The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. -Franklin D. Roosevelt
Let’s approach thrusters with confidence, not fear! Let’s get to the bottom of why they are so hard, but so effective. Most people who have a love for this amazing movement have one thing in common. Strong legs! If you can squat a decent amount of weight then thrusting a few less pounds over your head becomes no big deal.
Aside from getting stronger, which is the number one goal, there are few things you can work on to help improve form and technique. Instead of seeing faces full of pain and fear we want you to be excited about dropping into a squat and exploding the load up over head. Below are my top five tips for making you stronger and more efficient at thrusters.
1) Breath- We talk about this in class a ton. The tendency is to hold your breath on the first few reps which spikes your heart rate. This makes things much more difficult than they need to be. Focus on picking up that first rep, staying tight in your core through the squat and let out a big exhale while you toss the bar off your shoulders. Once it is overhead take a deep breath as you descend down the the bottom. This pattern should be kept up for as long as possible.
2) Timing- This is difficult to nail down in the middle of a 50 rep thruster workout so work on this with an empty bar. Wait to press the bar above your head until your hips are fully open. A fully open hip is when you stand all the way up, knees locked out. You should be getting to that position with speed which we will talk about later. Once your hips fully open, the bar should get a jump start off your shoulders before you have to press. When hitting a sub-maximal load you should feel like the bar is weightless while going overhead. It should not feel like a push press. That brief feeling of weightlessness is what we are fighting. If you hit that you nailed the timing piece.
3) The Punch- Finishing with the bar overhead is obvious. Finishing with speed and aggression is something you should be fighting for on every rep. Think of the movement accelerating from the bottom of the squat and gaining speed all the way to the very top of the rep. Finishing with an aggressive punch to the ceiling at the end of every rep.
4) Use your Glutes- Your quads (the front to your legs) will most likely be sore after a thruster day. This is not necessarily wrong, but we should be working to get as much glute involvement as possible. They are stronger and enable us to move loads faster. This is done sitting back on your heels when you drop down into the squat. The next piece is keeping the bar in close. If you re rack the bar out in front and drop down on your toes you know the feeling of chasing the bar out in front of you. That was essentially a missed rep. It still counts, but you spent way too much energy for that one. Work to push your hips back when you squat, but also keep an up right chest. Those two things will help involve your glutes for more speed and power.
5) Work the Front Rack- A lack of mobility for the front rack will kill a good thruster. You must be able to have the bar sit high on your shoulders with all your fingers still in contact with the bar. Please do not skip over this step because you have never been able to get a good front rack. It takes time and effort to open up your lats, upper back, triceps and shoulders.
Try to apply these tips next time thrusters come up in a workout. Work them in the warm up and focus on one or two each round so you do not overwhelm yourself.
The last thing you need to do is smile. Maybe not on the outside, but deep down somewhere in there let that smile out and embrace the movement!
Geo Rockwell