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How To Best Do Shrugs

A lot of athletes use weight training to improve their overall physical resistance and muscular strength. One of the most common exercises done is the simple shrug, or the shoulder shrug. This type of exercise is normally done while holding weights in your arms but they can have the same effectiveness without them as well. If done for a longer period of time, normal shrugs can have the desired effect just because of the simple physics involved in the exercise.

The gravitational force of the planet pushes us all down, and countering this force with muscular strength can prove quite a strain if done for a while. In order to properly do a shrug, the lifter has to stand straight up with his hands about shoulder width apart.

The next step involves raising the shoulders as high as possible and lowering them. It is very important that when this is done, the lifter must not bend the elbows or if possible not move the rest of the body at all. The purpose of this exercise is to increase muscular strength in the trapezius muscles. Normally a correct shrug is considered a shrug that is done with the shoulders being at a horizontal position when elevated. A common variation of the normal shrug is the Hise shrug. This type of exercise involves weights being placed on a bar and the bar being placed across the shoulders.

It is important that when doing this that the weight bar be placed behind the neck and that the bar is "shrugged" upwards. This type of shrug is considered great for developing a strong upper back musculature. Different from the Hise shrug, is the lower shrug. This shrug is still done with weights but the lifter has to be in a handstand. This position, together with the weights creates a lot of stress on the back muscles as well.

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