Below is a breakdown of the primary muscle groups involved in this.
Barbell shrugs muscles worked.
What muscles do shoulder shrugs work.
Shoulder shrugs are easy to do and are a great exercise option for strengthening your shoulders and other muscles too.
Barbell shrugs work the trapezius muscles and the shoulders are also involved to a pretty decent degree.
The verdict both versions of the barbell shrug are effective for building the traps as they both hit them from a slightly different angle which builds different muscle fibers.
If you want to build up the upper back barbell shrugs are the move for you.
Although they are often called shoulder shrugs the exercise primarily targets the trapezius muscle of the back.
The barbell shrug is an isolation movement meaning it utilizes just one joint.
Although often included in a shoulder workout barbell shrugs target the muscles of the upper back.
Muscles worked shrugs the shrug is an upper body exercise that can be done to increase trapezius and upper back hypertrophy.
The trapezius or traps for short is a superficial close to the surface of the skin muscle of the back that was named after its trapezoid shape.