Bar behind Back Smith Machine Shrug

In SetGrip: Smith Machine Shrug (Bar behind Back)

Secondary muscles
Delts
Body part
Back
Position
Standing
Laterality
Bilateral (both sides together)
Category
Strength

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Placing the bar behind your body pulls the shoulders into a more retracted line, shifting emphasis toward the middle traps and making it harder to roll forward as you shrug. The Smith machine matters here - a free bar drags against the backs of your legs, while the rails keep the path clean.

How to do the Bar behind Back Smith Machine Shrug

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
  2. Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
  3. Keep your arms straight and allow the barbell to hang in front of your thighs.
  4. Lift your shoulders straight up towards your ears, squeezing your traps at the top.
  5. Hold for a moment, then lower your shoulders back down to the starting position.
  6. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tip: Hold the top for two seconds and lower for three.

Muscles worked

Primary

Traps · Back

The upper traps lift the shoulder blades straight up and should be squeezed hard at the top of each rep, with the burn sitting between the neck and the shoulders.

Secondary

Common mistakes

  • Rolling the shoulders — a circular motion does nothing extra and irritates the shoulder; move straight up and straight down.
  • Bouncing out of the bottom — let the shoulders drop fully at the bottom, pause, then shrug up from a dead stop.
  • Pulling the head forward — keep the chin tucked and the head neutral, since jutting the head forward shortens the range.
  • Too heavy to squeeze — if you cannot hold the top for a full count, the weight is too heavy for the traps to actually contract.

Where it fits in a workout

Shrugs go at the end of a back or shoulder session after the pressing and rowing. Superset them with a face pull or a rear delt fly on the same station.

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

Variations and alternatives

Similar exercises

Without smith machine

Easier and harder

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.

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More exercises

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.

Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.