How to Master the Thruster: A CrossFit How-To Guide

Hey everyone, Sarah Grace here and I am back with a new fitness how-to we are going to be working on one of CrossFit's hardest movements - the thruster. I feel that they are so effective and so good and also so important that you get the form just right. So, if you want to master this movement, make sure to click the link below this video, subscribe to my channel, and share this video with your friends.

First, let's talk about why the thruster is such an important movement for CrossFit athletes. The key with them obviously is your ability to be able to squat with the bar and a front rack position that is crucial. This movement requires strength and mobility plays a big role with thrusters. I'm gonna demonstrate the movement first with my barbell and then I'll show you how to scale it with the dumbbells.

For this demonstration, I have my barbell that's loaded with 65 pounds, as well as dumbbells because if you cannot do the thruster with the barbell then you're gonna scale down and use dumbbells. They're very hard still, the movement is but it allows some kind of room for you to move and shift based on your mobility and your ability to hold that barbell in the front rack position.

To start, I'll go ahead and clean the bar, then squat clean the bar and finally go right into my thruster. The key is you want to be able to squat chest up elbows up bar resting on your shoulders as you drive up. You're going to use your legs to power that bar up as you go down, and the bar comes back to your shoulders. Let's do it with dumbbells! Same movement, hands are neutral, same idea, squat chest up.

Dumbbells are right on your shoulder as you stand, press I'm telling you work on your calf mobility, your front rack position. You can do some stretches that will help with that and if you have to just start with the barbell that's fine, you can start with just the barbell and then add weight if you have to, start with light dumbbells and go advanced to the barbell that's fine too either way there are an awesome movement. Do them by themselves, know three sets of ten fifteen or throw them in with some other movements rowing airdyne burpees off! You'll get an incredible workout.

Now that we've covered how to do the thruster, I want to demonstrate a really good stretch that you can all do to help you get into that front rack position. You're gonna find a bench, grab onto a PVC, elbows are about shoulder width and hands are outside of shoulders. You're going to set your elbows on the bed be kneeling on your knees and then you're gonna drop your head between your elbows.

Once you do that, you're going to begin to bring the PVC behind your head, you want to bring that PVC towards the back of your neck and then begin to sort of press down with your chest in towards the bench. But you don't want to arch your back to get into that position, you want to keep your pelvis tight but you want to press your chest through. And you're gonna really get a good stretch in your lats, know triceps but all this area to help you to hold that bar in the front rack position.

So, give that a try and that should compliment your thrusters as well!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone Sarah grace here and I am back with a new fitness how-to we are going to be working on the rosters one of CrossFit's hardest movements I feel they are so effective and so good and also so important that you get the form just right with these click the link below this video subscribe to my channel I have a whole fitness CrossFit how-to series I have a ton of other cool fitness stuff so do me a favor click the link below and also share this video with your friends comment below on how some of my workouts have helped you thrusters the key with them obviously is your ability to be able to squat with the bar and a front rack position that is crucial alright so I have here my barbell that's loaded with 65 pounds and I also have dumbbells because if you cannot do the thruster with the barbell then you're gonna scale down and use dumbbells they're very hard still the movement is but it allows some kind of room for you to move and shift based on your mobility and your ability to hold that barbell in the front rack position so strength and mobility plays a big role with thrusters I'm gonna demonstrate the movement first with my barbell and then I'll show you how to scale it with the dumbbells you can go ahead and clean the bar you're gonna squat clean the bar and then go right into your thruster and that would then be considered one rep the key is you want to be able to squat chest up elbows up bar resting on your shoulders as you drive up you're going to use your legs to power that bar up as you go down bar comes back to your shoulders let's do it with dumbbells same movement hands are neutral same idea squat chest up dumbbells are right on your shoulder as you stand you press I'm telling you work on your calf mobility your front rack position you can do some stretches that will help with that and if you have to just start with the barbell that's fine you can start with just the barbell and then add weight if you have to start with light dumbbells and go advanced to the barbell that's fine too either way there are an awesome movement do them by themselves you know three sets of ten fifteen or throw them in with some other movements rowing airdyne burpees off you'll get an incredible workout thanks for watching I want to demonstrate a really good stretch that you can all do to help you get into that front rack position you're gonna find a bench grab onto a PVC elbows are about shoulder width and hands are outside of shoulders you're going to set your elbows on the bed be kneeling on your knees and then you're gonna drop your head between your elbows once you do that you're going to begin to bring the PVC behind your head you want to bring that PVC towards the back of your neck and then begin to sort of press down with your chest in towards the bench but you don't want to arch your back to get into that position you want to keep your pelvis tight but you want to press your chest through and you're gonna really get a good stretch in your lats you know triceps but all this area to help you to hold that bar in the front rack position so give that a try and that should compliment your thrusters as wellhey everyone Sarah grace here and I am back with a new fitness how-to we are going to be working on the rosters one of CrossFit's hardest movements I feel they are so effective and so good and also so important that you get the form just right with these click the link below this video subscribe to my channel I have a whole fitness CrossFit how-to series I have a ton of other cool fitness stuff so do me a favor click the link below and also share this video with your friends comment below on how some of my workouts have helped you thrusters the key with them obviously is your ability to be able to squat with the bar and a front rack position that is crucial alright so I have here my barbell that's loaded with 65 pounds and I also have dumbbells because if you cannot do the thruster with the barbell then you're gonna scale down and use dumbbells they're very hard still the movement is but it allows some kind of room for you to move and shift based on your mobility and your ability to hold that barbell in the front rack position so strength and mobility plays a big role with thrusters I'm gonna demonstrate the movement first with my barbell and then I'll show you how to scale it with the dumbbells you can go ahead and clean the bar you're gonna squat clean the bar and then go right into your thruster and that would then be considered one rep the key is you want to be able to squat chest up elbows up bar resting on your shoulders as you drive up you're going to use your legs to power that bar up as you go down bar comes back to your shoulders let's do it with dumbbells same movement hands are neutral same idea squat chest up dumbbells are right on your shoulder as you stand you press I'm telling you work on your calf mobility your front rack position you can do some stretches that will help with that and if you have to just start with the barbell that's fine you can start with just the barbell and then add weight if you have to start with light dumbbells and go advanced to the barbell that's fine too either way there are an awesome movement do them by themselves you know three sets of ten fifteen or throw them in with some other movements rowing airdyne burpees off you'll get an incredible workout thanks for watching I want to demonstrate a really good stretch that you can all do to help you get into that front rack position you're gonna find a bench grab onto a PVC elbows are about shoulder width and hands are outside of shoulders you're going to set your elbows on the bed be kneeling on your knees and then you're gonna drop your head between your elbows once you do that you're going to begin to bring the PVC behind your head you want to bring that PVC towards the back of your neck and then begin to sort of press down with your chest in towards the bench but you don't want to arch your back to get into that position you want to keep your pelvis tight but you want to press your chest through and you're gonna really get a good stretch in your lats you know triceps but all this area to help you to hold that bar in the front rack position so give that a try and that should compliment your thrusters as well\n"