Thanks mate.
Do they have reputable trainers who could guide me in using the thing?
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They have produced some lifters who have done okay for themselves (by which I mean champions) - theyāll have you covered. Youāll probably pay a bitā¦
I donāt mind paying for quality.
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I actually have SI joint issues.
I recently took a break from back squatting or anything with the bar on my back and deadlifting. In their place, Iāve done front squats, zercher squats, landmine squats, zercher GMs, and Oly lifts.
Iāve recently started back with back squats and deadlifts and I havenāt lost any strength and I foresee a big bump in those lifts in the near future since Iāll be grooving the lifts and my joints feel so fantastic.
YES TO A TRAP BAR!!!
When I train friends and they have terrible Squat form or dont like deads I get them in the Trap Bar.
It puts your body in a much more advantageous position so injuries should be much less imo.
I love the trap bar. Actually bought one for my gym a few months ago and got it for free due to a Walmart.com PayPal error. I screwed my low back up badly trying to double PR on deadlifts last July 2015. Hit 505 with a struggle and my dumbass went for 510ā¦and letās just say it wasnāt pretty.
I worked exclusively with a trap bar for several months. Afterward I started doing 5/3/1 BBB and would do conventional deadlifts on the heavy days, while using the trap bar for 5x10 work. This past May in a local competion I pulled a relatively easy 520. The trap bar was instrumental in bringing me back up to form, while getting comfortable conventional deadlifting again. I also do RDLās using the trap bar for the past month or so, itās a much more effective feeling than doing them with a traditional barbell.
Sorry for my long bio, but long story short, the Trap Bar is the S#IT!!
Another great success story!
Mind if I ask if what issues you were having with your back? What kind of agreement do you have with your gym in regards to the trap bar? You can take it back if you leave?
Kind of related: this morning I tried one handed farmer walks in the attempt to āactivateā my lower back/core/QL and initially I am pleased with the results. Felt much more stable and ready to lift.
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It was somewhere in the L4/L5 region or so my chiropractor said. Of course he never did MRIs, scans or anything really rehabilitate, was really just a glorified massage therapist.
Bqck squats were almost completely out of the question as my butt wink rears its ugly head right around when I hit parallel, so I switched to front squats. And eventually maxed out at 305, just 10 lbs below 3 plates. I had zero hip hinge at this point, I slowly recovered with some toe elevated Dumbbell Rdlās.
I actually work in a big commercial gym as a NASM certified trainer. Itās your typical big box gym with a plethora of cardio, 5 Smith machines but only 2 squat racks. I tried to get my boss to buy a trap bar, which at the time was only $95for a 35 lb bar, but they decided to invest in more bosu balls and other worthless junk. I bought the bar myself and leave it at the gym I work at. I have 2 more gym memberships for real gyms that have plenty of trap bars and real equipment for serious lifters.
No offence but you need to be taught how to use a trap bar?
Surely a man, with your training experience, would suss it out in a few seconds?
x10 on buying a Trap Bar! Excellent investment for someone with low back issues and they sell for fairly cheap round here (around $100 CAD or so)
My past: Iāve had several issue with my back including SI shooting pain, and low back injuries from years of terrible form on deadlifts and squats (note to self: video often to asses form).
Iāve made slow and steady changes to assess these injuries and so far so good. Among what Iāve done:
- started box squatting to parallel (exclusively) - to help me gauge my ROM
- switched to sumo dead lifts (my form on conv. was just terrible and sucked; after switching, my maxes are even better than before with cleaner reps and no back pain the next day)
- bought a trap bar for assistance work - i believe a trap bar works the upper back/yoke better than any other DL variation. If done with a very ātallā stance it provides nice quad focus on leg days and takes effort away form the low backā¦ However, I do not find it brings up my other lifts. I treat it purely as a muscle building assistance exercise with lower weigh and hi reps. I exclusively use the high grip and still wear a belt. At one point i maxed out on the trap bar (~450#) and caught some shooting pain at the top (The weight tends to swing a bit when you lift upwards, so you still have to execute good form). my point; donāt assume this bar will take away all your pain.
- started incorporating GMs again - i donāt have a GHR or hyper machine at home, but you have to find a way to strengthen the low back. Your other lifts will also benefit. Iāve been doing GMs with reps at #185x12x4 at this point with no injuries, and i try to keep my form impeccable. Use pins to mark your depth when starting out and take videos.
Ultimately, i believe GMs, GHRs or reverse hypers need to be included to solve your lower back problems. With age, itāll only get worse so work on it now. Also work on flexibility and warming up properly (the Brett Gibbs vid on warming up helped me tremendously). Iām about 34 and iāve managed to get through bouts of back pain in my life: mostly managed to fix it myself via rest and icing, but once had to see physio for treatment for a while. Luckily, it was never anything major like a hernia, and iāve been able to get myself back in form to DL in the mid 400s.
I have been emotionally and physically scarred for life when it comes to deadlifting and back pain.
Maybe I think about it too much, but I think I just need an expert to yell cues at me, and make sure my bracing is 100% and that I am initiating the lift as I should.
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Thanks. Thats great info.
Im pretty content with not conventional deadlifing ever again. How do you think trap bar deadllifting will go as a āmainā lift in a program such as 531?
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Jim Wendler uses and recommends the trap bar ahead of the conventional/sumo deadlift.
Really?
Where does he say that? I have a copy of one of his earlier 531 editions, but I dont remember reading that.
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This was a real test of the ol Google skills:
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samesies. We should start a support group
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I donāt have constant pain I guess. Traditional heavy deadlifting will definitely have me sore. Squats can too. I think its from 20+ years of ice hockey sometimes when I play now it gets really sore. Lower body I started doing banded back squats and leg presses along with single leg dumbbell stuff. The bands make it so that I donāt have to put as much weight on the bar but it still adds a lot more as you lock out the lift. Last week I hit 300lbs + the elitefts light (orange bands). I rarely deadlift traditionally and only use a trap bar which Iām almost up to a 500lb pull pain-free. I think last time I did it I hit 3 reps with 455 with no pain at all afterwards.
Is there really any particular reason you need to deadlift in some way?
Only reason I do it is because my sport requires it. If it didnāt, I wouldnāt do it.
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Donāt see why you couldnāt sub the trap bar on the 5/3/1 plan. I mean, if you donāt care about powerlifting per se or competing, you donāt need to DL (barbell) or squat at all.
Question though, typical 531 has two lower body days, which one will you sub out for the trap bar and what will you do on the other day? Will you keep squatting?
Interested in seeing how this would work out for you!
Iāve had some back pain deadlifting too and have developed the following work-arounds:
- Switching from conventional to sumo helped a lot as it results in a more upright position. The back angle sumo is similar to trap bar.
- Switching to RDL or good mornings helped as it is a mechanically disadvantaged lift and you use less weight.
- Switching to front squats helped a lot because of less weight from the mechanical disadvantage.
- Switching to one sided lifts helped a whole lot (reverse lunges, single leg RDL, step ups, etc.). These are way under-rated and also significantly improve core strength.
The bottom line is that the high compression forces in mechanically advantaged bilatteral movements (DL, squats) is a problem (for me). Changing the mechanical advantage and working single sided also build strength and muscle. This site is rather power lifting oriented so you donāt hear that here muchā¦