Dumbbell Shrug

How to do the Dumbbell Shrug

1. 1Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, palms facing your thighs.
2. 2Keep your arms straight and relaxed; they only hold the weights.
3. 3Raise your shoulders straight up toward your ears as high as they go.
4. 4Hold for a second at the top, then lower your shoulders all the way down.

Muscles worked

Common mistakes

• Rolling the shoulders — circles add nothing; move straight up and straight down.
• Bending the elbows — if your arms help, the dumbbells are too heavy; let the arms hang.
• Bouncing the reps — pause at the top and lower under control so the traps do the work, not momentum.

Where it fits in a workout

Do it at the end of a back or shoulder session.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Logging the Dumbbell Shrug in SetGrip

SetGrip logs the Dumbbell Shrug as weight and reps. Log the weight of one dumbbell and add a routine note that it is per dumbbell, so later entries match.

Variations and alternatives

When to talk to someone

• Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
• Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
• Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.

More exercises

• All back exercises
• All traps exercises
• All dumbbell exercises
• Machine Gripless Shrug

Sources

1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.