Shrugs: Barbell in squat rack, BB Smith machine, DB's, Plates?

[welovethehammer]

I've seen many ways of doing shrugs and wanted to know which you think is most effective.

I've seen people do:

Smith Machine Shrugs - I guess the benefit of this is you can load a LOT of weight onto the bar and when you physically cannot do anymore you can drop the barbell and it wont crush your feet. I'm talking putting a lot of weight on - probs similiar to the amount I would deadlift.

BB Shrugs - Doing shrugs in the squat rack. It'll basically be the same as the smith machine. If it gets too heavy it'll fall on the 2 horizontal pieces of metal either side and not crush my feet. Benefit of this over the smith is I have to control the movement - smith machine I only lift up but don't have to worry about making sure the bar doesn't go too far away from my body/close. So here I'm responsible for more movement so possibly more synergists/core muscles.

DB's - Another variation.

Plates (the stuff you'd put on the ends of a barbell) - I've seen people do a routine where they are in pairs. One person starts off doing 8 reps with the 25kg plates (55 lbs) and another guy does it with 15kg (33 lbs). When person A has done 8 reps, he switches with person B. So person A does 8 reps of the 15kg. This is 1 set (1 set consists of 8 reps with the 25/55 then 8 reps with the 15/33) and he does 3 sets in total. The constant change in weight causes shock/intensity to the muscles.


Which would you say is most effective?

[Dan3317]

Smith or BB. Doesn't really matter. DBs are fine, but most gyms are limited in the weights. Plates just sound goofy, and not practical for heavy weight.

[TheMetaGross]

Personally, I love doing them on the smith. Incidentally, this is the only use aside from calf raises and functionality as a coat rack that I have found for the smith at my gym.

[krishna335]

Keep switching between the above mentioned variants from time to time to prevent adaptation & stagnation. It's better to use dumbbells instead of weight plates. More importantly, focus on contraction, irrespective of the equipment used.

[SuffolkPunch]

Smith or BB. Doesn't really matter. DBs are fine, but most gyms are limited in the weights. Plates just sound goofy, and not practical for heavy weight.

^This

Smith has the advantage that the bar is easier to grip because it only rolls so far.

I like to combine rack pulls with power shrugs in the power cage with the safety pins set to knee height. This works a lot more than upper traps.

[Jhemre]

I prefer with BB, Meadows way: http://youtu.be/xQuDPFplpmk

[ardee2124]

I prefer with BB, Meadows way: http://youtu.be/xQuDPFplpmk

That looks amazing. Seriously. The problem I have with barbell shrugs is it's hard to go up AND back, because your legs are an obstruction to the barbell to go back. This just shifts the barbell into a perfect position.

Repped. I'm going to try this.

[welovethehammer]

That looks amazing. Seriously. The problem I have with barbell shrugs is it's hard to go up AND back, because your legs are an obstruction to the barbell to go back. This just shifts the barbell into a perfect position.

Repped. I'm going to try this.

I prefer with BB, Meadows way: http://youtu.be/xQuDPFplpmk

Let me know how you get on please!

Also what's the official name for this exercise as I googled 'Meadow shrugs' and only the youtube video posted came up?