How Much Does a Trap Bar Weigh? Real UK Hex Bar Weights

Most Olympic trap bars (hex bars) from established brands weigh between 21kg and 27kg empty, with 25kg the most common listed figure. That's the honest headline, but it hides a lot of spread: there's no weight standard for trap bars the way there is for a 20kg Olympic barbell, and some budget bars on Amazon UK weigh under 15kg. One 2" bar we checked is listed at just 14.5lb, about 6.6kg. So the only safe answer for your own training is the published weight of the exact bar you own.

Below are the real published weights for trap bars sold in the UK, why they vary so much, and how to count the weight when you log a trap bar deadlift.

Trap bar weights: real UK bars compared

We pulled these figures from each manufacturer's Amazon UK listing or the brand's own spec page. We haven't weighed these bars ourselves, so treat them as the maker's stated weight. Where the listing gives pounds, we've converted to kilos.

Trap bar	Type	Plate size	Listed bar weight	Listed sleeve length
JX Fitness Olympic Trap Bar	Closed	2" Olympic	14.5lb (about 6.6kg)	10" (about 25cm)
SPORTNOW Olympic Trap Bar	Closed, with side feet	2" Olympic	12.5kg	Not stated
Mirafit Standard 1" Shrug Bar	Closed	1" standard	16kg	29cm
RIP X Olympic Open Trap Bar	Open, rotating sleeves	2" Olympic	About 21kg	24.5cm
Bells of Steel Open Trap Bar	Open, rotating sleeves	2" Olympic	47lb (about 21.3kg)	Not stated
Mirafit Olympic 2" Trap Bar	Closed	2" Olympic	25kg	29.5cm
Strongway Olympic Trap Hex Bar	Closed	2" Olympic	About 25kg	Not stated
METIS Olympic Hex Bar	Closed, dual height handles	2" Olympic	27kg	Not stated
Rogue TB-2 Trap Bar	Closed, two sets of handles	2" Olympic	60lb (about 27.2kg)	16" (about 40.6cm)

Two things jump out. First, the established brands cluster tightly: every bar from Mirafit, Strongway, METIS, Bells of Steel, RIP X and Rogue sits between roughly 21kg and 27kg. Second, the cheapest 2" bars are a different animal entirely, at less than half that weight, with short sleeves and lower stated capacities to match (JX Fitness lists a 400lb, roughly 181kg, limit).

If you're choosing a bar rather than weighing one, our best trap bar guide goes through the strengths and weak spots of the main UK options.

Why trap bar weights vary so much

A straight Olympic barbell is a solid shaft with two sleeves. A trap bar is a welded hexagon (or a hexagon with one side missing) plus handles plus sleeves, and every one of those parts can be built light or heavy. The weight differences mostly come down to four things.

Sleeve length. Longer sleeves mean more steel, and they're also the feature that decides how much you can actually load. Rogue's 16" loadable sleeves on a 60lb frame are the extreme here; the JX Fitness bar's 10" sleeves help explain why it weighs so little. If you use thick bumper plates, sleeve length matters far more than the bar's weight, because short sleeves run out of room long before you reach the stated capacity.

Tube thickness and steel quality. Budget frames use thinner tubing. That makes them lighter and cheaper to ship, but it's also why their capacity ratings tend to be lower. The 25kg to 27kg bars are heavier partly because they're built to take 270kg to 300kg plus.

Open vs closed frames. You might expect an open bar to be lighter because a side of the hexagon is missing. In practice the open frames need extra bracing to stay rigid, and the two in our table carry extras like built-in deadlift jacks and rotating sleeves. Both still land at about 21kg, a few kilos lighter than the heavy closed bars but nowhere near the budget ones.

High and low handles. Dual height bars add a second set of grips, which is more steel welded on. The METIS (27kg) and Rogue TB-2 (60lb) both have two handle heights and both sit at the top of the range. That raised grip is genuinely useful, since it shortens the range of motion for taller lifters or anyone working around a stiff lower back, but you pay for it in weight.

How to count your trap bar deadlift weight

Your lift is the bar plus everything on it. That sounds obvious, yet it's the most common source of muddled numbers in home gyms, partly because the bar weight isn't stamped on most hex bars.

