The 19 Best Landmine Exercises for Building Muscle Mass and Strength

Functional training is something of a dirty word in most bodybuilding circles. More often than not, it’s a term used to describe exercises that are more circus skills than muscle builders and often involve using light dumbbells and while balancing precariously on one leg!

While this summation is not entirely true and somewhat unfair, it’s fair to say that several of these so-called functional exercises are not very effective unless you actually ARE training to join the circus!

That all changes when you break out a training device called a landmine. Most landmine exercises are functional and allow you to lift the kinds of weights you need to use to build strength and muscle mass.

That’s why landmines are so popular with athletes – they’re a great way to improve sports performance.

In this article, we reveal 19 of the best landmine exercises for your lower body, upper body, and core.

What is a Landmine?

A landmine is a sort of hinge into which you insert one end of a barbell. That leaves one end of the bar free to move, and it can be used for a wide range of exercises. In many ways, a landmine works a little like a T-bar row, but with no platform to stand on, you can use it for many more exercises.

Landmines can move through 360 degrees, allowing for multidirectional movements. It’s this feature that makes landmine training so functional, which just means landmine training has an excellent carryover to everyday and sporting movements.

In contrast, some free-weight and most machine-based exercises are often described as non-functional, as they don’t replicate everyday movements. After all, when was the last time you did anything close to a leg extension or leg curl outside of the gym?

Landmines can be used singularly or in pairs and are useful for developing all fitness components, including strength, power, endurance, and muscle hypertrophy. They’re handy for developing balance and eliminating left-to-right strength imbalances.

Because the weight travels in an arc, landmine exercises are generally more joint-friendly than their free weight and machine alternatives. That’s especially true for overhead presses.

Some power racks have a built-in landmine station, and they can also be bought as stand-alone stations with large, heavy baseplates or designed to be weighed down with weight plates.

No landmine? No problem! A lot of the exercises in this article can be done by putting one end of a barbell in a corner. While not ideal, this is a viable option if you can’t get your hands on an actual landmine station.

With many landmine exercises, you just grip the end of the bar with one or both hands. However, there are also handles available that can add variety to your workouts. Let’s have a look at the benefits before we discuss the list of landmine exercises.

Benefits of Landmine Training

If you are wondering if landmine training is really worth devoting your time to, then you are not alone. But there is a reason why many coaches include landmine exercises in their training programs.

Landmine training offers many benefits, and we are going to cover all of them in this section.

1. Help You Train Multiplanar Movements

Whether you are a bodybuilder, professional athlete, or someone who trains to stay fit, including multi-planar movement in your training routine can have multiple benefits.

Most traditional strength training programs include exercises that are uniplanar. For example, lateral raise is a frontal plane movement, and squat is a sagittal plane movement.

But most joints and muscle groups are designed to move in different directions, and that’s when multi-planar movements come into action. Emphasizing movements that require the body to move in different planes of motion will improve your functionality and body coordination.

Its ability to incorporate multi-planar movements is the primary reason the landmine is making room in the workout program of elite athletes.

2. Strengthens Your Core

Landmine training engages your core. It will make your core work hard as a primary stabilizer during exercises. Whether you talk about landmine thrusters or single-leg lunges, your core will be in action.

3. Improves Grip Strength

Performing heavy landmine exercises also improves your grip strength. The width of the Olympic barbell sleeve is two inches, which is almost equivalent to a fat grip that helps improve grip strength and results in better biceps activation.

4. Rotational Training

Landmine exercises allow you to work on your rotational and anti-rotational strength more efficiently.

Multi-planar movements make landmine exercises more effective in core strengthening. These movements train your body to transfer the force from one muscle group to another, and the core works as an interpreter between your upper and lower body. 

Additionally, when you are doing unilateral exercises, you are strengthening your core by developing anti-rotational force. For example, when you are doing landmine reverse lunges or single-leg RDL, your core works as a stabilizer to prevent torso rotation.

The landmine setup also offers unique core strengthening exercises. As one end of the barbell is anchored, you can practice a wide range of rotational exercises like the landmine wood chop or full contact twist. 

5. Shoulder Health

Performing a strict military shoulder press can be difficult for many lifters, and some may experience shoulder impingement. In a landmine setup, the weight travels in an arc, relieving a lot of unnecessary shoulder stress.

6. Great Addition To Your Garage Gym

Anyone who owns a garage gym and already has a barbell and weight plates should definitely get the landmine attachment. The landmine setup requires limited area, making it a great addition to the home gym.

It will add to the range of exercises you can perform with minimum equipment. Investing in a landmine attachment will help you train uniplanar and multi-planar movements, eventually improving overall athleticism.

