Be it building core strength, targeting glutes, making that back go soaring, there is nothing that deadlifts are incapable of. Ever wondered how does a trap bar affects your deadlifts? Let’s find out.
When one walks into the gym, their ultimate goal is to lift heavy. While a major portion of those hit their new best easily in other exercises, deadlift seems to come at the very end. Why? Because these require a technique that does no hand-shaking with any sort of deviations.
Besides this, people go with dumbbell deadlifts, barbell deadlifts, and of course the one we are going to talk about- Trap Bar Deadlifts. It really is up to the preference of an individual. What suits one might not suit the other. Without wasting another sec, let’s spit out why trap bars are better.
What makes Trap Bar Deadlifts Awesome?
- A Beginner-Friendly Module: The thing with this exercise is that it requires coaching in high order to get you in the right form. It is not just physical, but mental too. You could be standing all buffed on your rubber gym floor, having a moderately-weighted barbell loaded up, and just as you pick it up, it gets your lower back in trouble. Therefore, trap bars are easy, to begin with. It gives you a better position with an aligned, flat back and an upright torso.
- No More Drastically Bending Forward: We have all seen a person getting all over his barbell trying to get the exercise done right. While we might not know what is the right posture but we do for sure know that this one is on the wrong foot. However, with a trap bar, as mentioned, the position is upright to ensure there is no hyper extension putting you in trouble.
- Keeping that Lower Back Safe: Yes, finally we have something that is not putting us in a position where we doubt picking the weight up. With other bars, we know we have to bend forward, stretch our spine, contract muscles as we come up, and get back to square one. But with this trap bar right here, the load gets close to your body and even closer to the middle of your posture. This keeps you from unnecessarily putting the load on the lower back.
With that in mind, we think that these are better for us. Be it a beginner or a pro who has had issues with the back, a trap bar is of great help to get things started again. But how? It is not a piece of cake. And you still have to get a few basics right. Let’s guide you on this.
The Proper Form For A Trap Bar Deadlift
Step 1 – Get Loaded
First things first, load the weight. You can go on empty weight if it is your first time and you are a bit doubtful with the form. No weight will allow you to settle in with this position. As soon as it starts going right, you can add some weight. Take it easy though. There is no haste to get the whole rack’s weight up in your deadlifts.
Step 2 – Step Inside
To begin with, you need to step inside the bar. Do not worry, there is ample space for you in the middle. Make sure your feet are in the proper lining with the weight sleeves. Not any forward or backward; just middle enough.
Step 3 – Get In A Squat Position
Squat Down, get your back moving. You can have both the hip-dominating and the quad-dominating deadlift. Just push your hips a little back for hips. On the contrary, get your knees to come a little forward for the other part.
Step 4 – Time To Lift
Now is the time you hold those handles tightly. Make sure your grip is supreme. Retract your shoulders a bit, get your legs strength intact, brace the core, and lift smoothly. No jerks please! Drive through the legs so as to have a flawless movement. As you straighten up, squeeze those glutes and get your hips forward. Do not overdo it.
Pro Tip (i): Please start with light weight. Though it is easy on the trap bar, you should not go with heavy at first. Make sure you are getting the technique right first.
Pro Tip (ii): As soon as you start hitting the weight, make sure you are not using those quads to live the whole thing. Instead, it is recommended that you push your hips forward a bit so as to ease up the burden on the quads. Also, do not bend any more than what you require.
Are There Any Other Uses/Variations Available?
What’s the use of any machinery in the fitness world if there is no variation attached to it? Trap Bars allow you to try a bit. Here’s what you can do.
- Include Resistance Bands: Both ends of the bar can be added with stretch/resistance bands. It allows you to exert a bit more force while lifting it up. Hence, it allows you to add a bit of load if you are short on weights.
- Get Some Height: It is what the professionals call- A Deficit Deadlift. Under this, you can add a step below that increases your height by 2-3 inches. It allows you to go down deep or further down the standard motion.
- Overhead Press: Yes, we have seen our gym trainers letting us do the overhead press with the trap bar. It allows for a fixed spaced grip position and does not involve any deviations. Simply hold the handles, get it on top, and start those shoulder presses.
Where can you buy this?
Gym equipment has to be of top quality when it comes to creating your home gym. You do not want to spend a few bucks every now and then. Keeping that in mind, Raw Fitness Equipment has created durable gym racks, rigs, rubber gym floorings mats, bars, and more. Hop on to the website to take a look at the whole collection.
