At your local gym, you may have seen a tube on the ground that is connected to a swivel joint and rotates in all directions.
It’s called a “landmine” and it looks like the image above.
Even if you have seen it around and have a vague idea that you can insert a barbell into the tube and do exercises with it, you may not know exactly what to do with it. Consequently, you have left him alone.
But the land mine is a simple device that is worth getting acquainted with. Today we will explain why and how to use it to combine your strength training.
The Benefits of Landmine Exercises
Old school lifters have been doing landmine drills long before the dedicated landmine device existed. They just pushed the end of a bar into the corner of a room and did rows and presses with it.
Landmine makes these lifts more stable and smooth, opens up new possibilities for actually moving a barbell, and adds the following benefits to your exercise routine:
You can pretty much do any exercise imaginable with a landmine. With just a landmine attachment, a barbell, and a few plates, you can do a wide range of strength training exercises: curls, lunges, squats, rows, presses, cleans, and more.
Add unique stimuli to your workouts. Not only can you do a wide variety of exercises with a landmine, but you can also perform them in a unique way. Once inserted into the landmine tube, you can move a bar vertically, horizontally, or in a full arc; Push, pull, twist and punch every plane of motion. The landmine allows you to work your entire body and stimulate muscles that don’t get activated as much when you stick to conventional lifts.
Easier on the joints than traditional barbell training. If you have sore shoulders and knees, consider incorporating ground variations of traditional barbell lifts into your workouts. Landmine exercises use lever resistance to stress muscles, which research shows is a little easier on the joints than traditional barbell lifts.
Lever action also does a great job of shoring up your stabilizer muscles, which helps protect your body from injury.
You can go from one move to another quickly. This allows you to make your workouts denser and more time efficient. A landmine circuit is an excellent conditioning exercise.
Balances strength imbalances. Often one of your legs and/or arms is stronger than the other, and when you exercise, the dominant half of your body can withstand more stress, creating strength imbalances and increasing your risk of injury.
doing unilateral exercises, where you predominantly work one half of your body at a time, you can balance these imbalances as well as strengthen your overall stabilizer muscles, allowing you to move more safely and effectively. The landmine offers possibilities to perform all kinds of these one-sided exercises.
You will get thick bar training. When you do landmine exercises, you have to hold onto the thick neck of the bar. doing so will help strengthen your grip.
Land mine exercises are fun. Landmine exercises are different from typical barbell/dumbbell/machine exercises. Their novel and dynamic nature makes them fun to make.
The land mine is aptly named as it can add a bit of explosiveness to your training.
8 landmine exercises to try
The sky is the limit when it comes to the exercises you can do with a landmine. To help you get started, here are 8 to try:
Landmine Semi-Kneeling Press
One of the simplest landmine exercises is the one-arm standing press; simply grab the sleeve (the end) of the bar with one hand and push it up. This move works the shoulders, triceps, and chest and is easier on the shoulder joints than a traditional press.
The Landmine Kneeling Press is a variation of this exercise that also challenges your glutes and core.
Get into a half kneeling position in front of the bar with your left leg forward.
Raise the bar with both hands toward your right shoulder. Assume a neutral grip on the bar with your right hand.
Press the bar up with your right arm until it is fully extended.
Slowly lower it to the starting position.
After completing a set with your right arm, change your half-kneel position so your right leg is forward and press the bar with your left arm.
Landmine Side Elevation
This is a great way to isolate your middle shoulder muscles.
Stand perpendicular to the landmine with the end of the bar in your right hand and down to your left hip.
While keeping your arm straight, perform a lateral raising motion, raising your arm at a diagonal angle across your body.
Switch to the left arm.
Row of Landmine Meadows
This exercise was developed by the late bodybuilder John Meadows. It’s a one-sided rowing motion, so you’ll work your lats, forearms, and rear shoulder muscles. But because you’re doing it in an articulated position, you’re also working your lower body muscles, including your lower back and hamstrings.
Lean forward over the bar with a staggered stance and grab the bar with an overhand grip.
Keeping your back flat, raise the bar by driving your elbow back.
Lower the bar in a controlled manner. Repeat.
Landmine Full Contact Twist
The unique design of the landmine allows you to do rotational movements that exercise your core muscles.
Stand in front of the bar, feet shoulder-width apart. Using both hands, pick up the bar by the sleeve and raise it to chest level. Press the weight overhead until your arms are almost locked out. (Note that while my hands are staggered in the image above, I’ve since come to find that putting one hand on top of the other feels better and more intuitive.) This is the initial position.
Lower the bar to one hip. Allow your shoulders to rotate and your foot to rotate as the weight moves.
When the weight reaches your leg, forcefully reverse direction to bring the weight back to center and smoothly continue to the opposite leg.
Lowering the weight to each side (left and right) is considered one full rep.
Landmine Goblet Squat
A squat move that works virtually every leg muscle.
Stand in front of the bar with your feet shoulder-width apart. Grab the sleeve of the bar with both hands and lift it up to chest level.
Keeping your torso straight, lower your body into a squat position.
When the hip crease reaches about 1 inch below the knee, drive up.
Landmine Reverse Lunge
A lower body workout that really hits your quads and glutes. This is a great move for conditioning.
Place the barbell across your chest with your hands at the neck end of the barbell, palms facing in and slightly below.
With your feet hip-width apart, step back with your right foot. Lower your body so both legs are at 90˚ and your torso is fully upright.
Driving from the heel of the stationary front leg, come back up.
Alternate legs with each rep.
Landmine Squat to Press
This dynamic full-body move combines a squat and press and will get your heart rate racing.
Stand facing the end of the bar with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Raise the bar to chest level.
Lower into a squat position and drive up. When you get to a standing position, press the bar overhead.
Lower the bar and immediately return to the squat position.
Rotational press and clearing of landmines
This is another dynamic full body move. It’s a bit tricky to do, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a lot of fun.
Stand facing the end of the bar with your feet a little more than shoulder-width apart. Hold the bar with your right hand.
Clean the bar at shoulder height by turning your feet toward it. This will cause your body to rotate towards the other end of the bar.
As soon as the bar reaches shoulder height, continue pressing up until your arm is fully extended.
Lower your back to your starting position.
The clean and press should be a smooth, continuous movement. Practice it without weight on the bar until you get the movement down.
Landmine Programming Exercises
Landmine exercises are great accessory lifts for a strength training program. You can add weight plates to the end of the bar to make exercises challenging and there are many ways to incorporate them into your workouts.
If you split your training sessions into upper-body days and lower-body days, you could do two upper-body ground movements (like the half-kneel press and row) on upper-body days. and two lower body ground movements (such as the goblet squat and lunge) on lower body days.
If you train your upper and lower body on the same day, choose one upper and one lower body landmine exercise.
Do 3 sets of 10.
For a more conditioning workout, do your landmine exercises in a circuit style.
Choose two exercises and do them side by side. Rest for 30-60 seconds. Repeat two more times. Choose two more pairs of exercises and do the same thing again.
