For instance most of my athletes including myself have difficult gripping anything significantly past 120 pounds when in it comes to heavy dumbbell exercises such as RDL’s or farmers walks. Perhaps the most common issue that limits isolateral loading methods is grip and forearm strength. Although they look a bit unusual, every athlete and client I’ve had perform deadlifts, squats, hinges, and other heavy axial loading movements has mentioned how surprised they were at how natural and comfortable the isolateral trap bar protocol feels.Ģ. As a result this method is quite effective for building functional strength and hypertrophy while ensuring symmetrical loading.įor instance the total load I’m shown using in this video for the deadlift squat is close to 200 pounds in each hand (including the chains) which is significantly greater than what I would ever perform with dumbbell or kettlebell loading.

That’s because the trap bar width is quite narrow and fits very naturally to the sides of the body.

The isolateral trap bar method allows the lifter to load as much weight on the bars as is needed to amply overload the larger muscles of the legs, back, traps, and forearms without worrying about running into their body. Even if they do, performing traditional deadlifts and squat patterns can feel quite unnatural with larger dumbbells and kettlebells due to the size of the instruments that tend to run into the thighs. For instance most gyms rarely have dumbbells and kettlebells that go beyond 120 lbs. This technique is perhaps the single most natural method I’ve found for performing heavy isolateral axial loaded movements such as deadlifts, close stance squats, and RDL’s.

Kettlebell or dumbbell deadlifts