Effective Exercises: Trap Bar Deadlift
Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. After Monday, all the NARPS (“non-athletic regular people,” according to Columbia’s varsity sports teams) will be back in the gym taking up space, er… I mean equipment! Fortunately, there’s one piece of equipment I know will always be available: The trap bar.
Lucky for me, most of the NARPS don’t know what this odd-looking contraption is, let alone what it’s used for. And that’s a shame, really, as most people could derive a lot of benefit from it.
The trap bar was designed to allow for heavier loading of the deadlift pattern with less torque (force x moment arm) placed upon the spine. You can stand inside it and place the load on the sides so that the weight stays close to the hips throughout the movement, which shortens the moment arm of the resistance force during the exercise. That is, the perpendicular distance from the lumbar spine (axis of rotation) to the load is smaller throughout the entire range of motion than with a conventional deadlift, where this distance increases much more as the hips go back and the weight remains in front of the body. This makes deadlifting with a trap bar far less stressful on the low back.
A study published in the July issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research also found that torques at the ankle and hip joints were smaller with the trap bar deadlift as compared to the conventional barbell deadlift, despite the heavier loads lifted with the trap bar. Translation? You can lift more weight and get stronger with less risk of low back injury by using the trap bar for your deadlifts.
Here’s how to do the exercise:
Key Cues:
- Stand inside the trap bar with the feet at about shoulder width
- Keep the chest up and hips slightly higher than the knees
- Keep the midsection braced and back neutral or slightly arched; do not round the spine
- Keep the weight in the heels; do not shift forward
- Take a big breath in and hold it to maintain intra-abdominal pressure during the pull
- Extend the hips and knees simultaneously to stand up with the weight
- Squeeze the glutes at the top to finish the movement
- Initiate the descent by first pushing the hips back slightly, then bend the knees
Trap bars also have elevated handles, which allow people with mobility issues (e.g., tight hamstrings) to practice the deadlift pattern through a shorter range of motion. Some versions also have non-elevated handles that provide the option of flipping the bar over and pulling from closer to the floor if mobility is not a problem.
It is important to note, however, that the study cited above found torque at the knee joint to actually be greater with the trap bar deadlift than with the conventional version, despite the smaller moment arm. This finding was explained by the difference in direction of the resistance: The load remains in front of the knee during the entirety of a conventional deadlift, but behind the knee for a majority of the movement when using the trap bar.
What does this mean? If you’re more concerned with (or prone to) injuring your knees than your low back (or you want to train your low back muscles more than your hips), you might be better off sticking with a barbell. As usual, it all comes back to the goal. If mobility is an issue, you can simply elevate the bar with a pair of plates or low steps:
And take off your shoes!
That said, I’ll leave you with one more deadlifting video. You’ve probably seen it before, but it’s still bound to produce a few chuckles:
Have a safe and healthy Labor Day!
Filed under: exercise programs, exercise research, fitness-related injuries
