clever way to setup trap bar shrugs?

gondar1

I'm kind of a big deal in Japan
Trusted Member
I wanna do so heavy trap bar shrugs, like really heavy. Heavier than I care to pickup from the floor. I've done it a lot in the past, before you ask my form is great, slow full reps, no jerking or head bobbing, hi reps. Now that I think about it my form is fucking beautiful, just a movement that I'm built well for. Shit they will probably do one of those 30 minute sports shows about my trap bar shrugs one day. But I digress.

I usually throw a few plates on and then sit the bar up on some big blocks so I only have to pick it up a few inches. Being that the distance between the collars is less than an oly bar it wont sit on pins in a rack. Changing plates with this setup is a pain in the ass because its sitting on the plates like it would on the floor instead of on the bar like a normal oly bar would in a rack. And you have to make sure it doesn't roll off the blocks. I've almost had it roll off fully loaded with me in the middle, coulda got messy lol.

I can think of a bunch of ways I would set it up if i had a home gym. In a commercial gym I'm stuck with the materials they have and I don't want to start up a big construction project either.

It's not that big a deal, I'm being a whiner but I wondered if anyone has any creative ideas
 
thought about this all night and couldn’t think of a solution really

Probably won’t feel the same but you can try doing them seated With the bar under the legs

if your gym has a preacher curl bench, you might be able to put the trap bar on it

51JPDDhTIqL._AC_SX425_.jpg
 
thought about this all night and couldn’t think of a solution really

Probably won’t feel the same but you can try doing them seated With the bar under the legs

if your gym has a preacher curl bench, you might be able to put the trap bar on it

51JPDDhTIqL._AC_SX425_.jpg

Way too heavy for seated and under legs but you have me thinking now. Might try something with supporting the middle of the bar at the front and the back. Like two of these that you posted, bar on the seat in front and behind me.
 
Could you not squeeze it into the squat rack and use the safety bars?
Or, maybe a couple good sized dumbells stood on their end and use like jack stands?
 
Could you not squeeze it into the squat rack and use the safety bars?
Or, maybe a couple good sized dumbells stood on their end and use like jack stands?

I'm probably gonna sound like a negative dick in this thread, sorry in advance.

Way to narrow to sit on the pins between the collars and too unstable to sit the plates themselves on the pins unless maybe I use the heavy duty locking colors yo keep the plates from separating but those collars take up a lot of room that I need for plates.

So far havent come across any big enough dumbells that are flat on the end enough to sit flat and stay stable, most have the head of a bolt sticking out
 
Use adjustable height catch bars on a half rack as your base. I do this with my setup, not as heavy as you'd go, but heavy enough that I dont want to lift from the floor because of my lower back issues.

Or seated DB shrugs.
 
Use adjustable height catch bars on a half rack as your base. I do this with my setup, not as heavy as you'd go, but heavy enough that I dont want to lift from the floor because of my lower back issues.

Or seated DB shrugs.

Yeah that might not work too bad, maybe a little precarious getting in and out of the middle without knocking it over, Unfortunately there are no half racks where I'm at, just full power racks. You too have given me something to think about, now I'm wondering if the monolift might be able to be manipulated into a position that woks.
 
I appreciate the answers so far guys, will acknowledge again that I'm making more of this than need be. I have access to a Hammer Strength shrugger but it doesn't hold enough plates so I end up stick some handles and shit through it so I can hang more off it. Takes the smile right off the managers face too though :)
 
Build a base out of 4x4's that allows the trap bar (where you grab the handles) to sit on the base. This will prevent rolling and it will allow weights to be added and removed very easily.

Shouldnt take long to build something
 

That's a great pic that represents a a great solution that would work, exactly what I would build or get built with metal maybe, for home gym iF I had one. Hard to fit into my gym bag or talk owner into building though. I've done setup by going sideways in a rack and using extra pins laying across the regular pins at a 90 deg angle, works good if can find long enough pins.

I should have put a drawing like that in the OP to make it easier to understand what I'm after. Off to the gym now, I'll ask if they have a room full of spare or old slightly fucked up bars or something like that that I can get at, thanks.
 
Build a base out of 4x4's that allows the trap bar (where you grab the handles) to sit on the base. This will prevent rolling and it will allow weights to be added and removed very easily.

