Best Trap Bar
Hex trap bars are an odd looking piece of equipment if you’ve never seen one before. They’re designed to have your centre of mass inside the bar when doing deadlifts, which keeps your back in a more upright position thereby decreasing stress and likelihood of injury. Determining which is the best trap bar for you will depend on many factors which will explore.
Olympic Hex Bar
The Olympic Trap Bar is the go to for strength gyms across the country. It features long fixed Olympic sleeves which mean your gym will probably run out of weight before the sleeves are full.
The load rating of this barbell is 300kgs. Other bars will say higher, but is a conservative German number.
It weighs 23kgs. This makes it a lot easier to move around the gym than heavier varieties
Compact Trap Bar
The compact trap bar is a favourite for those who are short on space in their gym. They’re shorter than the typical trap bar. They are lighter too. The sleeves are 25cm long, but it can still easily load up enough 20kg Olympic plates on either side for most lifters. You can fit even more powerlifting plates on it too.
It is not just the space taken up when being used that needs to be considered. You also need to be mindful of maneuvering it around your gym. Trap bars are a bit awkward to carry. A smaller trap bar will likely cause less carnage in your gym!
Standard Bar
The standard trap bar has the same dimensions as the Olympic trap bar, but with standard sleeves rather than Olympic. Standard weight plates are still commonplace in gyms across Australia. You don’t need to sell your collection of standard plates just to be able to perform this great exercise.
The standard trap bar has become one of our best sellers. We do not know what they are rated for, but after selling so many we can say for certain that they can handle plenty of weight. To this date we have not had a bend or breakage.
Making the right choice
The best trap bar will depend on your circumstances. If you only have standard weight plates then the best bar is pretty obvious. Likewise if you are training in a small gym. If you have thick, solid rubber bumpers, then the XL version will be best for you.
If you work hard on your trap deadlift you will be able to shift a fair amount of weight. In theory it should be your strongest lift. So getting the compact bar could be an issue as you might run out of room on your sleeves.
However powerlifting plates can solve this problem easily. These plates are expensive though, but if you do need them, you are obviously in the experienced lifter category. So, you will get value out of this investment. Plus you will have the benefit of having a much more compact hex bar.
Trap bar Deadlifts are the best
There is always a debate about what is the best weight training exercise. Most experts will either point to the squat or deadlift. The trap bar falls somewhere in between and is sometimes regarded as the best strength building exercise.
Therefore the best trap bar is the one you own, and any of the trap bars above are a great piece of gym equipment that will really deliver some great results.