Trap bar dead lifts

[Partyfoul]

I have been dead lifting for quite some time. About 6 months ago I was doing normal dead lifts with a straight bar when a old asian man approached me. He told me he was a former power lifter and that with the straight bar I was seriously risking slipping a disc in my back. He instead showed me how to use the trap bar and I have using it ever since..

Is it fine to swap trap bar dead lifts for regular dead lifts? I am not planning on being in any type of competition.

I like the trap bar for the following reasons:
- Center of gravity
- No bloody shens/No blood from others shens
- Safer feeling
- Less stress on the lower back which I still work through squats/bench/military + assistance exercises.
- Easier to push with heels

[Off Road]

Trap Bar Deadlifts are a great exercise for all the reasons you mentioned. There is a debate if they are a squat replacement or a deadlift replacement. Really, it comes down to how you preform your reps. If you use a bent-over form and feel it in your back, then you will have to supplement some quad exercises. If you lift with a straight-up form and feel it mostly in your quads, then you will have to include some ham/glute accessory lifts. Enjoy the new exercise.

[StLRPh]

It's a different lift, so your carryover (if you care) varies.

My 60+ year old Dad does them twice a week because he can't squat or deadlift. He's never gotten hurt from them, loves to do them and has gotten a lot stronger as well.

[Off Road]

The inventor of the trap bar used it to train exclusively. When a meet approached, he would switch to traditional squats and deadlifts. He got stronger at the meets from using the trap bar to train with. It will build strength, you just have to practice applying that strength to the meet lifts.

[Kastro]

It's biomechanically much more like a squat than like a deadlift. Poor replacement.

[Songsangnim]

It's biomechanically much more like a squat than like a deadlift. Poor replacement.

. The inventor of the trap bar could not do deadlifts due to back problems so he went with this. However for a healthy person I do agree that a bar deadlift is superior to the trap bar.

[Bosch232]

Just as a trivial side note, I've weighed our trap bar in our gym, and it's definitely heavier than a standard olympic bar. I think by about 10 pounds or so. I'm sure it varies between manufacturers & dimensions of the trap bar.