slight as to be unnoticable, more like a change of balance than a thrust.
On the lift, you only think of the traps, upper and lower. I think (just my opinion) that the static hold causes more motor units to fire. And as you found out, this is a whole new animal compared to regular shrugging.
 
you're right quad, i have found out, and i'm addicted! i feel like i'm using parts of my 'traps' that i never had haha.

the static contraction is fantastic as well, and doing a slow eccentric and really feeling the traps stretch makes the whole combo burn in the best way.

thanks again man!
 
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