I never liked doing shrugs (for the record). I did them off and on over the years but felt they only got the top of the traps. Traps are like icebergs, the top part is only about 1/3 of the overall mass.
I wanted to emphasize the back/middle of the traps.
For about 10 years, I did deadlifts religiously, 12 sets up and 12 sets down, 3 or 4 times per week. (In the 1980's, no-one said only do 3 sets of 8 etc., so I did up to 24 sets each workout, per bodypart, sometimes alternating with straight-legged deadlifts.
Also, not to be discounted, I did heavy cheat curls for years, like 135 for 6x6. I maxed out at 200 for 6 with an easy-curl bar. I noticed only my traps were getting big and not my biceps, so I did more isolation work for the past 20 years.
Another thing I used to do was cheat lateral raises. I was up to a 65 lb dbell in each hand for 6/8 reps each, but once again, I noticed my traps were getting most of the work, so in the past 20 years I only did lateral raises with light weight (30lbs or less) and for the past 10 years have only done them with a 10lb olympic plate in each hand, being careful not to lift the shoulder girdle when raising the weight, so as to just attenuate my delts.
When you do laterals, use a weight you can almost touch your knuckles above your head with, as that puts direct stress on the traps using a full range of motion for the entire shoulder girdle. In my opinion, these are more effective than cheat laterals because the reduction in "swing" puts more stress on the muscles rather than is taken away through momentum.
A great (mostly overlooked trap exercise) which I think incorporated now (at least once a week) would definately bring your traps out (better than shrugs), is hack squats with a barbell. Everytime I did these over the years I got a great overall trap pump, plus other benefits as well.
I recommend you don't use plates bigger than 25lbs. The reasoning is, because it will allow you to get closer to the ground.
This emphasizes trap action, more directly, because you are forced to lean forward more at the bottom, and use the middle portion of your traps to hold the weight back to avoid letting the bar hit your achilles.
I only use an oly bar with 2 25lb plates and get a fantastic trap pump. I have been doing these up to just before I got stabbed. I tried them afterwards but they put a lot of stress on my painful right trap. Definately, adding 3x5 sets of these, even one day a week, will add some size on your traps by May.
You can also incorporate sets of each, cheat curls, cheat lateral raises, deadlifts and hack squats (don't use plates bigger than 25lbers for either an' watch 'em grow).
I leave you with a question: what do you think will make your overall traps bigger, doing deadlifts with 405, or doing shrugs with 405?
A: Hand's down it's deadlifts, simply because more of your trap is involved, period!
Deadlifts will position your back at a 45 degree angle (from the ground) at the bottom (especially if you are using no plates bigger than 25lbers), and the perpendicular line from the ground, at that point will put direct stress on the middle (or meat) of your traps, giving the bottom of the pull most of the heavy work, and leading to more effective contraction at the top, just remember to emphasize pulling the shoulders back at the top for full contraction.
And yeah, I know, you can't fit 405 on a bar using only 25's, but try them anyway with 6 on each side and tell me how easy it is to do with 345?
Now use that weight with your hack squats, HA, I can hear the grunting now!
I rest my case!
