Deadlifts vs. Shrugs: Which Builds Bigger Traps?

If there’s one muscle group that screams strength and power, it’s the traps. Massive, well-developed traps don’t just look intimidating—they’re a direct sign of serious strength. But when it comes to training them, a long-standing debate exists: Are deadlifts or shrugs better for trap growth?

Some lifters believe deadlifts, with their brutal full-body engagement and insane loading potential, are all you need to build monster traps. Others argue that shrugs—specifically designed to hammer the upper traps—are the best way to develop that thick, mountainous look. The real answer? Both exercises have their place, but they train the traps in completely different ways.

Deadlifts: The Unconventional Trap Builder

At first glance, deadlifts seem like more of a hamstring, glute, and lower-back exercise, but don’t let that fool you—your traps are heavily involved from start to finish. The moment you pull the bar off the floor, your traps fire up to stabilize your shoulders, keeping the weight locked in place. And unlike shrugs, where the traps move through a short up-and-down motion, deadlifts force them to hold tension isometrically, meaning they’re working hard the entire lift.

One of the biggest advantages of deadlifts is their ability to overload the traps with far more weight than you could ever shrug. Your traps might not be moving in the traditional sense, but they’re handling hundreds of pounds under load, and that kind of stress is a huge stimulus for growth.

Snatch-grip deadlifts take this even further—by forcing your arms into a wider grip, they increase the tension on your upper back and traps. And if you really want to emphasize your traps during deadlifts, rack pulls are the way to go. Since the range of motion is shortened, you can lift even heavier, shifting most of the stress onto your upper body and forcing your traps to work overtime.

That said, deadlifts are not a pure hypertrophy movement for the traps. They build density, thickness, and strength, but they don’t provide the same level of direct stimulation as isolation exercises. If you only rely on deadlifts for trap growth, you’ll get strong, but you might not get the dramatic size you’re after.

Shrugs: The Direct Attack on Your Traps

If deadlifts are like using a sledgehammer to build strength, shrugs are the fine-tuning tool that zeroes in on your traps with pinpoint precision. When you shrug, your traps aren’t just stabilizing—they’re actively contracting, shortening and lengthening through a full range of motion. This is exactly what you need for hypertrophy: direct muscle activation, repeated contractions, and the ability to control time under tension.

Shrugs allow for higher volume than deadlifts, which is a key factor for muscle growth. While deadlifts tax your entire body and require long recovery periods, shrugs are easy to recover from and can be done multiple times per week. You can throw them into your routine after any workout without worrying about frying your nervous system.

Another overlooked benefit of shrugs is eccentric control. Most lifters treat shrugs like a lazy afterthought, rolling their shoulders and bouncing the weight up and down. But when done correctly—using a controlled eccentric phase, a hard contraction at the top, and eliminating momentum—shrugs become an incredibly effective tool for upper trap hypertrophy.

Shrug variations also allow you to tweak the stimulus. Dumbbell shrugs let each side work independently, reducing imbalances. Behind-the-back shrugs shift the emphasis slightly lower on the traps. Power shrugs, where you use a slight leg drive, allow you to handle heavier loads while still getting an explosive contraction. Each variation adds a different element to trap training that deadlifts simply don’t provide.

Which One is Better?

The truth is, neither deadlifts nor shrugs are “better”—they just serve different purposes. If you’re looking for overall mass and brute strength, deadlifts (especially rack pulls and snatch-grip deadlifts) should be a staple in your routine. They build dense, thick traps as a byproduct of heavy lifting. But if you want targeted hypertrophy, high-volume work, and focused trap development, shrugs are the way to go.

The smartest approach? Train both.

Use deadlifts to build a strong foundation and overload your traps with serious weight, then follow up with shrugs to carve out detail and size. Combine these two movements, and your traps will have no choice but to grow.