Exercise library
Kettlebell Thruster

CC BY-SA 4.0 · Everkinetic (via wrkout/exercises.json, packaged by yuhonas/free-exercise-db)

ShouldersKettlebellIntermediate

Kettlebell Thruster

How to perform

  1. 01Clean two kettlebells to your shoulders. Clean the kettlebells to your shoulders by extending through the legs and hips as you pull the kettlebells towards your shoulders. Rotate your wrists as you do so. This will be your starting position.
  2. 02Begin to squat by flexing your hips and knees, lowering your hips between your legs. Maintain an upright, straight back as you descend as low as you can.
  3. 03At the bottom, reverse direction and squat by extending your knees and hips, driving through your heels. As you do so, press both kettlebells overhead by extending your arms straight up, using the momentum from the squat to help drive the weights upward.
  4. 04As you begin the next repetition, return the weights to the shoulders.

Form cues

  • Brace your core before the first rep and keep it braced.
  • Drive through the full range — do not cut the lockout short.
  • Control the lowering phase — that is where most of the growth stimulus lives.

Common mistakes

  • Using momentum instead of the target muscle.
  • Cutting the range of motion short to add load.
  • Adding weight before the movement pattern is clean.

Muscle group

Shoulders · Quadriceps, Triceps

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