Legs · Trap Bar
Trap Bar Squat
How to do the trap bar squat, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Trap Bar
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Squat
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand inside a trap bar with your feet about shoulder-width apart, gripping the neutral handles at your sides. Brace your core, push your hips back, and bend your knees to lower until your thighs are at least parallel, keeping your chest up. Drive through your heels to stand tall, letting the load hang at your sides through the full rep.
- 1Your quads and glutes driving you up out of the bottom
- 2The load balanced at your sides keeping you upright and centered
- 3Your knees tracking over your toes as you sit down and stand
Common mistakes
- Letting your knees cave inward or your chest collapse forward
- Turning it into a hinge by shooting your hips up first
- Losing tension in your upper back and letting the handles drift
Muscles worked
The trap bar squat mainly works the quads and glutes, with the hamstrings, forearms, lower back, and calves assisting.
- QuadsPrimary
- GlutesPrimary
- HamstringsSupport
- ForearmsSupport
- Lower BackSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Upper TrapsMinor
- Upper AbsMinor
Kovo programs the trap bar squat for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More quads exercises
- How to do the resistance band squat
- How to do the resistance band squat to press
- How to do the resistance band thruster
- How to do the resistance band squat walk
- How to do the barbell squat
- How to do the barbell bulgarian split squat
Last reviewed June 2026.