The exercise equipment you decide to include in your gym should reflect your personal fitness goals, but more often than not, it’s going to include things like an adjustable bench, dumbbells, a bar and plates, and a pull-up rig.
However, there’s one piece of equipment that’s often overlooked but can be pivotal in your journey to optimal fitness. In this article, fitness expert Ilija Jahura explains what that piece of equipment is and all of the advantages it offers.
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The Power of the Trap Bar
The essential piece of equipment that is too often missing from home gyms is the trap bar. It’s a simple tool, but it offers a ton of benefits and an incredible amount of versatility that cannot only simplify your fitness journey but supercharge it. Below are some of the best reasons for you to consider adding one to your home gym.
Greater Versatility
Creating your own home gym is a great way to build your fitness routine around your schedule and create the kind of habits that can change your health and your life for the better. But it’s unlikely that you have room for every piece of equipment, so your best bet is to prioritize versatility when building your gym.
Few single pieces of gym equipment are more versatile than the trap bar. They allow for a wide range of workouts, including deadlifts, carries, lunges, squats, presses, walks, and more.
If you’re sick of all the clutter created by your attempt to maximize the possibilities of your home gym, this one piece of equipment can help you cut down on it right away.
Increased Safety
Trap bars can be highly beneficial when it comes to avoiding injury. Unlike the barbell, trap bars help you evenly disperse the shear force throughout your body so that no one area is being overworked.
Barbells place significant pressure on your lumbar spine, which can result in an injury that can be difficult to recover from. The improved balance of a trap bar helps prevent hyperextension and keep your back safe.
Trap bars are also safer for shoulder and bicep workouts, thanks to the neutral grip they allow. Like with deadlifts, the more natural positioning the trap bar provides during an overhead press can protect your shoulders.
A neutral grip is also safer for your biceps during those deadlifts than the potentially muscle-tearing mixed grip you may be using with a barbell.
More Strength and More Power
More strength and more power are typically the goal of weightlifting in the first place, right? The more even distribution from a trap bar allows you to lift heavier weight, which helps get the level of strength and power you’re looking for.
Not only that, but the ability to take on heavier weight faster (and more safely) can improve your grip strength in a hurry. These improvements build upon themselves as you get more built.
About Ilija Jahura
Ilija Jahura is a fitness expert and health consultant based out of Kelowna, British Columbia.
He helps his clients become the best possible versions of themselves through diet planning, cardiovascular development, hypertrophy training, and muscle building — and by helping them find the place where meeting their goals in the gym and achieving their dreams in life intersect.
