Smith Machine Shrug

How to do it

1. Stand under the bar of the smith machine with feet hip-width apart and unrack it to hang at arm's length in front of your thighs.
2. Grip the bar just outside shoulder width and let the arms hang straight with the bar resting against the thighs.
3. Brace the core and elevate the shoulders straight up toward the ears, driving through the trapezius.
4. Use the machine's fixed vertical track to keep the bar path straight rather than swinging it forward or back.
5. Pause briefly at the top of the shrug before lowering under control back to the starting position.
6. Exhale on the way up and avoid rolling the shoulders; keep the motion strictly vertical each rep.

Muscles worked

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