Shouldnt take long to build something
My thoughts exactly. Well, I was actually thinking 6x6's about 2.5 to 3 feet long and just stacked 3 high on each side. Just build the rack with two seperate platforms and then it can just stay at the gym off to the side with other miscellaneous equipment. I'm sure the gym would be okay with especially if it keeps you from hanging shit all over the hammer strength machine.
My old gym's Hammer Strength ground base deadlift/shrug/squat/lunge combo unit has two 8" plate horns on each side....too bad your gym doesn't have one of those.
 
That's a great pic that represents a a great solution that would work, exactly what I would build or get built with metal maybe, for home gym iF I had one. Hard to fit into my gym bag or talk owner into building though. I've done setup by going sideways in a rack and using extra pins laying across the regular pins at a 90 deg angle, works good if can find long enough pins.

I should have put a drawing like that in the OP to make it easier to understand what I'm after. Off to the gym now, I'll ask if they have a room full of spare or old slightly fucked up bars or something like that that I can get at, thanks.

Talk to the gym owner for sure.. never know what will come of it
 
I wanna do so heavy trap bar shrugs, like really heavy. Heavier than I care to pickup from the floor. I've done it a lot in the past, before you ask my form is great, slow full reps, no jerking or head bobbing, hi reps. Now that I think about it my form is fucking beautiful, just a movement that I'm built well for. Shit they will probably do one of those 30 minute sports shows about my trap bar shrugs one day. But I digress.

I usually throw a few plates on and then sit the bar up on some big blocks so I only have to pick it up a few inches. Being that the distance between the collars is less than an oly bar it wont sit on pins in a rack. Changing plates with this setup is a pain in the ass because its sitting on the plates like it would on the floor instead of on the bar like a normal oly bar would in a rack. And you have to make sure it doesn't roll off the blocks. I've almost had it roll off fully loaded with me in the middle, coulda got messy lol.

I can think of a bunch of ways I would set it up if i had a home gym. In a commercial gym I'm stuck with the materials they have and I don't want to start up a big construction project either.

It's not that big a deal, I'm being a whiner but I wondered if anyone has any creative ideas

If you are already putting it on blocks, why not place rubber pads (if your gym has them) between plates and blocks. They compress and keep the weight in place. Much less likely to roll. Not talking about mats, but the square rubber pads that people place on their hips when doing hip thrusts. If it's in a home gym you could cut a rectangular section out of the mat so the plates sit in a groove. That way you can pull a mat out from one side to change weight while keeping opposite end in place and stable.
These mats are 1/2 - 3/4 inch rubber, so the plates won't roll out of that grove easily. A two inch rectangular section should be ideal to seat the plates in place, but you still want the edges of that grove to be compressed by the plates to create the necessary friction between mat and block.

Unline sells 24x24" mats for $22. You could buy one, cut it in half, or cut out two 12x12 squares, then cut a 2x6" rectangular section out of the center of each. These are just generalized measurements, you might want to try the mat without cutting first, then decide if you need a section removed and exactly how wide.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys, neither gym I go to has any parts to play with and money is gonna be tight for a while due to world events. If I can scrape up some materials for free I can build something for them so we will see how it works out. @resilient1 Thanks I have the rolling off pretty much covered, it doesnt take too much to stop it, I use a towel and roll up the edges to create a little bump that the plates don't roll over, still slightly sketchy. It was more of a thing I mentioned in passing as an additional problem of sitting it on the plates.
 
so I don't have to lift the bar up to put 45's on when I deadlift, I just pack 35's on after the first 45 if there is enough room on the end of bar to make it heavy enuff, I am lazy that way.
 
Straps,the kind about three feet long with a loop in each end,framers use them to lift trusses,they loop the truss and then put a metal hook from a boom through the loops.
 
My thoughts exactly. Well, I was actually thinking 6x6's about 2.5 to 3 feet long and just stacked 3 high on each side. Just build the rack with two seperate platforms and then it can just stay at the gym off to the side with other miscellaneous equipment. I'm sure the gym would be okay with especially if it keeps you from hanging shit all over the hammer strength machine.
My old gym's Hammer Strength ground base deadlift/shrug/squat/lunge combo unit has two 8" plate horns on each side....too bad your gym doesn't have one of those.

Have one with a single horn and the horns are hollow so I stick a straight bar into the horns and can a about 3 more plates on but it's lot of extra f-ng around and when it gets real heavy the base tends to com of the ground so not perfect.
 
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