Often, the most brutal-sounding exercises are also the most effective. And when it comes to the grave digger – an exercise devised by strength coach Tom Ragusa – it’s no different.

‘The grave digger is a sneaky upper-body finisher I programme into my clients’ full-body days,’ Ragusa explains. ‘Shoulders. Chest. Back. Abs. Obliques. Lungs. All three planes of motion and more – every single rep.’

Better yet, perform it standing and it becomes a true full-body exercise, recruiting the major muscles in your legs as well.

‘Ironically, this exercise might just keep you out of the grave a little longer,’ he concludes.

• Kneel on the floor or stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Standing makes the movement more challenging and recruits more muscles throughout your body.
• Reach down and grab a dumbbell with both hands, positioning it on one side of your body.
• Power clean the weight to the same-side shoulder, then press it overhead.
• Keeping the weight overhead, move it across to your opposite side before lowering it back to the floor under control.
• That’s one rep. Complete 3–4 rounds of 1 minute on, 1 minute off.

Anti-Rotation Stimulus

As Ragusa highlights, rotational strength is one of the first qualities to decline as we age. This movement actively fights against that by forcing your core to resist rotation and stabilise under a moving load through multiple planes of motion.

‘As we age we lose rotational strength faster than anything else. Straight-line pressing and pulling isn’t enough. Your body needs to move through multiple planes to stay athletic, build real muscle, and protect your joints long term,’ he explains. ‘The grave digger does all of that in one move. It’s not just a finisher. It’s a test of how well your body actually moves.’

Full-Body Challenge

It’s not just your core that’s challenged during this exercise. Your shoulders, triceps, grip, back and posterior chain all have to work hard throughout the movement, especially as you increase the load.

Completing it continuously for a full minute also provides a serious cardiovascular stimulus. You’ll no doubt be gasping by the end.

Strength coach Judd Lienhard is a particular fan of the exercise after reviewing it for his social media followers. While he can’t perform it himself because of a left shoulder issue that prevents him from pressing overhead, Lienhard recommends others incorporate the movement into their routines – though not just as a finisher tacked onto the end of a session.

Instead, he believes it works even better near the start of a workout, when you’re at your freshest.

‘Fantastic movement, and if you can do it then definitely give it a try. I love this for a lot of reasons, especially for lateral core and frontal plane stability,’ Lienhard says. ‘It would be a great finisher, but also consider doing it early in your workouts, maybe before some of the overhead pressing. This fits into the category of the stuff that I like to do earlier in my workouts – that engages my core heavily, works on different movement planes, trains my spine a little bit – before I get into my heavier, more traditional movements.

‘It’s a very versatile movement. Tom is only using one dumbbell, which is great if you’re at home, and it’s done in a way where you can really load your shoulders and triceps with enough weight to see strength and hypertrophy gains.

‘One of the big drawbacks of these functional movements is that, to be functional, you have to give up some of your ability to load the movement. You might lose a little of that on this exercise, but not much – it can still be loaded heavily enough to deliver real benefits.’

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