7. Versatility

Initially, the landmine setup might feel strange, but once you get used to it, it will be one of the most versatile pieces of equipment.

Using the landmine setup, you can train and strengthen your legs, hips, core, arms, chest, and back. Additionally, it also improves explosiveness, balance, and muscle coordination.

8. It’s Easy To Load and Deload

Performing landmine exercises is relatively easy. They are easy to load and de-load, meaning you can do the giant sets, drop-sets, and supersets more efficiently. 

How To Set Up A Landmine Barbell?

Setting up a landmine is not a complex task. You will need the following:

• A landmine station
• A barbell
• Some weight plates

A landmine station: These are available in different forms; some can be set up inside a squat rack, some are designed to be bolted to the floor, or you can buy floating landmine stations that can take 45-pound Olympic plates for keeping them grounded.

A barbell: It’s best to use the Olympic barbells as they have better weight distribution and tensile strength. Two-inch collars of Olympic bars also make it easy to grip the bar.

Weight plate: You will obviously not train with an empty barbell for too long. 

How To Set Up:

After setting up the landmine station, you just need to put one end of the barbell in the hollow pipe-like structure of the landmine station and load the other end of the barbell with some weight plates. That’s it!

What if you don’t have a landmine station? If you don’t have a landmine attachment, then find an empty corner and wedge one end of the barbell in the corner.

If you are afraid that the barbell might damage the corner, then you can cut down a tennis ball at the center and slide it onto the end of your barbell.

Here is the video demonstration: 

The 19 Best Landmine Exercises 

Got a landmine but not sure how to start using it? Here are 19 of the best landmine exercises. As always, spend a few minutes warming up before your workout, and start light to prevent accidents and injury.

1. Landmine Goblet Squat

Goblet squats are a great way to strengthen and condition your lower body while perfecting your squatting mechanics.

Typically done with a single kettlebell or dumbbell, the landmine version may be even better because it forces you to push your hips back as you descend and then drive them forward again as you stand back up. This increases posterior chain activation.

How to do it:

1. Lift the end of the bar and hold it in front of your chest with your hands close together, both palms facing inward. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Push your hips back and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Take care NOT to round your lower back.
3. Stand up explosively and repeat.

Pro tip: Try adding two seconds pause at the bottom to improve muscle engagement.

Benefits:

• It’s an excellent beginner-friendly exercise that teaches you to squat correctly.
• The bar’s arc path teaches the lifter to sit back, transfer weight to their heels and maintain an upright torso.
• It’s a great functional exercise that will help you build bigger legs.

Muscles worked: Hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, abs, and deltoids.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine thruster

2. Landmine Lateral Squat

Lateral squats are an excellent exercise for people who play sports as they develop your ability to move sideways, as you would when trying to dodge an opponent. As well as working your quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings, this functional move also involves your hip adductors and abductors.

How to do it:

1. Lift the end of the bar and hold it in front of your chest with your hands close together, both palms facing inward. Stand with your feet together. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Take a large step to the left, bend your left knee, and squat down until your left thigh is roughly parallel to the floor. Your right leg should remain relatively straight.
3. Push hard off your left leg and return to your starting position.
4. Do another rep on your left side or swap legs and alternate as preferred.

Pro tip: Start with the weaker leg first and then match the reps with the other leg.

Benefits:

• This exercise is especially beneficial for improving athleticism. It will make you better at running and jumping.
• It will boost your balance, flexibility, and agility.
• Landmine lateral squats will improve your squatting ability.
• It’s a functional exercise that will help you build well-proportionate legs.

Muscles worked: Gluteus medius, quads, hip adductors, inner thighs, and calves.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine sumo squat

3. Landmine Thrusters

Landmine thrusters add an upper-body component to goblet squats, making it a great full-body strength and power exercise. Done with light weights for high reps, this is an excellent conditioning exercise.

How to do it:

1. Lift the end of the bar and hold it in front of your chest with your hands close together, both palms facing inward. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Push your hips back and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Take care NOT to round your lower back.
3. Stand up explosively and use this momentum to help you drive the weight up and overhead to arms’ length.
4. Lower the bar back to your shoulders and repeat.

Pro tip: Keep your core tight all the time, maintain a strong back and exhale as you thrust the bar up.

Benefits:

• It’s a compound exercise that builds explosive power.
• Doing it with light weight, will improve conditioning.
• Many powerlifters, Crossfit athletes, and Olympic lifters have this exercise in their training arsenal.

