What the heck are traps good for?

No, not trap bars, traps.

O.K., I actually do kind of know what trapezoids do, but I mean this question in the context of the bench press movement. I ask in regards to the following article excerpt from http://testosterone.net/nation_articles/260iron.jsp :

Wednesday we'll do shoulders and tons of shrugs. Shoulders and traps are an integral part of your bench pressing. I do trap bar shrugs. I start with 135 pounds for 100 reps, 225 for 75 reps, 315 for 50 reps, 425 for 25 reps, then 515 for 15 reps. Then I'll alternate with straight bar shrugs and work up to 495 where I use a little of my body weight to heave the bar up. Then I'll hold it there for five seconds. I'll go up to 600 pounds and do the same thing, letting my arms hang down low to get a good pull on my traps. Then I grab the 135 pound dumbbells and do shrugs, four sets of thirty, really strict. After that I superset front raises and side raises. Tons of assistance work for shoulders!

He appears to be concerned mainly with the bench press (the deadlift, with respect to himself isn't even mentioned and the squat is mentioned as something to play with in the future). I get the last part, with deltoids greatly involved with the bench press. And yes, I suppose I realize that sometimes it might be desirable to add exercises just to prevent certain muscle imbalances from occurring; but I just found the great emphasis on trapezoids very curious.

Any comments? Are trapezoids really that huge a part of the bench press movement? If not, can you still find a justification for this emphasis on traps in the context of the bench press (other than the obvious 'it seems to work for this guy'?

Just curiuous, August Pamplona

Whatever their use for bench presses may be, big traps look terrific

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Yes, I can see how that poor tiny little shit, Mike Miller, would need every visual trick in the book to add to the illusion of being larger.

August Pamplona

He benches using an arch movement. So his movement requires the use of more trapezoid or the instability could cause alot of problems for him. Crushing his scull for one. Also he is training on the same plain as his bench do to the arch movement. His movement is pushing the weight up from his chest as he does that he is moving it toward his head to lock out. So the weight is shifting from chest to over head. The shrug moves the weight the same way. Up ^ The stress on his shoulders is greater and his traps help hold the shoulders in position on the bench and in the groove . Also by having big traps he is taller off the bench so he does not have the move the bar as far. If not, can you still find a justification for this

No if he benched like Westside He would need more lat work. The movement is straight up from lower chest with no arch. The lats would hold the shoulders more on the bench and in the groove. The plain would be more like bent over barbell row or low pull a not shrug. Big lats taller off bench less you have to move the bar. Bill Crawford once said train lats for a bigger bench. I told him that if you want a bigger bench train triceps. Then you needed to train your back on the same plain as you bench

They hold the shoulder blades down so you don't get flattened out by the weight. I undstand the upper trap stabilize. There maybe more to it that I don't understand.

You can use trapezoids to integrate numerically..oh wait wrong

You should use your Simpsons instead. (or you Gauss's or perhaps your Newton-Raphson's).

For holding up a trap bar.

Thanks for the help

Surely you stop as soon as you can show there is a solution, and let some compscis work out what it actually is?

Is Monte Carlo too non-deterministic? Guess it depends on the quality of your RNG.