Functional fitnessIn review

Dumbbell Thruster

A squat that flows into an overhead press with two dumbbells.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Full body
Modality: Functional fitness
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand at squat width with a dumbbell at each shoulder.
Keep the feet flat and the elbows slightly forward.

Do the rep

Bend the hips and knees until the hip crease is below the top of the knee.
Push through the feet and use the upward drive to press both dumbbells overhead.
Finish standing with the hips, knees and elbows straight. Lower the dumbbells to the shoulders before the next squat.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the hip crease drops below the top of the knee and you finish standing with the hips, knees and elbows straight overhead.

Breathing

Breathe in before the squat; exhale through the standing drive and overhead press.

Cues

Squat before you press.
Drive through both feet.
Finish with the ribs over the pelvis.

Common mistakes

Pressing before the leg drive
What you seeThe arms press while the hips are still at the bottom of the squat.
FixStart standing up before you press the dumbbells.
The upward leg drive links the squat and the press.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if either dumbbell becomes unstable overhead or you lose balance.
End the set when you cannot meet the stated rep standard under control.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Quadriceps · moderate confidence
Glutes · moderate confidence

Assisting

Front deltoids · moderate confidence
Triceps · moderate confidence
Side deltoids · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence
Upper back · moderate confidence

Equipment

Dumbbell

Stand at squat width with a dumbbell at each shoulder. Keep the feet flat and the elbows slightly forward.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 9, written from the blueprint CSV row and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12 in #340. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the owner rules; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_barbell_thruster. The copied timed-use state is disallowed; no review evidence is claimed for this draft.
Rule 1 gives home yes because every required picker item is a dumbbell or bench. The CSV says home false. Environment and programming location constraints include gym and home.
Dumbbell load uses kg with load-and-reps and the allowed metrics of ex_dumbbell_shoulder_press (rule 1).
Rule 2 gives this movement functional_quality + skill_or_power.
Failure cost moderate: the user must control the dumbbells at the stop, as ex_dumbbell_shoulder_press (rule 3).
Skill tier beginner: a new user can perform one clean rep in the first session, as the owner ruled (rule 3).
Two dumbbells move together and count as bilateral_rep, as ex_dumbbell_shoulder_press (rule 1).
The CSV optional bench is removed because the movement is standing or seated on the floor (rule 1).
Exception to the CSV vertical-push pattern and strength modality: the combined squat and press uses full-body, functional-fitness, functional_fitness true, and functional_quality + skill_or_power, as ex_barbell_thruster. Skill stays beginner and failure cost moderate under the owner ruling, rather than the barbell model tiers.
Anatomy refines the CSV family hints for this movement: primary quadriceps, glutes; secondary front-deltoids, triceps, side-deltoids, deep-core, upper-back. The assigned review tier must confirm these draft lists.
The full-depth squat and continuous drive are draft rep standards. Coach review must confirm the combined movement.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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