1. Find your bar's listed weight. Check the listing or the manual for your exact model. "Olympic trap bar" on its own tells you nothing about weight.
2. No listing? Weigh it. Stand on bathroom scales, note your weight, then pick up the bar by its handles and weigh again. The difference is your bar weight, near enough. It won't be precise to the gram but it'll beat guessing by 5kg.
3. Add up the plates. Count both sides. Two 20kg plates per side is 80kg of plates, not 40kg.
4. Decide on collars. Spring clips weigh next to nothing. Heavier steel or competition collars can add 0.5kg to 2.5kg a pair, so if you switch collars, either count them or keep using the same ones.
5. Log the total. Bar plus plates (plus collars if you count them) is the number that goes in your notes.

Here's how that looks in practice for a 100kg trap bar deadlift on three different bars:

Bar	Bar weight	Plates needed	Per side
Mirafit Olympic	25kg	75kg	37.5kg
RIP X Open	About 21kg	About 79kg	About 39.5kg
SPORTNOW Olympic	12.5kg	87.5kg	43.75kg

That last row is awkward on most plate sets, which is one practical argument for a heavier bar with a round number. A 25kg bar gives you 25kg, 50kg, 75kg and 100kg totals with sensible plate pairs, and if you're short on plates, a decent set of weight plates in 1.25kg and 2.5kg jumps keeps your progressions small.

Trap bar vs straight bar loading

Load the same plates on a 25kg trap bar and a 20kg Olympic barbell and the trap bar lift is 5kg heavier before you've changed anything else. So if you're comparing numbers between the two, compare totals, never plates.

Then there's the lift itself. Most people can pull more with a trap bar because you stand inside the frame and the load sits in line with your hips rather than out in front of your shins. In a study comparing hexagonal and conventional barbell deadlifts, eleven men who were practised at both lifts had an average hex bar one-rep max of 194kg against 183kg for the conventional deadlift, roughly 6% heavier. At 90% of their max they also moved the hex bar about 15% faster and produced 28% more power through the same bar displacement. It's a small study of trained young men, so don't expect your own gap to match it exactly, but the direction is consistent with what lifters report.

The practical upshot for programming:

• If you switch from straight bar to trap bar, start around the same total weight and expect it to feel easier. You'll likely add 5% to 10% within a few sessions as the groove settles.
• If you switch the other way, drop the total by at least that much. A 140kg trap bar deadlift doesn't mean a 140kg conventional pull.
• If you use high handles, treat that as a separate lift again. The shorter range lets you handle more, so log high-handle and low-handle sessions separately.

Common mistakes with trap bar weight

Assuming every bar is 20kg. Covered above, but it's the big one. Over a training block it can make your progress look better or worse than it really is.

Comparing your number to someone else's on a different bar. A friend's 120kg on a 27kg METIS and your 120kg on a 16kg standard shrug bar aren't the same plate loading, but they are the same total. Make sure you're both counting the bar.

Ignoring 1" vs 2" sleeves. The Mirafit Standard shrug bar takes 1" plates, and Olympic 2" plates won't fit it. Check sleeve size before you buy a bar to match your plates, or you'll end up buying adaptors.

Buying a featherweight bar to lift heavy. The very light bars carry lower capacities and shorter sleeves. If you already pull 150kg plus, a bar under 15kg is the wrong tool even though its empty weight looks beginner-friendly.

Starting weights for beginners

The empty bar is a perfectly good first session. On a 21kg to 25kg bar, do 3 sets of 8 with just the bar to learn the setup: feet in the middle of the frame, handles centred in your grip, chest up, push the floor away. Add 5kg to 10kg a session while the reps stay clean, and slow down to 2.5kg jumps once the bar starts moving slowly.

For general strength, 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 reps works well once a week or twice a week. For muscle and conditioning, 3 sets of 8 to 12 at a lighter load does the job. Loaded carries are a good finisher with the same bar; our farmer's carry guide covers how to set that up.

If you're stuck on a very light budget bar, you'll outgrow the empty-bar stage quickly. That's no problem, since you'll just be adding plates sooner. Just make sure you're logging the true total so the numbers still mean something when you upgrade.

Recommended reads

• The best trap bars in the UK
• Trap bar deadlift: how to do it and muscles worked
• Deadlift: technique, muscles and programming
• The best weight plates in the UK
• Farmer's carry guide