It all started one day at a new training center I was visiting. This was an intense place, designed for football teams to do strength training. Far more advanced than my home gym (especially back then) and it made my regular fitness center look like a badminton club.
- Some exercises are simply better with a hex bar/trap bar
I saw these absolutely huge guys doing shrugs with these odd-shaped bars. They were hexagon shaped so the lifter stood in the middle of a hexagon hole. (See picture to the right.)
I asked one of them what it was called. “A hex bar,” he answered.
Ok, nobody won any creativity awards for that name.
But what amazed me was the range of motion it allowed for the shrug. I waited until he was done and sidled over to try for myself. Holy cow – I was in love!
See, I’ve always loved working my traps, and I love the way big traps look. But doing shrugs with a barbell had range of motion issues. Doing them in front hit my “jewels” and doing them in back hit my butt.
And shrugs with dumbbells are a real challenge because of grip issues. Once you start shrugging heavy, it’s really hard to hold on to those 150 lb dumbbells. (And forget about using straps with dumbbells. Not only is it awkward. You’ll also get made fun of like a 5th grader picking his nose. And someone might even give you a wedgie.)
Using the hex bar for shrugs was perfect – I could lift heavy, get a full range of motion, and grip issues were negligible.
Next Up: Trap Bar Deads
Feeling stoked, I moved on that same day to try an exercise I had vaguely heard about, but then saw a football guy doing: hex bar deadlifts (a/k/a trap bar deads). (more…)
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