Trap Bar

[humpty]

Following on from the leg press/Squat thread, anyone use the Trap bar for deadlifting or as an alternative to squatting?

I love my trap bar & I feel that it's safer all round than trying to squat heavy as I don't have a rack or a training partner. It also seems better for the knees & lower bcak than regular DLs & allows greater quad work than reagular DLs.

Just interested in others views/experience.

Blevunly - have you used one?

[dynamitemitch]

i love using a trap bar. i feel better when doing deadlifts with it. also i think it gets the whol body working better than using a conventional bar for deadlifts

[blevunly]

I've never used one so I can't really judge it, but it seems like a good compound exercise.

[jetjaguar]

The angle makes sense but I think you could get the same angle with a universal bench press station

[TapOut136]

Well to get greater quad work (because the movement is obviously quad dominant) your giving up hamstring work. I'm not sure why it would be "better" for your knees and back objectively. Also, not have a squat rack or training partners is a pretty serious limitation. About the only optional method you have for the trap bar is to train it using extra range of motion.

[blevunly]

Well to get greater quad work (because the movement is obviously quad dominant) your giving up hamstring work. I'm not sure why it would be "better" for your knees and back objectively. Also, not have a squat rack or training partners is a pretty serious limitation. About the only optional method you have for the trap bar is to train it using extra range of motion.

I was kinda wondering that myself. Deadlift isn't really bad for your back and I've never heard the bad for your knees thing.

Btw I don't have a squat rack just a stand to hold the bar up at the top. I find it provides extra motivation to finish a rep. You just have to be smart and not test your limits.

[humpty]

With regard to the back/knees question, the traditional deadlift places a shearing force on the knees due to the start position and the lateral force exerted 'through' the knees during the extension.

As for back - purely personal & anecdotal, my lower back is much less stiff after 400lb trap bar lifts than 300lb deadlifts.

I could very well be sacrificing ham work for the increase in quad action but I can feel the hams have worked particularly after focusing on driving the feet (heels) in to the floor on the initial phase of the lift. I can also do stiff leg DLs for specific ham/glute work.

Yep, no rack is a bummer. I guess I could buy/weld one if I really wanted. For squating I've got a home-made 'Yoke' that weighs 175lbs on it's own, or I can add plates to it for heavier work. It's not perfect but it's a way of doing bottom position squats when I feel like it.

For trap bar info Paul Kelso's 'Shrug Book' is good.

http://sfuk.tripod.com/reviews/trapbar_review.html

http://sfuk.tripod.com/interviews_02/paul_kelso.html

Thanks for your thoughts fellas.

[TapOut136]

As long as you think through you're training which it seems like you're doing then you should be able to progress by training everything safely simply by cycling exercises and sets/reps.

[deegs]

the trap bar turns the deadlift into a hack squat. there's really no need for it. you can just deadlift and hack squat. it could be good for shrugs though. i guess that's why it's call a 'trap bar'.