Don't Shrug In The Deadlift - Starting Strength Radio Clips

[Bre Acosta]

[J. Killmond]

Totally clear that deadlift form includes no "concentric shrug" and traps have only an "isometric role" (Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, p. 138).

When I was stalled (again) last year, I looked at a lot of the deadlift content, and saw Bill Starr's article:

Deadlifts Aren’t Just for Powerlifters | Bill Starr

Good stuff, but although Starr prescribes a flat back, it was evident that his article is not wholly in step with the Starting Strength method for deadlift, including Starr mentioning that he would "contract the traps" when the bar reached mid-thigh.

Coach Rip has addressed this--one of his forum posts explains that the "job of the traps is to anchor the scapulas in place" and that any "trap cue" might be required only for a "very heavy record deadlift" (or maybe Bill Starr doing 575 at 181):

Deadlift and Shoulders

Unsurprisingly, for someone just looking to make some progress, my deadlift issues were more typical than that: (1) needed to be fresher for the deadlift and to get it heavier than the squat (thanks Coach Rip and Robert Santana) and (2) anchoring the back by increasing hamstring tension in the set-up (thanks Coach Rip and Andy Baker).