By: Jon Grove, North Georgia Barbell
ANALYZING THE HISTORY, FUNCTION AND BENEFITS OF THE TRAP BAR. IS THE GERARD TRAP BAR A GOOD TRAINING TOOL AND COULD IT BE BETTER THAN A TRADITIONAL “DEADLIFT”. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BAR AND WHY IT MIGHT BE BEST FOR YOU.
THIS IS AN EXACT REPLICA OF THE ORIGINAL GERARD TRAP BAR. THESE GOLD VERSIONS WERE SOLD BY IRONMIND.COM AND MANUFACTURED TO THE ORIGINAL SPECS OUTLINED BY AL GERARD.
What is a Trap Bar? Where did it come from? Why does it exist? Are they a better way to do a deadlift? Why do they come in so many shapes and sizes and how do they differ? These are a few of the questions I'd like to address about this specialty weightlifting bar that some people love, and others hate. Regardless, it has an interesting beginning, and the Trap Bar is an ever-evolving and productive tool in the strength athlete's arsenal.
Of course, human beings have been lifting heavy objects for thousands of years, but it is also very common to lift something far out in front of your body with decreased leverage and to strain or permanently injure one's lower back. In the case of the modern Olympic barbell, a deadlift is performed in front of the body but with very little technical mastery needed — a person can pick up a bar with relative safety. The bar should stay close to the body to limit shear force on the spine, the lifter should be using posterior muscles such as glutes and hamstrings to begin the lift as they push through their heels and the shoulders should ideally be even with or slightly behind the bar. This seems to maximize leverage and minimize risk but there are many different body types; some are suited for this exercise and others are less suited. A short torso with high hips and longer arms is anatomically ideal and a long torso makes the starting position far more difficult and uncomfortable.
Al Gerard was a drug-free 198 class raw powerlifter in the mid 1980’s. He was a 600-pound deadlifter, and he loved the exercise, but he was experiencing a lot of lower back pain and he set out to find a way to train his deadlift without this discomfort. Al discovered that grabbing dumbbells along the side of his body allowed him to keep his legs involved and lower back tight and braced but it’s difficult and unwieldy to get heavy dumbbells into position. He designed a diamond shaped bar to mimic this dumbbell exercise with handles facing palms in at the side of the body. By keeping the resistance closer into the body Al was able to keep his chest up, use more of his thigh muscles and deadlift without pain. In 1986 he began advertising and selling the Gerard Trap Bar. Why did Al call this a Trap Bar and not a “Deadlift Bar”? I do not know this answer. I do know that one of his earliest supporters was lifter, powerlifting historian and author Paul Kelso. Kelso was known for his “Kelso Shrugs”, and he discovered the Gerard Bar worked well for these. Another household name in strength training was Dr. Ken Leistner of Iron Island Gym fame. Dr. Ken also fell in love with Al’s bar and the Trap Bar snowballed in popularity.
HERE IS A PICTURE OF AL GERARD. AL IS CREDITED WITH THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE PALMS FACING CENTER OF MASS BAR FOR DEADLIFTING. IT BECAME KNOWN AS THE GERARD TRAP BAR.
Of course, Al might have found a solution to his problem and introduced the world to his invention commercially, but the great deadlifting pioneer and innovator Bob Peoples had constructed a circular version of this bar in the 1940’s and Bob used it while standing on tall crates to get a deep range of motion to overload the legs and back. Similarly, Al Gerard also liked to do these in a deficit for increased leg drive while standing on 3” tall blocks. Maybe Bob and Al were onto something.
HERE IS A VERY GRAINY PICTURE FROM THE 1940'S. THIS “RING BAR” IS A CIRCULAR VERSION OF TRAP BAR USED BY THE GREAT DEADLIFTER BOB PEOPLES AT A DEFICIT TO BUILD LEG DRIVE AND BACK STRENGTH.
Trap Bars made their way into the strength training programs of many professional sports by the 2000’s. The bar could allow athletes to lift heavy weights safely and build explosive power in both their legs and back. It seemed like a perfect hybrid exercise between a squat and a deadlift and appeared to have a high transfer to other sports besides powerlifting.
Strength Training legend Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell fame wrote one time in Powerlifting USA that the Trap Bar, which he referred correctly to as the Center of Mass bar, was more suited for lifters with frames not suited for the deadlift. I agree. I have seen a guy who had a 525-pound barbell deadlift do 700 pounds on a Trap Bar. He had short thighs and a long torso, but he just squatted the weight up with his butt down a chest high. Guys with good deadlifting leverages do not fare as well. Louie didn’t find the bar useful for his Westside Conjugate Method, so he tossed it from the gym. I personally have a short torso and pull with high hips and a lot of floor speed, so I abhorred the Trap Bar because it was like Kryptonite for me. Every weight from 400 to 700 pounds felt slow and difficult. I would have agreed with Louie at that time from my personal experience.
About 10 years ago Trap Bars began to gain steam again. Peoples bar was circular. Gerard’s bar was a diamond shape. By about 2015 people were advertising the “Hex Bar”. These Trap Bars were six sided versions and most had two sets of handles; one set was the traditional height and there was another set 3–5” higher for people with insufficient hip range of motion or those that wanted to overload from a slightly higher starting position. At that time, a strongman named John Woods was building a Trap Bar to the exact specs of Al’s original and selling it through Randall Strossen’s Ironmind Enterprises but the new offshore built Hex Bars were a dime a dozen and continue to flood the market today. Eventually, John Woods stopped making them and it appears the original Gerard Trap Bar is now just a part of lifting history.
