The Trapezius muscle has several functions in the body. It moves the head and neck forward and backward, it assists in breathing as a secondary, “helper” muscle group, it moves the shoulder blade toward the spine, and it moves the shoulder blade up, down and rotated. It also helps rotate and bend the neck. The Trapezius muscle works to assist in moving the neck and it has flexibility to move. The tightness or soreness of the Trapezius muscle group drastically affects the ability of the neck to move.
The Trapezius muscle group works together with other muscles in the body as an accessory breathing muscle. It opens up the small breathing area in the upper chest. It also is an assistance muscle that when relied on alone promotes only shallow breathing. The Trapezius muscle at times becomes very stiff and sore, but it responds well to massage and being physically manipulated to relieve the soreness.
There are a number of different exercises that can be employed to build up the Trapezius muscle. One of these is the Barbell shrug. You hold a barbell with a low amount of weight, and let it hand from your hands in front of you with the barbell crossing in front of your approx. waist area. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart, standing at ease. Droop your shoulders forward and down as much as possible with keeping your back straight. Then rotate your shoulders forward and up and back in a circular type of motion, until your shoulders are back at the full droop position. It is called the barbell shrug because it is similar to the motion when you shrug your shoulders.
Another exercise is called the upright row or upright cable row position. You grab a straight bar that is connected to a cable weight machine, with a low amount of weight to start, attached to the floor pulley near the ground. Grab the bar with hands close together, and then pull upward with elbows out, bringing your hands on the bar upward to your chin, elbows outward. You pull up till your hands are underneath your chin, hold for a count of two seconds, then slowly with resistance release letting your hands go back to the start position. You do not just drop the bar but use your muscles to release slowly all the way back down.
Having healthy Trapezius muscles is something that you can have if you are willing to work at it. It is not something that just happens on its own. But you can have the Trapezius muscles in your neck be well developed if you put a series of Trapezius muscle exercises in with your normal workout. If you do, then you will have well developed Trapezius muscles, and you will also likely strengthen the muscles in the rest of your upper body at the same time.
It is important to keep all of your muscles, not just your Trapezius muscles strong, you should actively work for a balance in your upper body muscles.
