Dumbbell Thrusters

Crossfit exercises

9K 0 31.12.2016 (last revision: 05.05.2019)

Dumbbell Thrusters or dumbbell jumps are a fairly common exercise in CrossFit due to their technical simplicity and the fact that they do not require any additional equipment other than a pair of dumbbells. The version of the dumbbell bursts is more amplitude, which increases the efficiency of this exercise. This exercise is well suited for those who want to add variety to their training process, as well as increase the load on the deltoid muscles.

Today we will analyze the main aspects related to the correct execution of this exercise, namely:

1. What is the use of doing thrusters with dumbbells;
2. Exercise technique;
3. Common mistakes beginners make;
4. Crossfit workouts containing dumbbell jumps.

What are the benefits of this exercise?

During the performance of dumbbell ejections, the athlete shifts the emphasis of the load on the deltoid muscles, developing their strength and strength endurance. Something similar is practiced by adherents of kettlebell lifting in their workouts, and their strength endurance is simply beyond understanding - they are able to perform such exercises for several minutes.

By working with dumbbells instead of a barbell, you also spend more energy on stabilizing your core and coordinating your whole body.

It is important to include the muscles of the thigh and shoulders at the same time - this way the movement will be more explosive, and the training intensity will increase.

What muscles work with dumbbell thrusters? The main load here is taken by the shoulders and hips, and all the muscles of the core and stabilizing muscles work statically, without them the movement will be "lubricated", and the ejection itself will resemble a standing dumbbell press. The dumbbell press is certainly a great basic exercise for developing the deltoid muscles, but for CrossFit, explosive and well-coordinated whole body work is more suitable for us. This is why thrusters are a great exercise for both beginners and more experienced athletes.

The correct technique for performing dumbbell thrusters

How technically correct you perform jumps with dumbbells determines how much load you will receive and what skills you will develop. Without the well-coordinated work of the shoulders, legs and back, the exercise will lose half of its benefits, so pay special attention to the technical aspect. So how do you do dumbbell thrusters?

1. Starting position: feet shoulder-width apart or slightly wider, back straight, look forward, dumbbells on the floor. Lift the dumbbells off the floor doing something like a deadlift, then use the biceps and delts to lift them to the level of the shoulder girdle. The dumbbells should be parallel to each other.
   
2. Squat without changing the position of the dumbbells... The depth of the squat is an individual aspect, for someone it is more convenient to sit down in full amplitude and touch the calf muscles with the biceps of the thighs, for someone it is enough to half-squat to the level of parallel with the floor. With any of these options, we do not transfer the center of gravity to the toe, but stand firmly on the heels, not forgetting to keep our back straight, while the knees should not go beyond the level of the socks, when lowering down we take a powerful breath. Give it a try and choose which option suits you best.
   
3. As soon as we start to get up, start throwing the dumbbells up the effort of the deltoid muscles, while exhaling at the same time. Due to the simultaneous inclusion of legs and shoulders in the work, the movement will turn out to be fast and explosive. It is important to correctly choose the optimal speed of the exercise - the elbows and knees should be straightened at the same time, if you have already fully stood up, but still continue to press the dumbbells up, the movement is performed incorrectly.
   
4. Without delay at the top point, we lower the dumbbells back onto our shoulders and squat. It is equally important to choose the right speed, everything must be done at the same time.
   
5. Without delay at the bottom point, we repeat the ejection again. The work should be monotonous, we do not linger at any point, the whole body works like a spring.

Common beginner mistakes

Dumbbell jumps are a rather unsophisticated exercise, however, it also has its own little subtleties that are often ignored by inexperienced athletes. For instance:

1. Dumbbells too heavy. Remember once and for all: weight does not play a key role in such exercises. It does not matter at all how heavy dumbbells you can lift, here continuous and explosive work of the whole organism is important to us, it will be difficult to achieve this with heavy dumbbells. In addition, working with a lot of weight, it will be much more difficult for you to stabilize the position of the body, the back will fall forward, and the dumbbells will "move apart" to the sides when lifting. When doing thrusters with heavy dumbbells, you are unlikely to be able to work in a wide range of repetitions, and work 6-8 times is not of interest to us here. From my own experience, I will say that the optimal number of repetitions for ejections with dumbbells is 15-30, it makes little sense to go lower, more is possible, but very difficult, since the shoulders will already be "hammered".
2. Incorrect setting of dumbbells. Some beginners turn their hand palm forward and do not hold the dumbbells parallel to each other, but slightly bring them out in front of them. This will make it much more difficult to control movement and increase the risk of injury to the rotator cuff.
   
3. The projectile must rise strictly vertically up, any deviations to the side will greatly complicate the task, since you will have to adjust your body under the dumbbells.
4. Improper breathing. With fast, rhythmic exercises like dumbbell jumps, even experienced CrossFit athletes can easily get lost in proper breathing technique. In this case, you will exhale ahead of time and are unlikely to master the planned number of repetitions.
5. Lack of warm-up. Trasters combine elements of aerobic and anaerobic load, so it is necessary not only to thoroughly stretch all joints and ligaments, but also to prepare our cardiovascular system for work before performing the exercise. 10 minutes of cardio will help us with this perfectly, you will increase your heart rate in advance, which will not lead to a sharp jump in blood pressure.

Crossfit complexes

Trasters or dumbbell jumps are great tools for increasing the intensity of your workout and lifting tonnage, and every self-respecting CrossFit athlete shouldn't take advantage of it. Below are a few examples of how you can do dumbbell thrusters as part of your CrossFit workout.

Watch the video: Crossfit Thruster Demo (December 2024).