Whole Body · Barbell
Hex Bar Deadlift
The hex bar deadlift is a deadlift performed with a hexagonal or trap-shaped bar that the lifter stands inside, with the handles at the sides of the body rather than in front of it.
Also called Trap Bar Deadlift, Trapbar Deadlift, Hex Bar Squat. orcatrain matches these names when you search the movement catalogue.
How is the hex bar deadlift performed?
The lifter steps into the middle of the hex bar, grips the handles at either side, sets the hips and stands up until the hips and knees are locked out, then lowers the bar back to the floor under control. Because the handles sit beside the body rather than in front of it, the load is centred closer to the lifter and the bar does not have to travel around the knees.
What does the hex bar deadlift train?
The hex bar deadlift trains the same whole-body pull as a conventional deadlift, but the centred load allows a more upright torso and more knee bend, which shifts some work from the hips toward the quadriceps and reduces the demand on the lower back. Many lifters pull more from a hex bar than from a straight bar for exactly that reason, which is why the two numbers are not interchangeable.
How does orcatrain score the hex bar deadlift?
Scored on its own as an orcatrain strength score, computed with the DOTS coefficient. It is not summed into the headline total: that total uses the conventional deadlift, because the three lifts it sums are the competition lifts. Many hex bars also have their own unloaded weight, so log consistently.
Every scored set is turned into an estimated one-rep max, and that estimate is scored with the DOTS coefficient against your bodyweight and sex — so a set is comparable with your own past work and with lifters of a different size. Sets above ten repetitions are recorded but not scored: the estimate is a curve fit that stops being honest past that point, so orcatrain returns nothing rather than a confident guess. Weights are stored in kilograms.
Track your progress on Hex Bar Deadlift.
Movement names and groupings come from Strength Level, where you can also see their strength standards for this movement. DOTS is computed by orcatrain itself.