7 Barbell Shrug Alternatives for Upper Traps, With or Without a Barbell

The best Barbell Shrug alternative for your situation

What a Barbell Shrug alternative has to replace

A barbell shrug is a short-range lift for the upper traps. You hold a loaded bar in front of your thighs and raise the shoulders straight up toward the ears, pause, then lower. The elbows stay straight and the hips stay still, so nearly all the work lands on the upper trapezius, and because the range is only a few inches, it takes more weight than almost any other upper-body exercise. What makes it hard is holding that load: grip and the pause at the top usually decide when the set ends.

A substitute needs a heavy load hanging from the hands and the shoulders either lifting against it or resisting being pulled down by it. What you can give up is the barbell. Dumbbells, kettlebells, a trap bar or a loaded carry all put the weight in the same place.

7 Barbell Shrug alternatives, best first

1. Dumbbell Shrug

Dumbbell · Home or gym · Beginner · Best with dumbbells

The Dumbbell Shrug keeps everything a barbell shrug trains and changes only where the weight hangs. With a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, the load sits in line with the shoulders, so the lift goes straight up and the traps work through a slightly longer range. It is the obvious pick for a home setup, and for anyone whose heaviest dumbbells still challenge them for 10–15 reps.

Swapping it in: Pick dumbbells that allow 12–15 reps with a one-second pause at the top, palms facing your thighs. Use straps once your grip gives out before your traps do.

2. Kettlebell Shrug

Kettlebell · Home or gym · Beginner · Best with a kettlebell

The Kettlebell Shrug keeps the straight-up path with a bell in each hand. Because the handle is above the weight, the bells hang close to the body and do not swing forward, which makes a strict pause at the top easy to hold. Bells jump in large increments, so progress by adding reps and lengthening the hold rather than the load. It suits a home setup with a pair of heavy bells.

Swapping it in: Use the heaviest matching pair you own, do 3 sets of 15–20, and hold each rep for two seconds at the top. Add a fourth set before moving to heavier bells.

3. Farmer Carry

Dumbbell · Home or gym · Beginner · Best with dumbbells

With the Farmer Carry, the traps stop moving the weight and start holding it: you pick up heavy dumbbells, stand tall and walk while the load tries to pull your shoulders toward the floor. Grip and trunk work hard too, so it covers more than the upper traps alone. It suits anyone with heavy dumbbells or kettlebells and room to walk, and it pairs well with lighter shrugs.

Swapping it in: Carry the heaviest pair you can hold for about 40 steps with your shoulders set up and back. Do 3–4 trips, resting around 90 seconds between them.

4. Rack Pull

Barbell · Gym · Intermediate · Best for heavier loading

The Rack Pull is the heavier option. Pulling a barbell from pins set near the knees to a full lockout usually lets you hold more weight than you could shrug, and at the top the upper traps work hard to keep the shoulders from being dragged down. It also loads the lower back heavily and trains the whole back side, so it suits experienced lifters after overall trap mass rather than an isolation exercise.

Swapping it in: Set the pins just below the knees and finish each rep standing tall with a one-second hold. Do 3–4 sets of 5–6, adding a short shrug at lockout on the final rep.

5. Trap Bar Deadlift

Barbell · Gym · Intermediate · Best with a barbell

In a gym with a trap bar, the Trap Bar Deadlift puts heavy weight in your hands at your sides, the same position a dumbbell shrug uses, and the upper traps hold the bar through every lockout. You get heavy, whole-back work with the traps included, although it is a hip-and-leg lift first. It suits anyone who wants trap work from a lift that already fits in a strength program.

Swapping it in: Keep the reps at 5–8 and stand still for two seconds at the top of each rep. After the last rep, stay at lockout and shrug the bar for 8–10 more.

6. Upright Row

Barbell · Gym · Intermediate · Best with a barbell

Where a shrug moves only the shoulders, the Upright Row adds an arm pull: the bar travels up the front of the body until the elbows reach shoulder height. The upper traps finish each rep, while the delts do much of the lifting before that, so the weights are far lighter than a shrug’s. Choose it if you want one exercise that builds the traps and the shoulder cap together.

Swapping it in: Take a grip wider than shoulder width and stop when the elbows reach shoulder height. Do 3 sets of 10–12 at a moderate load, and keep one heavy shrug variation elsewhere in the week.

7. Prone Y Raise

Bodyweight · Home or gym · Beginner · Best with no equipment

The Prone Y Raise is the only option here that needs no equipment. Lying face down, you raise your arms into a Y with thumbs up, which trains the traps through upward rotation rather than elevation, so the lower traps do more of the work. It will not replace heavy shrugs for upper-trap size, but it keeps the traps training on days with nothing to lift.

Swapping it in: Run 3 rounds of 12–15 reps, pausing two seconds with the arms raised. Hold light plates or water bottles once bodyweight gets easy, and pair it with a loaded shrug whenever you can.

Illustrations adapted from Everkinetic via workout-guide, CC BY-SA 4.0. Full credits.

Side by side

How to choose

Choose by the weight you can get into your hands.

• Dumbbells: the Dumbbell Shrug first, with Farmer Carries as a second exercise.
• Kettlebells only: Kettlebell Shrugs with long pauses at the top.
• Full gym: the Rack Pull or Trap Bar Deadlift for heavy load, and the Upright Row if the shoulders are a goal too.
• Nothing at all: Prone Y Raises, knowing they will not match loaded work.

The barbell itself is not what builds the traps. They respond to heavy weight held with the shoulders up, and every loaded option on this list gets there. If you already deadlift heavy, the traps get plenty of work from that, so one or two sets of a shrug alternative a week may be all they need.

Full Barbell Shrug guide: form, muscles worked and mistakes →

Which of these does your back actually need?

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