THE DUMBBELL THRUSTER is an exercise coaches love to add to their workouts, especially when the goal is to ramp up the heart rate. If you’ve ever been tasked to take on a few rounds of the thruster, you might think that’s because the move can be incredibly taxing. That could be part of it—but trainers really love the thruster because you can get so many benefits out of just one exercise.
That’s partly because the dumbbell thruster is really the combination of two compound movements: The front squat and the push press. By stringing them together, you’re getting both the lower body-building benefits of the first exercise and the power-boosting aspects of the second.
As effective as the thruster can be, performing the exercise isn’t as simple as just hitting a squat, then adding a press. The form is a bit more complicated than that—you’ll need to understand the objective of the movement and how the two distinct exercises become one. Let Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. and senior editor Brett Williams, NASM guide you through the move’s subtleties, saving you from the bad habits that are keeping you from unlocking your potential strength, power, and size gains.
How to Do the Dumbbell Thruster Start standing with your feet shoulder-width apart holding a pair of dumbbells. Raise the weights up to shoulder height, with your elbows high (elbows parallel or just above parallel to the floor). Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes to create full-body tension. Push your butt back, then bend your knees to lower down into a squat. Aim to descend just below parallel for this exercise. Push up through your heels to power up out of the bottom of the squat. As you explode up, use the force to drive the dumbbells overhead. Control the weight back down to shoulder height before transitioning into the next rep.
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Take note of these additional cues from Samuel to shore up your dumbbell thruster form:
Elbows Up
Eb says: Throughout every phase of the dumbbell thruster, you want to fight to keep your elbows high. They should be parallel with the ground or (even better) slightly higher than that. This position actually takes stress off the shoulders and places it on your core, centralizing the weight and making this a more natural squat.
Maintaining this position will help take strain off your shoulders and place it more on your torso musculature, making this more like a squat in terms of muscle recruitment. That’ll save your shoulders so they can execute the push press portion of the lift—and keep them healthy in the long term.
Never Tip Forward
Eb says: The great challenge of the front squat is not letting your torso tip forward, and that’s the challenge of the thruster as well (partly because this is a valuable training tool for the front squat). Thinking elbows up will help you maintain proper body angle, and you should also think chest up. Fight for those two positions throughout the life of each set, never rounding your back.
Get to Parallel
Eb says: Common thruster mistake: Not taking the move to proper depth. It’s easy to skip getting your thighs to parallel on this move, especially if you think ahead to the press that comes up next. But it’s also critical to get your thighs parallel with the ground as you lower to get full benefit from the thruster. If you’re not getting your thighs to parallel, you’re essentially doing an extra-deep push press, and training only hip explosion, when you should also be improving your squat. So push your thighs slightly deeper than parallel on every rep; it’ll make the move harder but more beneficial.
Take It Slow
Eb says: The other common thruster mistake: Rushing through reps so that your form breaks down. This happens often when the move is on a timer, or when you have to do 10 to 15 consecutive reps. And this is when you’ll see a lot of back rounding or thrusters that don’t dive below parallel.
The counter to that is simple: Approach each rep as its own entity. Lower into the squat, then power up and push the dumbbells overhead. Instead of going right into another rep though, let the dumbbells settle on your shoulders for a second, gather yourself, then do the next rep. This is a great way to learn the thruster, and it’s a great way to check yourself to get more training effect out of the move and prevent sloppiness.
Benefits of the Dumbbell Thruster
Samuel calls the dumbbell thruster “one of the best bang for your buck exercises in the gym,” and for good reason.
The total-body movement can be performed at volume, which can drive up your heart rate for metabolic effect, or with heavy weights and lower rep counts to build muscle and strength. Most importantly, you’ll develop power when you explode up from the bottom position—an important physical attribute often ignored by gym-goers that is essential for athletes.
Muscles Worked By the Dumbbell Thruster
The dumbbell thruster is a total-body movement. Mainly, you’ll be working your big muscles in your legs, your glutes, hamstrings, and (especially due to the front positioning of the load), your quads. Your core muscles are essential while you keep your posture on point, and the shoulder muscles are tasked with the overhead press.
Common Dumbbell Thruster Mistakes
Squat depth is one of the trickiest aspects of the dumbbell thruster. Going to low with an “ass-to-grass” depth might introduce back rounding at the bottom of the movement, while stopping before you hit a parallel depth will take away some of the power aspect of the movement. Aim instead to hit a squat depth just below parallel.
Posture is also important for your dumbbell thruster, especially as you string reps together. Work to keep your core muscles braced and your elbows high in the front squat position to avoid energy leaks or losing your balance.
How to Add the Dumbbell Thruster to Your Workouts
There are two different ways you can program dumbbell thrusters into your workout plan. For a greater metabolic effect, use lighter weights and work for 5 minutes, alternating between 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest. You can also train heavier to build strength, muscle, and power, with 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps.
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