[Keith Wassung]

The Hise shrug, invented by Joseph Curtis Hise, who was often referred to as the "Father of American weight training" was a staple movement for strength athletes in the past. Today, it is seldom, if ever performed. In my 28 years of training, I have never seen anyone other than myself perform this movement which is unfortunate because it's an incredible exercise for upper back and even overall strength and development. To perform the Hise shrug, get into the exact position that you would for performing a back squat, with the bar high up on your traps. Stand erect and simply shrug your shoulders as high as possible to your ears. Pause as the top for a least a full second, lower and repeat. Coordinate your breathing so that you inhale as you shrug upwards and exhale as you let the shoulders back down. Start with moderate weights to get the form down, but eventually the goal is to use very heavy weights for very repetitions in the 20-25 range. This exercise will hurt-I can promise you that-but you will be rewarded with increased growth in your upper back and traps. I have also found that it also helps to establish a solid base for positioning the bar when doing squats.
Another version of this movement is to get into a standing calf machine with a solid foot placement and do shrugs with the yoke of the machine across the top of the shoulders. Use the same formula as the traditional Hise Shrugs-one heavy set of 20- 25 reps. I would perform the Hise Shrug at the end of the back workout as it can be quite taxing.

Let me add something about shrugs and trap work in general. The vast majority of people, including athletes and people who lift, have a VERY restricted range of motion in their trapezius. I have been doing clinical exams for nearly 19 years now and literally everybody I have ever examined has a VERY restricted ROM in the traps. Some exceptions would be Olympic lifters, some field athletes and or guys who have worked in the gym to improve their ROM. If you are tight and or have restricted ROM in the traps-and I bet that is 80-90% of you, then you will have to spend some time working to improve it. The best way that I know is do do a bunch of no weight shrugs throughout the day-do it in the car, in the bathroom, in the empty hallway, standing in line at the restaurant or gas station, you do a quick shrug to the ears-get up as high as you can, hold the contraction for 2-3 sections and then go even higher. Aim to touch your shoulders to your ears. Do it over and over and over-a little tip in weight training-repetition will fix just about anything. Do this in the morning when you wake up, do it in the shower, as you brush your teeth. Do this for 2-3 weeks and then start doing it with a broomstick-learn to do full rom shrugs with an empty bar, then do shrugs with an empty bar and gradually add weight. Once you improve the trapezius ROM, you will see INCREDIBLE results when you train them-contraction is one of the key elements and I dont care how much weight you use, if you are not getting the proper muscular contraction, you are selling yourself short in terms of reaching your own potential.

As is true with life and in the gym-if you are willing to pay the price that others will not-you will reap the benefits that others will not"

Keith Wassung

[Wrecking Ball]

Another great post Keith. I've definetly never seen anyone do the movement you described. I'll have to try it sometime.

[#1can]

just wondering, what is the benefit over regular shrugs. it seems like the load is compressing the muscle more than it is taxing the muscle (traps) along their direction of motion?

[GreenRecon]

Good post. I've never heard of a Hise shrug. I'll have to try it.

[Universal]

Another great read.
Much thanx

[Urban]

I'm going to have to do something with your posts Kieth. How do you feel about having your own special place in the stickies? I mean really, thanks a lot for everything you've brought to the board lately, you've been a great contributor and I think we're lucky to have you around.

[fat_wilhelm]

Originally Posted by Urban

How do you feel about having your own special place in the stickies?

I think that's a great idea.

[datadog]

Cool post, I'll definately have to give that a try tommorrow...

I do have a semi-newbie question though, what gain would I get from an increased trap ROM? I don't mean from a getting huge traps perspective, but more from a sports perspective. Again, thanks for the post!

[farmboy]

Originally Posted by Urban

How do you feel about having your own special place in the stickies?

I second that. His articles have been nothing short of essential. They have really helped me out a lot, even in the short amount of time since I found his article on the bench press.

[SmashiusClay]

Those sound interesting, never even heard of them before but I've got the same question as datadog, why willl an increased trap ROM be helpful?