THIS IS A “HEX BAR”. THE HEX BARS ARE THE MOST COMMON THESE DAYS WITH TWO HANDLE HEIGHTS. MANY OF THE INEXPENSIVE OFFSHORE VERSIONS HAVE ODD BIOMECHANICS INCLUDING WIDE HANDLE SPACING FOR SMALLER EXERCISERS.
A few years ago, another version of the Trap Bar appeared. It might have been legendary strength Swedish manufacturer Eleiko that made it first, but an Open Trap Bar took Al’s original design and supercharged it. These open bars are U-shaped, and the user can just walk into it unobstructed. They have a built-in jack stand to stand the bar vertical and load weights. The Open Trap Bars also have two handle heights with revolving knurled handles, and several have interchangeable thickness handles from 1.5” to 3” thick for grip training, Farmer’s Walks and variety. There are several Open Trap Bars on the market now, but the Eleiko and Kabuki Strength’s version are the top contenders. Kabuki even addressed the handle width issue. Depending on the size of the user, if the handles aren’t straight below your arms, you can feel cramped (larger lifter) or lack tightness (smaller lifter) so Chris Duffin’s Kabuki version has three widths from 23–27 inches apart.
IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT CHRIS DUFFIN’S KABUKI OPEN TRAP BAR IS THE TOP CHOICE ON THE MARKET. KABUKI HAS ADJUSTABLE WIDTH BARS FROM 23"-27" AND 3 DIFFERENT KNURLED HANDLE THICKNESSES.
I don’t want to belabor the endless versions of these bars but there seem to be a few things that are important. Regardless of Open, Diamond or Hex, people tend to like a handle spacing around 23–24”. Al Gerard’s bar was 23”. It appears that a lot fall in this range but there are handles as wide as 31” (Force USA) and several around 26”. Just beware that one of the attributes of this bar is wedging in tight at the bottom so if your arms are reaching outward from your body and are not tight against your lats then the entire motion fails to feel proper.
Another issue that some bars have is a short Olympic sleeve that will only hold a limited number of plates. The Gerard Bar was flawed with only 10” sleeves. These days, a lot of the college and pro weight rooms use only bumper plates, and the sleeves need to accommodate these thicker weights. Kabuki’s Bar has the longest at 16.5” and Eleiko is 12.6”. Most range from 11”–16” and allow plenty of room for weights. There are bars that are rackable in a power rack (racks and benches are 48” wide) or lifting stands with lengths as long as 89” but most are under 70” in length. Typical Trap Bars weigh 45–55 pounds and there are a few, like the Vulcan Pro, that are as heavy as 75 pounds!
Last, I would encourage anyone interested in the effectiveness of the Trap Bar to read the excellent article written by Greg Nuckols on his Stronger By Science website (Trap Bar Deadlifts are Underrated • Stronger by Science). I, like many (Louie Simmons), discarded this bar because a) I wasn’t strong with it and b) I didn’t consider it a deadlift. I would have conclusively stated that it wasn’t a hinge movement like a deadlift but rather a squat movement with the bar in your hands. Greg did what he does best, and he researched several studies on this very subject with published results that conclude the two exercises, the barbell deadlift and the Trap Bar deadlift, are far more similar in muscle activation than they are different. He concludes that there is truly a higher demand on the hip extensors than the quads in a conventional deadlift but that the Trap Bar is not close to a squat; the Trap Bar is a hinge pattern through and through and will work more quads but still has joint ranges almost identical to the conventional barbell. Greg even states that the Trap Bar is a superior option for most people in most contexts over the straight bar deadlift. His article is a very interesting read.
EXERCISE SCIENTIST AND STRENGTH RESEARCHER GREG NUCKOLS HAS SOME OF THE BEST INFORMATION ON THE BENEFITS OF THE TRAP BAR RELATED TO CONVENTIONAL DEADLIFTING. HIS SQUAT-HINGE CONTINUUM (BELOW) SHOWS HOW A TRAP BAR IS FAR CLOSER TO THE HINGE PATTERN OF A TRADITIONAL DEADLIFT THAN A SQUAT.
I had blinders on regarding the benefits of Al Gerard’s invention. I’ve used them off and on but never consistently because I never had the power off the floor with a Trap Bar. There is a saying about improving your weaknesses to enhance your strengths. I now believe this is an accurate statement and hope more people can appreciate the great ingenuity of guys like Al Gerard and Bob Peoples who invented things out of necessity to improve strength while working around their personal limitations but gave the world tools to get stronger and better while staying safe and having longevity in the Iron Game.
AL GERARD AND JOHN WOOD CO-AUTHORED TWO BOOKS ABOUT THE TRAP BAR, ITS MANY USES AND SEVERAL WORKOUT TEMPLATES TO USE IT FOR STRENGTH GAINS.
THE LATE PAUL KELSO WAS AN AUTHOR, A WEIGHTLIFTING HISTORIAN AND THE INVENTOR OF HIS FAMOUS “KELSO SHRUG” VARIATION. PAUL FOUND THE GERARD TRAP BAR TO BE A PERFECT ADDITION TO HIS WORKOUTS AND HELPED SPREAD THE WORD AMONGST THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COMMUNITY.
