Trap Bar Deadlift
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds drills like this into your personalized off-ice program, week by week. Your first week is free.
How to Do It
Load the trap bar. Step inside, feet hip-width, toes forward. Hinge at the hips and grab the handles with arms straight. Set the chest tall, lats engaged ('protect armpits'), shins close to vertical. Take a HUGE breath, brace the abs like you're about to take a punch. Drive feet through the floor — push the ground away. Bar travels straight up. Stand fully upright with hips locked. Don't hyperextend the lower back. Lower with control on the way down — eccentric matters.
Why It Works
The trap bar deadlift produces hip extension force equal to a conventional deadlift but with significantly less spinal load. This makes it the preferred max-strength tool for hockey players, where lower-back resilience matters as much as raw strength. The neutral handle position also lets you move heavier loads with cleaner mechanics — a strong predictor of skating sprint times.
Hockey Transfer
Safer deadlift variation — excellent for developing overall power. Trap bar pulls are the closest weighted analog to a vertical jump. Heavy AND fast.
Coaching Cues
- "Stand centered"
- "Neutral spine"
- "Push through heels"
- "Extend hips and knees simultaneously"
Common Mistakes
Rounding the lower back — disqualifies the rep. Reset and use less weight. Hips shooting up first — turns it into a stiff-leg deadlift. Push KNEES away as you drive up. Hyperextending at the top — neutral spine, full glute squeeze, that's it. Skipping the eccentric (dropping the bar) — leaves 50% of the strength benefit on the table.
Progression / Regression
Deficit trap bar deadlift (stand on 25mm plates) — extends ROM and challenges the bottom position.
Romanian deadlift first — less complex setup, better for learning the hip hinge before adding heavy load.
Primary Muscles
Energy System
Strength/neural
Put it to work
on the ice.
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds exercises like this into a personalized off-ice program — created by a sport scientist and former national-team coach. Your first week is free.
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