Muscles worked: Quads, glutes, core, shoulders, triceps, chest, and traps.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Kneeling landmine thruster

4. Single Leg Landmine Romanian Deadlift

Single-leg deadlifts are an excellent unilateral posterior chain exercise, but balance can be a problem for some people, making them hard to do without lots of wobbles. Doing this exercise with a landmine increases stability, so you can focus more on the movement and less on maintaining your balance.

How to do it: 

1. Stand at 90-degrees to the end of your landmine bar. Pick it up and hold it in your nearest hand, using an overhand grip. Stand on the leg furthest from the landmine, knee slightly bent. Keep your arm down by your aside.
2. Hinging from your hips, lean forward as far as your flexibility allows and without rounding your lower back. Extend your other leg out behind you as a counterbalance.
3. Stand back up and repeat.
4. Rest, swap sides, and do the same number of reps on the other leg.

Pro tip: Lower the weight slowly to have better glute and hamstring engagement.

Benefits:

• It’s a unilateral exercise that corrects asymmetries.
• It’s a dynamic movement that demands proper ankle, knee, hip, and spine coordination, eventually improving the body’s balance and stability.
• It will help you develop stronger glutes and hamstrings.
• This exercise can be used as a mobility and warmup routine before heavy deadlifts.
• Single-leg landmine RDL also strengthens your core.

Muscles worked: Glutes, hamstrings, calves, and core.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine Romanian deadlift

5. Landmine Reverse Suitcase Lunge

Suitcase reverse lunges work not only your legs but your core too. The name comes from holding a weight in one hand down by your side like you are carrying a bag. Reverse lunges are generally more knee-friendly than forward lunges and are also a great way to target your posterior chain.

How to do it: 

1. Stand at 90-degrees to the end of your landmine bar. Pick it up and hold it in your nearest hand, using an overhand grip. Keep your arm down by your aside.
2. Step back with the leg furthest from the bar. Bend both legs and lower your rearmost knee down to within an inch of the floor.
3. Push off your back leg and bring your feet back together.
4. Do the required number of reps, swap sides, and repeat.

Pro tip: Bring the knee furthest from the bar up in front as you push yourself back into starting position to bring more explosiveness and balance.

Benefits:

• Landmine reverse suitcase lunge emphasizes glute and hamstring development.
• It also improves stability and balance.
• It’s a unilateral movement that focuses on a single leg at a time.
• While holding the barbell on one side, your other side is working hard to stabilize the movement.

Muscles worked: Hamstrings, glutes, quads, and core.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Angled landmine reverse lunge

6. Landmine Half-kneeling Press

Like all overhead pressing exercises, the landmine half-kneeling press works your deltoids and triceps. However, this unusual body position also increases core activation and removes your legs from the equation, making it a much more challenging exercise.

How to do it:

1. Kneel at the end of your landmine bar with your left leg forward and your right leg back. Both knees should be bent to 90-degrees. Hold the end of the bar at shoulder height in your right hand, with your palm facing inward.
2. Brace your core and make sure your torso is perfectly vertical. Do not lean to the side.
3. Press the bar up and slightly forward, leaning into the movement.
4. Lower your hand back to your shoulder and repeat.
5. Rest a moment, swap sides, and repeat.

Pro tip: Slight torso rotation brings more explosiveness to the movement.

Benefits:

• Helps you build stronger shoulders. It’s a unilateral movement that helps correct strength and muscle imbalance.
• The kneeling position eliminates hip drive.
• It’s an excellent variation for lifters who experience shoulder impingement while doing conventional barbell overhead presses. When you push the landmine bar in an overhand position, the arched movement path of the barbell keeps the center of gravity slightly forward, thus reducing the chances of shoulder pain and injuries.

Muscles worked: Front delts, upper chest, triceps, and core.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine thruster

7. Landmine Shoulder to Shoulder Press

This shoulder, triceps, and core exercise involves a bit more coordination than the average overhead pressing exercise. It’s a great way to shake up your upper body training. Add a bit of extra leg thrust to make it a push-press for variety.

How to do it:

1. Lift the bar and hold it in front of your chest with your hands close together, both palms facing inward. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, abs braced, and shoulders down and back.
2. Press the weight straight up and above your head.
3. Bend your arms and lower the bar down and across to one shoulder.
4. Push it back up, and then lower it to the opposite shoulder.
5. Alternate shoulders for the duration of your set.

Pro tip: Don’t let the elbows flare out. Keep them close to the body.

Benefits:

• This exercise allows you to use both hands, thus letting you lift heavier weights.
• Lifting heavier on this exercise means the core will need to work harder.
• This exercise will improve your shoulder strength and size.
• Hips will also be working hard to stabilize the lift.

