The Smith Machine Standing Shrugs is a beginner-friendly machine strength exercise that targets the traps. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesTraps
Secondary muscles—
EquipmentMachine
LevelBeginner
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Smith Machine Standing Shrugs
Set the Smith bar to about mid-thigh height and stand facing the bar with feet shoulder-width apart.
Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width with palms facing the body.
Unrack the bar by rotating the wrists and stand tall with arms hanging fully extended.
Brace your core and shrug your shoulders straight up toward your ears as high as you can.
Pause briefly at the top, squeezing the upper traps for a full beat without rolling the shoulders.
Lower the bar slowly over 2 to 3 seconds back to the start position before the next rep.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Builds upper-trap mass with heavy, easily progressed loading.
Removes grip and balance as limiters thanks to the guided bar path.
Allows safe failure work without needing a spotter.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Rolling the shoulders forward or backward at the top, which strains the joint without adding trap work.
Bending the arms during the lift, which turns the shrug into a partial upright row.
Bouncing the bar at the bottom and using momentum instead of a controlled trap contraction.
Cutting the range short and never reaching a full shoulder elevation at the top of the rep.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Smith Machine Standing Shrugs, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
