How to: Perform The Trap Bar Deadlift

by Mar 12, 2018How to

I really like using the trap bar to teach the deadlift to my new athletes.

Before I get into the details of WHY I think this is important, I suggest you read the article The Trap Bar. It will give you a better understanding of this piece of equipment and the different uses it has.

Down to the Details

Now, why do I think the trap bar is such a great teaching tool when coaching athletes to perform deadlifts correctly?

When athletes stand in the middle of a trap bar, the weight they’re lifting will run through the frontal plane. Having the weight in this alignment takes some stress off the low back. Additionally, it forces athletes to balance the weight in their hands from front to back. If the athlete’s grip is off, they’ll receive immediate feedback by having the weight tip too far forward or backward. This will allow the athlete to instantly know that their positioning is off. Not having your hands in the exact middle of the handles will make it hard to hold the weight. It will also decrease the effectiveness of the exercise, not to mention increasing the stress on the low back.

Another way to tell if your alignment is off is if you have too much weight on your toes when descending in the lift. You can figure this out by paying attention to where most of your body weight is located on your feet. If you feel your toes pressing into the ground excessively and you feel like you might fall forward, then you’re in a bad position. The same goes for having too much of your body weight on the back on your heels. The ideal weight distribution on your feet is having about 20% of your weight on your toes and the rest evenly distributed throughout your feet.

ALIGNMENT AND WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION IS SET, IT’S TIME TO LIFT

Now that your grip is correct and you know where to place your body weight on your feet you’re ready to perform the trap bar deadlift.

The first thing you’ll want to do is push your butt back as far as you can, once you can’t push your butt back any further then you’ll want to start bending your knees in order to lower the weight to the ground all while maintaining a flat back. When the weight lightly touches the ground you’ll start to stand up by driving your hips forward and straightening your legs. 

I’ve added a video to help you visualize this movement and help you master the exercise.

Things to take away from the video:

  • Drive your hips back
  • Keep your chin tucked
  • Look at the floor at the bottom of the range
  • Drive your knees out

If you didn’t read my original article on the trap bar then you won’t know that there are two different variations of the trap bar deadlift. In the video above, I have the athlete working on the hip dominant variation. When performing this exact exercise, make sure you have more flexion in your hips than your knees. At the bottom of the exercise when the weight is on the floor, you should have about 70% bend in your hips and 30% in your knees.

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