If you work out for long enough, at some point you’re gonna ask yourself the question, “What am I really trying to accomplish here?”
If the answer includes any variation of, “I want to actually be able to lift heavy things in a practical setting,” it would be a shrewd move to scoop up the CAP Barbell Olympic Trap Bar today while it’s on sale for only $54.51.
I promise you that it will build nothing but practical strength. I mean, how many times has a log fallen directly perpendicular to your chest and required you to press it off of yourself? Probably never. But how many times have you been asked to lift a heavy suitcase — or maybe even two suitcases — and hustle through the airport in search of your newly assigned gate? Probably a lot.
With a trap bar, you can actually train yourself to acquire the specific sort of strength that will make you the most useful person on moving day (a double-edged sword, I know). Between the deadlifting of the weight from the ground and the shrugging of the weight with your upper trapezius, you’ll be strengthening and developing the exact muscles that assist you with lifting and carrying burdensome things like boxes, groceries and the aforementioned suitcases.
The traditional weight bar has its usefulness, but it doesn’t provide you with all of the functionality of a trap bar, like the ability to lift a very heavy object with a neutral grip from an optimal height, and then take off and walk with it. Again, these sorts of movements will enable you to upgrade yourself from someone who merely looks like they’re capable of lifting heavy weights, to someone who is fully capable of helping a neighbor lift a couch up several flights of stairs (once more, a double-edged sword).
Yes, you will need to purchase some Olympic plates to go with the trap bar if you don’t already own a set. But this particular trap bar is on sale for less than a third of its original price, so you can use that savings to snag some additional weight as well.
When you do, you’ll transform your muscles that are for show into muscles that can go.
Ian Douglass
Ian Douglass is a volunteer firefighter, lackadaisical Concept2 rower and SkiErger and is the worst masters swimming All-American in recorded history. He also helps professional wrestlers publish their autobiographies, assists businesspeople with the writing of coherent thoughts and has overhyped degrees from Michigan and Northwestern.