Muscles worked: Front delts, upper chest, triceps, core, and glutes.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Kneeling landmine thruster

8. Landmine Meadows Row

The late John Meadows was a well-known bodybuilder and professional strength coach. He invented this unique back builder, which is named after him. While similar to single-arm rows, the angle of movement is unusual, which makes this exercise so beneficial.

How to do it:

1. Stand at 90-degrees to the end of your landmine bar. Pick it up and hold it in your nearest hand, using an overhand grip. Adopt a staggered stance, with the leg nearest the bar toward the rear. Place your non-working on your front thigh for support.
2. Keeping your elbow out to the side, row the end of the bar up to the side of your chest.
3. Extend your arm and repeat.
4. Do the same number of reps on both arms.

Pro tip: One-second pause at the peak contraction will improve hypertrophy.

Benefits:

• It’s an excellent movement that builds upper back strength and size.
• A unilateral movement that allows you to work on balance and core stability.
• Using the proper technique will allow you to add size and thickness to the back.
• This variation is especially beneficial for people who train in their garage gym and do not have heavy dumbbells available for single-arm dumbbell rows.

Muscles worked: Biceps, posterior delts, traps, rotator cuff, lats, and core.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Regression: Single-arm landmine row

9. Landmine T-bar Row with a Towel Grip

No T-bar row available? Don’t worry; you can do a very similar back-building movement using a landmine. T-bar rows are often done using a narrow V handle, but for this exercise, you’re going to use a gym towel instead. This is an excellent exercise for building not just a bigger, more muscular back but a stronger grip too.

How to do it:

1. Stand astride your landmine bar with your back to the pivot point. Put a gym towel under the bar and then grab the ends.
2. With your feet roughly shoulder-width apart, hinge forward from your hips, so your torso is set to about 45-degrees. Your arms should be straight, while your knees should be slightly bent. Brace your core.
3. Without rounding your lower back, bend your arms and row the bar upward until your elbows are extended behind your torso. Squeeze your shoulders back.
4. Extend your arms and repeat.

Pro tip: Two seconds pause at the bottom will enhance muscle engagement.

Benefits:

• Using a towel instead of a T-bar attachment will improve your grip strength.
• Using a towel will allow better lat contraction.
• It will help you build a stronger upper back by training the traps and posterior delts.

Muscles worked: Lats, traps, posterior delts, and rhomboids.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Single-arm landmine row

10. Single-Arm Landmine Row

While there is nothing wrong with dumbbell single-arm rows, using a landmine changes the movement slightly, which may be useful for adding variety to your back workouts.

How to do it:

1. Stand next to your landmine bar with the pivot point behind you. With your knees slightly bent, lean forward and grab the bar with your nearest hand, using a neutral or palms in grip.
2. Without rounding your lower back, row the weight up and into the side of your ribs. Keep your hips and shoulders square and level.
3. Extend your arm and repeat.
4. Rest and moment, and then do a set on the other side. Try to do the same number of reps with both arms.

Pro tip: Try drop sets for superior hypertrophy.

Benefits:

• Doing single-arm rows with the landmine allows a greater range of motion and strengthens the back, arms, shoulder, and core.
• As the exercise is generally done with one arm and one leg up on the bench, your torso will remain stable and supported.
• Resting one hand on the bench will allow you to go heavier.

Muscles worked: Lats, traps, posterior delts, arms, and rhomboids.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine Meadows row

11. Landmine Full-contact Twist

Core exercises don’t come much more complete than landmine full-contact twists. They work your rectus abdominus, obliques, and transverse abdominus, and your delts get a good workout too. Go light and focus on pushing the landmine bar forward and down. Only add weight when you know you’ve perfected your technique.

How to do it:

1. Lift the bar and hold it above your head with your hands close together, both palms facing inward. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back. Press the bar forward and down.
2. Maintaining core tension, turn your shoulders and arms and lower the landmine bar down to one side. Turn your hips in the same direction as your arms.
3. Raise the weight back up and then repeat on the opposite side.
4. Continue alternating sides for the duration of your set, pushing your arms forward and down the entire time.

Pro tip: Control the momentum, don’t let the momentum control the movement. Prefer lightweight and high reps.

Benefits:

• This exercise primarily targets obliques that play an important role in flexion or rotation of the upper body.
• It takes your core strength to another level by developing balance and control.

Muscles worked: Delts, obliques, abs, and erector spinae.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine squat to rotation press

12. Landmine Rollouts

While barbell rollouts are an excellent midsection exercise, they only really work your abs in one direction. With this landmine variation, the bar moves in an arc, which increases oblique activation. Swap sides set by set to make sure you work your abs from both directions.

How to do it:

1. With a weight plate on your landmine, kneel down at 90-degrees to the bar. Grip the and with both hands and using an overhand grip. