looking up vs looking down during shrugs.
 

Is there any benefit to looking up or looking down while doing shoulder shrugs? I tend to look down without realizing it. And I notice other people at my gym looking up. Does this make any difference at all?

I'd try to keep the neck neutral and eyes forward.

I don't shrug or work traps anymore, but when I did I always looked down. I could get a larger ROM that way.

So I take it that looking down helps focus or isolate one part of the muscle?

There is a difference. When you look up you can't shrug as high because your neck is kind of pushed back and prevents traps from shrugging as high. When you look down or tuck your chin on your chest, you can shrug higher and get a harder contraction at the top. I've seen some guys using way too much weight with their head all the way back only shrugging a inch or two and they wonder why they don't have any traps. I prefer to get a full stretch and contraction when doing shrugs.

what about as far as injury is concerned? when i have my chin tucked in i tend to feel a strain on the back of my neck. is it my form or the nature of the stance?

DanOratioXP, generally speaking if I feel any discomfort doing an exercise a certain way, I don't do it. It could be that your neck has limited range of motion which makes it feel strained in that position. You don't necessarily have to tuck your chin in; you could just tilt your head slightly forward so that you can achieve a higher peak contraction at the top. Just don't look straight up and have your neck pushed back in the way of your traps. Looking up tends to let you use more weight because your not using a full range of motion. If you want your traps to have full peaks, full contraction with full range of motion is the way to go. Like I said before, if an exercise gives you discomfort when you do it in a certain way don't do it in that manner. You have to find a groove that causes no discomfort while producing maximum effectiveness.

Thank you, ecko. I tilted my head forward and got a peak contraction I've never achieved before with no discomfort. Very effective.