Why the Trap Bar Deadlift

There are plenty of excellent exercises to aid in enhancing performance, but I feel that a majority of them come up short when compared to the trap bar deadlift. I think the trap bar deadlift is the one exercise that each coach would agree is the “ultimate” exercise in the weight room. My goal with all my athletes is to create programs with realistic exercise selection that are able to have the greatest transfer of training and I have seen through experience the trap bar deadlift is the cornerstone in each one. Research has shown that the trap bar deadlift has the ability to reach peak power outputs and enhanced velocity, which is huge for enhancing sport performance. 

I am a huge fan of the deadlift movement in general, but there is something about the trap bar deadlift that propels itself over any other. 

At OPZ, athletes that are beginning to learn the deadlift I either have them start with a kettlebell deadlift or the trap bar deadlift depending on age, injury history, biomechanics, etc.. But it is safe to say that every athlete I train is going to be performing the trap bar deadlift at some point in their program. I program the trap bar deadlift for a couple reasons outside of “just because it is the ultimate lift” reason. 

Here is a video of how I coach the trap bar deadlift:

Developing and training the posterior chain is a crucial part of strength and conditioning and the trap bar deadlift does just that. The posterior chain is often neglected in a lot of training programs partly due to the fact that you can’t see it, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn't be trained. The trap bar deadlift focuses on training the posterior chain muscles of the leg and upper back muscles. There is often an argument that the trap bar deadlift is not a true hip dominant exercise, which is partially true but it doesn’t need to be in order to activate the leg muscles of the posterior chain. Now this whole concept can change if an athlete performs it the wrong way and executes the trap bar deadlift closer to a squat pattern. I believe that the trap bar deadlift should be considered more of a hip dominant exercise than a knee dominant exercise partly because it still activates around 2x more the posterior chain leg muscles than the quadriceps. It may activate the quadriceps more than any other deadlift variation or but that is partly due to the natural fatigue that sets in and plus, a little quad work never hurt no one.  

The amount of range of motion (ROM) or mobility that is required for the trap bar deadlift is extremely lower compared to any other main lift. Because the hex bar has elevated handles on the side it allows athletes not to have to go into such deep hip flexion, extreme ankle dorsiflexion and excessive thoracic spine extension. Basically it allows an athlete to keep a neutral spine when performing the movement. Being able to keep a neutral spine allows an athlete to diminish the shearing force on the spine and put a little more compressive force on the spine, which in return will spare our spine. Majority of my athletes have limited ROM in all three of these places and a trap bar deadlift allows them to get in a proper position to perform it, which is another reason I love it. 

I have made it my professional goal to make my training as transferable as possible to each one of my athletes. How do we make training transferable to sport? High power outputs. The great thing about the trap bar deadlift is that it has a high transfer of training effect mostly due to the fact that loads are able to move more quickly. I’ve seen that my athletes are able to lift heavier weight a lot faster compared to any other deadlift variation or even a back squat. The hex bar in general allows for so much variation that different variations of the trap bar deadlift are almost endless. Peak power outputs are the ultimate goal when it comes to enhancing on field/court performance and the trap bar deadlift allows for this. 

I have found that there is a less likely of any injury compared to any other deadlift variation. I live on the fact that athletes should NEVER get injured in the weight room. The weight room should be a controlled atmosphere that gets and keeps athletes strong, powerful, explosive and healthy. When I look at exercise selection I always look at the risks of that exercise and see if they outweigh the rewards of that exercise. If the risks clearly outweigh the reward then I tend to stay far away from it. The trap bar deadlift allows for a lot of reward with little risk. With the handles being on the side it allows the total load to be directly in line with our center of gravity and closer to our hips.

With the trap bar deadlift being a simple and easy way to learn the deadlift movement with a high transfer of training I would say overall the trap bar deadlift has a strong argument for being the ultimate exercise for enhancing sports performance.