20 Best Landmine Exercises

What is a Landmine Exercise?

Landmine exercises are a versatile and effective way to target various muscle groups using a specialized piece of equipment called a landmine attachment.

It functions as a fixed platform for your barbell, allowing you to rotate it and perform different variations of your favorite exercises by securing one end to the ground while leaving the other free to move.

Many gym-goers overlook rotational exercise, yet it’s essential for building your core through side-to-side twisting motions, like swinging a tennis racket, punching someone, or rowing a boat.

You can make due by putting a barbell in a corner and tying a towel around one end if your gym doesn’t have a landmine. Incorporate a few of these 10 exercises into your upcoming training session, and see as your gains soar.

Best landmine exercises

Half-Kneeling Press

If you have trouble with overhead presses, give this a try.

Steps To Follow:

• Keeping your foot still on the same side, take a step back into a lunge after raising the loaded end of the bar to your shoulder.
• Move the bar out of your shoulder’s path.
• without bending. Reduce, restart, and so on.

Meadows Row

This strengthens your grip while striking your lats.

Steps To Follow:

• Tilt down, stand close to the heavy bar, and grasp it with an overhand grip.
• Raise the bar towards your hips by pulling your elbow back and behind your torso.
• Lower gradually, then do it again.

Kneeling Pass Over

Steps To Follow:

• Bring your knees up to the weighted end.
• Grip the bar firmly with both hands as you roll it to the side.
• Lift the bar to the middle of your chest while maintaining an upright posture, then lower it in an arc to the opposite side.
• Take a deep breath and repeat.

T-bar Row

Steps To Follow:

• Take out two rings and thread one strap through each.
• Make the necessary adjustments to get them closer.
• Next to the plates, loop the strap beneath the bar.
• Hold a ring on either side of the bar in one hand.
• Bring your elbows back and hunch your torso.
• Stop and gradually descend.

Reverse Lunge

As you drive up, a bar provides something to push against, which puts more strain on your front leg.

Steps To Follow:

• Lean backward and grasp the bar with both hands.
• As soon as your back knee touches the floor, immediately rise up.
• On each repetition, switch up your legs.

Y Press

This is a great warm-up, finisher, or rehabilitation exercise for your shoulders because it uses little or no weight.

Steps To Follow:

• Grasp the bar with your palm facing out as you sit.
• Raise to shoulder level and then expel upward pressure.
• Lower and pause.
• When you’re done, switch sides.

RDL with a single-leg

Perfect if you have trouble balancing.

Steps To Follow:

• Using a suitcase-style grasp, raise the bar to waist height.
• Raise the other leg and bend at the hips.
• Reverse to stand after pausing when the bar contacts the floor.
• When it’s set, switch sides.

Hack Squat

Steps To Follow:

• Raise the bar to your shoulder and then return it to the plate.
• Take a step forward until the angle of your body matches the bar’s.
• Put yourself in a deep squat.
• As you stand, push your back against the plate.
• After every set, swap shoulders.

Clean and Press

Steps To Follow:

• Tilt to grasp the bar with your side facing it.
• Pull it up explosively and turn to face the weight.
• Change hands and press the bar away as it approaches the top of your chest.
• After every set, switch sides and reverse the motion.

Fly Delta

This exercises shoulder and back muscles, which are important for good posture.

Steps To Follow:

• Raise an empty bar to your thighs.
• Lift the bar in an arc while maintaining a straight arm, ending with your arm extended behind your head.
• Descend gradually in the same arc.

Landmine Curl

The landmine curl blends the bicep-building benefits of regular curls with the forearm-building benefits of thick bar training.

The landmine curl is a useful exercise that targets the biceps and forearms in one action, despite its seeming overspecialization and “low priority” status.

Steps To Follow:

• Keeping one hand holding the sleeve palm up, start standing sideways to the bar.
• The outside of your leg should be where your working hand is.
• Maintain a small bend in your knees. Keeping your elbow pressed against your ribs, curl your hand up.
• By nature, the bar will curve in the direction of your other shoulder.
• When the weight reaches your shoulder, pause momentarily before stepping back into the starting position.

