The Trap Bar Deadlift is a beginner-friendly barbell strength exercise that targets the hamstrings, glutes and quadriceps, with the lats, middle back, traps, abdominals and forearms working alongside. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Step inside the trap bar so the handles sit beside your hips, feet about hip width apart.
Send the hips backward and fold at the waist until the handles are within reach.
Take a neutral grip with your armpits directly over the handles and your shins near vertical.
Pull the slack out of the bar, brace your trunk, and squeeze your lats.
Drive through the whole foot and extend your knees and hips together until you stand tall.
Reverse the hinge and return the bar to the floor under control.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Produces greater peak force, velocity, and power than a straight bar at the same load.
Lowers the demand on the lumbar spine and hip compared with a conventional deadlift.
Teaches a hinge quickly because the neutral handles need less mobility.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Starting with the hips too low, which turns the lift into a squat and stalls it at the knees.
Letting the shoulders drift behind the handles, which drags the bar into the shins.
Rounding the upper back to reach the handles instead of hinging to them.
Yanking the bar off the floor before the slack is out, which spikes load on the lower back.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Trap Bar Deadlift, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
