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Barbell shrugs: straight up, full range

Also called: barbell shrugs, shrugs. All one movement, one page.

By

We compute it and we cite it. We do not test gear. How we know this.

Short answer

Hold a heavy bar, shrug your shoulders straight up toward your ears, lower it. That is the whole movement.

Pattern
Isolation
Equipment
Barbell · Plates · Rack (optional) · Straps (optional)
Usual bar
45 lb / 20.4 kgOhio Power Bar, 45 lb

The kit this lift needs

Straight from this movement’s own equipment list. The spec pages below compare published figures across every model we have verified — no prices, no ratings, nothing we claim to have tested.

Gear for this lift

One verified model per piece of kit the barbell shrug needs

One representative model per category, picked from the listings we have verified. Specs are the seller's published figures, read on the date printed on each card. We have not tested any of it, and there is no rating on this page because there is nothing to rate it against.

BarWeight is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure.

Barbells

Amazon Basics Olympic Deadlift Hex Trap Bar

B0DRBJ9H1T
BarbellsAmazon BasicsAlloy Steel
Material
Alloy Steel
Item Weight
13.85 kg
Weight Limit
500 pounds
Grip Type
Ergonomic
Number Of Items
1
Model Number
IR94083C

Best for: Deadlifting with the load in line with your body, which most people find easier on the lower back.

Skip if: You only own one bar. This is a second bar, not a first one.

Check these yourself before ordering

  • — Sleeve diameter — 2 in Olympic or 1 in standard — against the plates you own
  • — Bar weight and length against your rack width
  • — The stated capacity, and how the seller measured it
View on Amazon

Specs read from the listing on 2026-07-24. Listings change — confirm the current spec and option before you order.

Plates

Amazon Basics 2-Inch Olympic Grip Weight Plates

B0DNS4B576
PlatesAmazon Basics2 in Olympic
Bore
2 in Olympic
Material
Cast iron

Best for: Iron plates for a rack-and-bar gym where nothing gets dropped.

Skip if: You deadlift on a floor you care about. Iron is not a bumper.

Check these yourself before ordering

  • — Which weights the option you selected actually contains
  • — Whether they are sold singly or in pairs
  • — Plate thickness against your sleeve length — see the bar data on this site
View on Amazon

Specs read from the listing on 2026-07-24. Listings change — confirm the current spec and option before you order.

Power racks

HulkFit Power Rack

B0H6ND831G
Power racksHULKFITAlloy Steel
Material
Alloy Steel
Dimensions
53.54"D x 47.64"W x 81.5"H
Color
Red
Included Components
Exercise Accessories, Instruction Manuals, Power Rack, Tools
Unit Count
1 Count
Model Number
Power Rack

Best for: Barbell work in the cage plus cable work off the same frame, without a second machine on the floor.

Skip if: You want a guided bar path. A rack holds the bar; it does not steer it.

Check these yourself before ordering

  • — Interior depth against your bench, and upright height against your ceiling
  • — Hole spacing through the pressing range — 2 in Westside spacing is not universal
  • — Whether the J-hooks, safeties and any pulley parts are included in the option you picked
View on Amazon

Specs read from the listing on 2026-07-24. Listings change — confirm the current spec and option before you order.

Comparing the whole field before you buy is the better move. Each guide below picks for a named job and states the published spec that put it there:

Barbell shrug setup

  1. 01Bar at your thighs, palms down, arms straight.
  2. 02Pull it from a rack if the load is heavy — you did not come here to deadlift it.
  3. 03Stand tall, chest up.

How to do a barbell shrug

  1. 01Shrug straight up. Straight up, not backward, not in a circle.
  2. 02Pause at the top for a beat.
  3. 03Lower all the way down and let the traps stretch.

How to load the bar for the barbell shrug

Before the barbell shrug is a rep, it is a number on the bar. Plates go on in pairs, one per sleeve, and the bar itself is part of the total — a 45 lb bar with a 45 on each side is 135 lb, not 90. This animation walks the three loads you will meet most often.

Our own render, modelled to the IPF bar spec and the published plate spec table.An original 3D animation showing how the three most common barbell loads are built. A 45 lb bar starts empty; a 45 lb plate slides onto each sleeve to make 135 lb, a second pair makes 225 lb, and a third pair makes 315 lb. The running total and the plates-per-side count are shown throughout. This is an illustration of a class of equipment, not footage of a specific product.Original animation by BarWeight — an illustration of this class of equipment, not footage of a specific product, and not a demonstration of how to perform a lift.

Need a different number? Run it through the plate math calculator.

Barbell shrug video demonstration

Reading the steps only gets you so far, and a render cannot show you what a human body does under a bar. This is the barbell shrug demonstrated by a coach, not by us — we did not make this video, we do not host it, and we do not earn anything from it.

Demonstration

The Barbell Shrug with Mark Rippetoe

Starting Strength

The Barbell Shrug with Mark Rippetoe — Starting Strength. Embedded from YouTube; this site did not produce the video.Mark Rippetoe is the author of Starting Strength, one of the most widely used barbell coaching texts; channel is the method's official source.

Common barbell shrug errors

  • Rolling the shoulders. It adds nothing.
  • Bending the arms and turning it into a bad row.
  • Two-inch range of motion with an absurd load.
  • Bouncing at the knees to launch each rep.

Barbell shrug: muscles worked

Primary

  • Upper trapezius

Secondary

  • Levator scapulae
  • Rhomboids
  • Forearm flexors (grip)

How we know: Standard functional anatomy — which joints move and which muscles cross them. Convention and reasoning, not a measured EMG result.

Barbell shrug: what the evidence does and does not say

No EMG source was located for the barbell shrug. The muscle list is standard functional anatomy — the upper trapezius elevates the scapula, which is the entire movement.

How to program the barbell shrug

Training convention: 3-4 sets of 8-15, at the end of a pull or shoulder day. Grip is often the limiter, so straps are common on the heavier sets.

Rep ranges are training convention. They are what most lifters and coaches do, not a measured result, and nothing on this page is medical advice.

Run the numbers

Knowing the lift is half of it. The other half is loading the bar correctly.

Questions people actually ask

▶Should you roll your shoulders when shrugging?

No. Shrug straight up, pause, and lower all the way down. Rolling the shoulders adds a circular path that does not add anything to the movement.

▶How heavy should barbell shrugs be?

Heavy enough to work through a full range, not so heavy that you get a two-inch range of motion and a knee bounce. Training convention puts this at 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 at the end of a pull or shoulder day.

▶Why do straps get used on shrugs?

Because grip usually fails before the traps do. You are holding a heavy bar with straight arms for the length of the set, so the forearms are the limiter on the heavier sets for most people.

Same pattern, different lift

All barbell exercises

Sources

No study is cited for this movement because none was verified for it. The description above is mechanical instruction and standard functional anatomy. We would rather tell you the shelf is empty than put something on it.

How this page is built and what we will and will not claim: read the methodology.