Death by clusters is a pretty sinister name for a workout protocol. But it’s also pretty apt.
It puts you on a clock, then forces you to keep going until you physically can’t do any more or you give up. Whichever comes first.
The ‘death by’ protocol is nice and simple. Start a running clock and perform one rep of your chosen movement, resting for the remainder of the minute. In minute two, perform two reps. In minute three, three reps. Minute four, four reps. Then five, six, and so on.
You continue adding a rep each minute until you can no longer fit the prescribed number of reps into that minute. Your finishing round is your score. Your aim is to beat this each time you perform the ‘death by’ protocol, giving yourself a real benchmark of where your fitness is at.
And this 'death by' clusters variation might be the most dastardly expression of the protocol possible.
Death by Clusters
A cluster is a combination of a clean and a thruster. You take a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell – whatever you’ve got – from the floor to your shoulders, drop immediately into a front squat, then stand up explosively and press the weight overhead.
What to read next
That’s one cluster.
It’s a full-body movement that hits almost every muscle, fires up your heart rate and, as the reps build up, tests your endurance and resolve. More importantly, with this protocol, you'll get something clear to chase: a score to beat next time.
If nothing else, this will give you a pretty intense full-body workout. In fact, if you only do one workout in a week, I might just recommend it's this one.
The Workout
Warm up thoroughly, then grab a weight/weights you could press overhead for a tough set of 10 reps.
Start your running clock and get to work.
Minute 1: 1 full cluster
Minute 2: 2 full clusters
Minute 3: 3 full clusters
Minute 4: 4 full clusters etc...
Continue adding one rep every minute until you can no longer complete the required reps inside that minute.
Your final completed round is your score.
Pay attention to what starts to fatigue first. Is it systemic – heart, lungs, full body? Is it your grip? Is it your shoulders in that overhead press? The full-body nature of this protocol will give you a pretty good idea of where your energy leaks are – and what you need to fix in the rest of your training.
As soon as you can add an additional three to five rounds to your original score, it’s time to up the weight and start again.
Good luck.
How to Perform the Cluster Properly
Stand tall in front of your barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, kitchen sink – whatever you’re performing this movement with.
Hinge down with a slight squat, avoiding over-arching your back, but also avoiding over-straightening it and pulling your spine into too much extension. Grip your weight.
Push your feet into the floor to take the slack out of the weight, so it doesn’t jerk through your arms and biceps as you stand up.
Take a deep breath, fill your core and create strong trunk stability. Then explosively stand up. Come right up onto your toes, push your hips through and pull your shoulders back into what’s known as triple extension – the extension of the ankles, knees and hips.
From here, keeping the weight close to your body, pull it high into the air, then bend at the knees and dip underneath it, catching it on the top of your chest and shoulders in the front rack position.
If you can, immediately drop down into a full front squat, with the crease of your hips passing below your knees.
From here, stand back up explosively and use that drive from the legs to help power the weight overhead, locking it out with straight arms and your head coming through your arms to show that you’ve finished the rep through a full range of motion.
Coach's Notes
Try to keep each movement fluid. If you’re not used to barbell or weight cycling, it might feel as though you’re standing the weight up, pulling it onto your shoulders, dropping into a squat, standing back up and then pressing. Instead, practise using each segment to power the next.
Standing up explosively from the floor helps pull the weight up. Dropping underneath it gets you ready to move straight into the front squat. From the bottom of the squat, use that elasticity to drive yourself back up. As soon as your knees reach full lockout, keep that momentum going to help press the weight overhead.
Lower the weight under control to your shoulders. You’ll see a lot of CrossFitters skip this, but if you’re looking for the full muscle-building effect, owning that eccentric portion of the press will help hit your shoulders just a little bit harder.
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With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
