Cliff post Fran, blame it on the thruster.
Ah, the thruster. It is such a simple movement. A front squat and a push press. So, why is it so damn hard? The thruster is the devil’s own creation. Something about it adds up to be so much harder than its parts.
There are, however, some tips that make the thruster a little more easy to manage. Here are some:
- Always try to match your breathing to the movement. With the thruster, this means one breath one entire movement. Inhale on the way down and exhale at the top of the press.
- After full lockout is reached at the top of the press, do not lower the bar to the racked position and then drop into the front squat. From the overhead lockout, immediately drop into the squat, so that the bar reaches your shoulders at the same time as the squat reaches its lowest depth.
- Try to relax your grip during the squat. Grip and forearm fatigue can be quite severe during a thruster workout such as Fran, where the opposing movement, pullups, is also grip centric.
- With the grip and wrists relaxed, try to snap the wrists forward and up at the top of the press, and then snap them back immediately to start the descent.
- Really try to keep your weight firmly on the heels and off the toes as you perform the front squat. Pushing the knees out is also key, as is keeping the elbows up. All three of these keys work in unison. Not only is this proper squat form in general, but it will speed up your thruster by making it truly a vertical movement. Too many people bring their weight forward onto their toes when in the hole of the squat. In order to then rise, they need to rock back onto their heels and then drive up. This horizontal forward and backwards movement at the bottom of the thruster not only makes the movement much slower, but it also speeds up fatigue by wasting energy rocking back and forth.
- Rest with the bar in the racked position, never overhead.
- If using dumbbells for the thrusters, hold the DBs so that your little finger is right up against the front part of the DB. This allows for more of the DB, and thus more weight, to rest farther back on your shoulders, and thus more towards your centerline. This makes the movement easier by reducing the amount of forward pull on your midline in the manner of a back squat vs a front squat.
What tips and clues have I missed? What are some more that help you with the thruster? Please post to Comments.
Workout:
Deadlift 5×5, the first 2 sets are warm ups, the last 3 should be your 5RM
Then:
15, 12, 9, 6, 3
DB Thruster–use dumbbells totaling half your bodyweight
Ring Dip
Box Jump
Please post WOD completed and score to Comments.
I find barbell thrusters are harder for me than DB thrusters because the weight is more in front of you and the bar is into your throat. I can get the DBs in position so they’re more over my center of gravity, this helps me squat easier even though the press is a touch harder with them. They all suck though. Sam, can we have thrusters abolished from the CF WSC repertoire?
Awesome, thanks in advance.
M
Nice try, Matt.
I have special relationship with the Thruster. And by “special” I mean like “Ike and Tina” kind of special. My first workout ever was Jackie (courtesy of Derek). The very next day, I had to get in to my truck and drive up to 10,000 ft in the Sierra’s to lead a 4-day backpacking trip through the Yosemite high country. With a 50 lb pack on my back, those 4 days were pure agony. Every step (of which there were probably about 75,000 – trust me, i counted) felt like i was going to collapse onto the ground as my quads screamed in pain.
I still hate the thruster.
But, I have definitely learned to deal with it a little better. Jocelyn and I had a crazy workout at our level 1 cert this weekend that I can only describe it as a “Tabata Fran”. Yes, it was as terrible as it sounds and the thruster was once again, completely agonizing.
My one tip on the thruster that I don’t see in your post Sam is to really concentrate on full-extension, opening the hips, and using that power to jump the bar up. That is, of course, implicit in the movement which is perhaps why you didn’t mention it: core-to-extremity, use the big power center of your body (hips) to do the majority of the work, etc. But it always can be repeated. I saw a lot of people at the cert incorrectly doing their thrusters as: “rise out of the front squat, pause, strict press, pause, lower the bar, pause, front squat… repeat”.
This isn’t very eloquent, but I like to think of it this way: “the thruster is an explosive movement and using my arms to get the bar overhead is my ‘last effort’ after i’ve jumped it as high as possible”. If someone could phrase that better, that would be great.
I think you phrased it quite well, Cliff. Thanks.
All of these reminders would have really helped before attempting Fran for the second time on Sunday. I PR’d by about 45 seconds but its still not an imresive time! A lot of it I feel is mental because there is no reason I should have to break up the second set of thrusters into 5’s and can bust out the last set of 9 in one. pull ups also still need some work!
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