What Is A Thruster Exercise (And How To Do Them Right)
Thruster exercises might sound like a niche workout for lifting enthusiasts, but it has general benefits that can benefit any athlete (but especially runners). You’re not here because you care about thrusters in particular, or about squatting, or about anything for that matter that doesn’t involve you running with every waking opportunity you have.
What you DO care about are things that make your enjoyment of running greater, and that almost ALWAYS means things that help you overcome running challenges and make running feel better & faster for longer periods of time all of course without ugly injury rearing its ugly little head.
“Otherwise, you train in a vacuum. You try to address run technique (unsuccessfully) in a vacuum…because you don’t understand the REAL reasons why your wrist does that weird thing in your arm swing, or why your low back always hurts even though you *think* you’re running with good posture (?). “
You want to run more and you want information that will make that happen.
But running doesn’t feel good just because, especially these days with the even uglier impact of our daily lifestyle…which I’ll get to in a moment.
Running feels good only when we are running strong, i.e. when we have the strength, range of motion, and coordination for impeccable running mechanics under any conditions for any duration and at any speed.
A tall order yes.
But not an impossible order to fill. In fact, by dedicating some focused training time working on YOU the athlete, you’ll automatically start to improve YOU the runner.
Otherwise, you train in a vacuum.
You try to address run technique (unsuccessfully) in a vacuum…because you don’t understand the REAL reasons why your wrist does that weird thing in your arm swing, or why your low back always hurts even though you *think* you’re running with good posture (?), or why your toes turn out and your arches collapse in with every step.
What Is a Thruster Exercise?
Ask and you shall receive they say…Fortunately the thruster asks A LOT of range of motion from your ankles, hips, back, and shoulders…
Trust me, this asking is a good thing. Because your daily car-based, chair-based, sedentary based lifestyle does NOT ask for this range of motion (or for anything athletic). Neither for that matter does running, being the mid-range of motion sport that we can shuffle our way through.
And as the other saying goes, you lose what you don’t regularly do, which is what’s happening to YOU right now.
Your ankles, hips, back, and shoulders stiffen up over time and congeal into even more fixed, limited ranges of motion that rob you of your ability to run beautifully and fluidly, with full hip extension, a fantastic arm swing, and unparalleled breathing mechanics, i.e. like when you were a kid.
Will the thruster get you back there overnight? No.
But will you regularly training and challenging YOU the athlete not just YOU the runner then YES. You will get there.
Whole-Body Thruster Workout
- For 10 minutes, climb the ladder:
- 2 Dumb Bell Thrusters
- 2 Sit Ups (or V ups)
- Run 100 meters (beautiful running!)
The next round do 4 thrusters and 4 situps, run 100 meters, then 6 thrusters and 6 situps, run 100 meters…working as high as you can in the 10 minute time period. There is no rest until the 10 minutes is up. The run always stays the same at 100 meters.
Of course, you’ll want to dynamically warm up first with some leg swings, hip circles, and arm swings and circles to prepare for the workout. Then pick your favorite mobility exercise or two to for 5 minutes of focused “ME” mobility time.
Start Training With The Thruster Exercise
Add the thruster exercise to your workout regimen to unlock more powerful hips and mobility for your running. Need more strength training exercises to improve your running form? Check out these drills for runners.