I played baseball in college. I’m biased, but I think that’s the hardest sport to be a student-athlete in. The reason is simple: the schedule.

Baseball and softball play far more games than any other sport, and it’s not even close. We would schedule over 60 games between February and May. One to three games during the week, 3 weekend games. That’s a lot of classes missed, time with friends, and too many hours inside buses with a 50/50 chance of having heat or air conditioning.

And if you’re a pitcher like me, that’s lots of time sitting on a cold wooden bench, getting splinters on your numb butt, wishing you were pretty much anywhere else. I know, I signed up for it, I’m on scholarship, most kids don’t get to play collegiate sports, and I should be grateful blah blah blah, but YOU try to sit on a hard bench with frozen dog pee on it in northern Ohio in February and tell me how things are going. Not enjoyable.

In addition to endless games, practices, catching up on studying, and writing papers in shady motels that spew brown water out of the shower, there was the whole working-out thing. Strength training can pay big dividends for strength and athletic development, like any sport. I was no special athlete, but I do know I owe a lot of the successes I did have to lifting weights. I have the legs of an early spring chicken, but lifting weights did make a difference for me. For baseball, bigger and stronger is usually better; I did my best to develop that.

With time being of the absolute essence, baseball players can’t afford to waste time. Picking great bang for your buck exercises is crucial to not only being efficient with limited time, but also limited energy. The schedule is physically and mentally draining. Athletes can’t afford to use boring, filler exercises that aren’t going to make a difference in the field of play.

Trap Bar

Enter the trap bar, also sometimes called the hex bar. And yes, it’s because it’s in a hexagon shape, you scholar! The trap bar can be an easy hack to improve time and energy efficiency for athletes running low on steam.

All good strength coaches know that high-level athletes aren’t going to build muscle or strength during the season, nor should they. The offseason and preseason goals in the weight room are to build. The in-season goal is to preserve and hold onto as much of that built muscle and strength as possible. And the best ways to do that are big, heavy compound lifts.

Exercises that entail big pushes, pulls, squats, and hinges are the best strategies to preserve muscle, strength, power, stability, and all the fun attributes athletes need. Much of this can be accomplished with one tool, especially in the lower half of the body.

Why Not the Straight Barbell

The straight bar is the most common tool for lifting heavy. And it’s great, I love programming some straight bar exercises for myself and my athletes. But there are some downsides. The straight bar cannot go through you, so it has to be held in front, behind, or above you. This carries limitations.

The trap bar, however, goes around you. That allows the weight to be loaded in line with your center of gravity during squat and hinge motions, reducing stress to the back, and placing more onto the legs. Take a look at this video explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqutleOEKyI

Squats vs Hinges

The trap bar shines brightest in its versatility. Being centered in the middle of the body allows for higher ranges of motion, and therefore greater movement versatility, making it a great option for both knee and hip-dominant lifts.

But when you’re trying to cram in shorter lifting sessions, the trap bar is an amazing tool that can more evenly stress the hip and knee muscle groups together. Recent research from Oklahoma State University and Australia showed that trap bar deadlifts are superior to the straight bar in stressing both the hips and knees at the same time.

Trap bar deadlifts stress the knee/quad group as if it were a squat, and also the hips as if it were a deadlift simultaneously. Beyond that, the positioning of the arms also allows the back to work as if it were rowing. So, out of the four basic lifts (push, pull, squat, hinge), the trap bar efficiently works three of those movements simultaneously.

One to Rule Them All

So, coaches and athletes, during your in-season lifting programs, the trap bar can be your do-it-all tool for the legs. And if you are really pressed for time, the trap bar deadlift can be your one lift stop to maintain those gains. It is a great hybrid exercise that checks the squat and deadlift boxes; there is no need to take the time and energy to do both.

Here is a great video showing dozens of great lifts to do with this amazing barbell. Get you a trap bar. They are a great tool to have in and out of the season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq_cT9gFWhc