Full Contact Twist

Because it develops significant rotational core strength, the full contact twist—also known as a landmine twist—is highly favored by combat sports athletes and track and field throwers.

It is one instance of how real-world strength can be developed by imitating a sport-specific movement in the gym, like as a powerful, winding uppercut or hammer throw spin.

Steps To Follow:

• With your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground, take a seat on the floor.
• Lean back a little while maintaining a straight back and using your core.
• Make a fist by bringing your hands together in front of you.
• Turn your body slowly to one side and move your joined hands to the ground in front of you.
• Try to turn your torso as much as it will allow you to.
• Go back to the beginning in a controlled manner.
• Before turning to the opposite side, pause momentarily in the middle.
• Returning to the center, take a breath.
• Breathe out as you rotate to each side.
• Do the exercise for a predetermined amount of time or for a predetermined number of repetitions.

Landmine Hot Potato

Although the name of this hot potato might be the funniest on the list, its capacity to strengthen the core is no joke.

The object is to repeatedly “throw” the weight from hand to hand while swiftly catching and releasing it.

The hot potato trains the body to develop explosive, athletic core strength by absorbing force and quickly rerouting it to produce force.

Steps To Follow:

• Place your feet wider than shoulder-width apart as you face the bar.
• With one hand, hold the sleeve at shoulder height. Shortly press down firmly on the weight and release it into the air in front of you.
• As you grab the weight with the other hand, let it fall back towards you.
• As soon as you catch the weight and turn around to toss it back to the other side, brace your abs.

Landmine Floor Press

A variant of the standard floor press, the landmine floor press entails executing the exercise with a landmine attachment. This is a good exercise to work the shoulders, triceps, and chest.

Steps To Follow:

• A landmine attachment is usually attached to the ground or a landmine post. Insert a barbell into it.
• Place the appropriate number of weight plates on the barbell’s free end.
• With your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent, lie down on your back on the floor.Using both hands, hold the heavy end of the barbell with your palms facing outward.
• Place your hands on the barbell somewhat wider apart than shoulder-width apart. With your upper arms resting on the floor, maintain a 90-degree bend in your elbows.
• Lift the barbell by reaching your arms straight up.
• During the peak of the exercise, concentrate on tightening your chest muscles.
• Controllably lower the barbell back down until your upper arms just barely make contact with the ground.
• Breathe in while lowering the barbell.
• As you raise the barbell again, let out a breath.
• Execute the prescribed quantity of reps for your training regimen.

Landmine Sumo Squat

A combination exercise that tones your lower body and strengthens your hip adductors is the landmine sumo squat.

Steps To Follow:

• Place yourself facing the landmine with your feet wider than your shoulders. Point your toes outward at all times.
• To secure your hold on the landmine, squat down and grab it with both hands, interlacing your fingers.
• As you stand up, brace your core and maintain a straight back.
• Push your hips back and down until your upper legs are nearly parallel to the floor, then lower yourself towards the floor.
• Charge all the way back to the beginning.
• Continue for the prescribed amount of repetitions.

Landmine Z Press

This pressing variation enhances hip mobility, core stability, and shoulder strength. For those who have trouble with overhead presses and want to strengthen and increase the size of their shoulders, this is a great alternative.

Steps To Follow:

• With your legs arranged in a “V” shape around the landmine bar, take a seat on the ground facing it.
• With one hand, grasp the bar’s end and hold it beneath your shoulder in an underhand grip.
• Maintain a torso that is perpendicular to the floor and your elbows forward.
• Raise the bar now to raise your arm above your head.
• Return the hand to its initial position slowly.
• Before swapping hands, perform the prescribed number of repetitions.

 Angled Landmine Reverse Lunge

This is a great lower-body workout to work your hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps. This is an advanced variant, yet it may appear like a suitcase reserve lunge to others. This variation’s strongest feature is that it forces you to lean to your side, which improves the way your stabilizers and core are used.

