How to do it
- Lie chest-down on an incline bench holding dumbbells with straight arms.
- Without bending the elbows, pull the shoulder blades together and back.
- Release slowly and let the shoulder blades spread fully.
Cues that matter
- Elbows stay locked — this is pure scapular retraction.
- Squeeze for two seconds at the top.
Common mistakes
- Bending the arms and turning it into a row.
- Using so much weight that the range collapses.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Traps
- Mid traps
- Rhomboids
Also works
- Rear delts
Sets and reps
What to do with it depends on what you are training for. These are the ranges MuscleMap uses when it puts Chest-Supported Kelso Shrug in a session, with 75 seconds between sets.
- Strength
- 6–8 reps
- Build muscle
- 10–15 reps
- Endurance
- 15–25 reps
Same muscle, different kit
Movements that train the same part of the traps with different equipment — for a day the dumbbell is taken, or a gym that does not have one.