Steps To Follow:

• Grasp the end of your landmine bar at a 90-degree angle. Select one end of the bar and nestle it between your elbow crooks.
• Lean slightly in the direction of the bar while taking a step back with the leg closest to it.
• Lower your back knee to within an inch of the floor while bending both legs.
• Reposition your feet such that your rear leg is pushed off.
• Go to the opposite side after performing the prescribed number of repetitions.

 Landmine Rollouts

Barbell rollouts are a great exercise for the stomach, but they only truly target one side of your abs. The bar moves in an arc with this landmine version, increasing oblique activation. Make sure you work your abs from both directions by switching sides, set per set.

Steps To Follow:

• Adjust your landmine so that it is 90 degrees to the bar and place a weight plate on it. Using an overhand grip, hold the and with both hands.
• Get your abs ready.
• Roll the bar out and away from you while maintaining a straight arm position until your chest is only a few inches off the ground.
• Return the bar to your legs and do it again.
• Take a break, switch sides, and go again.

Landmine Thrusters

Goblet squats are an excellent full-body strength and power workout that gains an upper-body component from landmine thrusters. This is a great conditioning exercise that can be performed with light weights for high repetitions.

Steps To Follow:

• Keeping both hands clasped together and facing inward, lift the end of the bar and hold it in front of your chest.
• Place your feet shoulder-width apart and point your toes slightly outward while standing.
• Pull your shoulders back and down while bracing your core.
• Squat down until your thighs are almost parallel to the floor by pushing your hips back.
• Make sure your lower back is not rounded off.
• Utilize your explosive standing motion to propel the weight overhead to arms-length.
• Return the bar to your shoulders and do it again.

Landmine Shoulder to Shoulder Press

Compared to the typical overhead pressing workout, this one targets the shoulders, triceps, and core with a little bit more coordination. It’s a fantastic method to mix up your exercises for the upper body. For variation, add a little extra leg drive to make it a push-press.

Steps To Follow:

• Keeping your hands pressed together and your palms pointing inward, raise the bar and hold it in front of your chest.
• Place your feet shoulder-width apart, brace your abs, and keep your shoulders back and down.
• Lift the weight directly above your head.
• Lower the bar to one shoulder, bending your arms in the process.
• After raising it back up, drop it to the other shoulder.
• For the course of your set, switch up your shoulders.

The Advantages of Training with Landmines

Because landmine training may be utilized to achieve strength improvements, muscle size, and overall fitness without a major risk of damage from joint strain, it is commonly featured in sports training programs.

Due to these identical qualities, the landmine is a helpful tool for any lifter—athlete or not—who wants to increase without straining their joints.

Numerous exercises made possible by the landmine’s angled movement and leveraged resistance are likewise unattainable with dumbbells or other free weights.

The lumberjack squat, for instance, uses an arcing motion that almost immediately positions your torso safely. Exercises like dumbbell goblet squats or barbell back squats cannot provide the same level of technique reinforcement.

Assist You in Learning Multiplanar Motions

• Multi-planar movement can be a beneficial addition to any training regimen, regardless of whether the trainee is a bodybuilder, professional athlete, or someone looking to maintain their fitness.
• Uniplanar exercises are a staple of most conventional strength training regimens. For instance, a squat is a sagittal plane action, while a lateral raise is a frontal plane movement.
• Multi-planar movements, however, are possible since the majority of joints and muscle groups are made to move in many directions. You will become more functional and have better body coordination if you emphasize activities that need the body to move in several planes of motion.
• Elite athletes are incorporating landmines into their workout regimens mostly because of their capacity to incorporate multi-planar motions.

Boosts Your Core

• Training with landmines works your core. As your main stabilizer during activities, it will put a lot of strain on your core. Your core will be working whether you’re talking about single-leg lunges or landmine thrusters.
• Enhances Grip Power
• Engaging in intense landmine drills enhances your grip power as well. The Olympic barbell sleeve is two inches wide, which is nearly the same as a fat grip that enhances grip strength and better activates the biceps.

Training Rotation

• You can more effectively strengthen your rotational and anti-rotational muscles with landmine workouts.
• Landmine exercises work the core more effectively when they involve multi-planar motions. Your body learns how to transfer force from one muscle group to another through these motions, and your core serves as a translator between your upper and lower body.
• Additionally, by building your anti-rotational force during unilateral activities, you are strengthening your core. For example, your core acts as a stabilizer to keep your torso from rotating when performing single-leg RDLs or landmine reverse lunges.
• Additionally, the landmine arrangement provides a workout for strengthening the core. With the barbell fixed at one end, you can do a variety of rotational movements such as the landmine wood chop.

Health of the Shoulders

• Many lifters find it challenging to perform a strict military shoulder press, and some may even develop shoulder impingement. The weight moves in an arc when setting up a landmine, which reduces needless shoulder strain.

How to Set Up Exercises with Landmines

Programming for landmine exercises can be done based on the particular exercise, training volume, and overall fitness regimen.

Since most upper body landmine workouts are done one-handed, they could take the place of comparable dumbbell exercises. A landmine press, for example, would be just as, if not more, effective than a dumbbell shoulder press.

Landmine workouts are typically lighter than their barbell counterparts. For instance, you might be able to deadlift 500 pounds with a barbell, but you’re not going to utilize the same amount of weight for the same workout with a landmine.

While this isn’t inherently bad, landmine training might not play a big part in the rest of your training if lifting extremely high weights is on your to-do list.

How to Use a Landmine for Warm-Up

The landmine can be used for training as well as a general, full-body warm-up.
A quick, easy, and efficient technique to prepare the muscles and joints for any kind of rigorous lifting session is to use little to no weight.
Take a look at this detailed circuit.

Terrain Goblet Squat

• Place your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and hold the bar at chest height.
• Maintaining your shoulders back, squat down. Before going on to the following exercise, complete four repetitions.

Two-Arm Landmine Overhead Press

• Press up to complete lockout while maintaining both hands on the bar while standing.
• Before going on to the following exercise, complete four repetitions.

Full Contact Twist

• Rotate from the hips to lower the bar to one leg from the locked-out press posture.
• When you rotate all the way across and shift the weight to the other leg, maintain a very tiny bend in your arms. That amounts to one rep. Before going on to the following exercise, complete four repetitions in total.

Landmine Romanian Deadlift

• With both hands, lower the weight to waist height.
• When you feel strain in your hamstrings and glutes, slightly bend your knees while bending at the waist and then stand up straight.
• Before going on to the following exercise, complete four repetitions.

Landmine Two-Arm Row

• Keep your hips pushed back and your body bowed at the waist.
• Lower the bar to a full stretch after rowing it up to your chest with both hands on the sleeve.
• After completing four repetitions, repeat the first exercise.
• Execute three full circuits in total.

Conclusion

Exercises using landmines are an excellent method to change up your training and put your muscles through novel challenges. Because they can be adjusted to fit individuals of varying fitness levels, they are also a safe and efficient form of exercise. Start with a modest weight if you are new to landmine exercises, and as you gain strength, progressively increase the weight. The exercises can also be changed to make them harder or easier.

FAQs

Reference

• Colucci, C. (2023, February 24). The 14 Best Landmine Exercises for Total-Body Size and Strength. Breaking Muscle. https://breakingmuscle.com/best-landmine-exercises/
• Tracey, A. (2022, December 21). These 10 Landmine Exercises Will Give Your Routine an Explosive Twist. Men’s Health. https://www.menshealth.com/uk/building-muscle/g42266318/best-landmine-exercises/
• Dale, P., & Miller, T. (2023, February 6). The 19 Best Landmine Exercises for Building Muscle Mass and Strength. Fitness Volt. https://fitnessvolt.com/best-landmine-exercises/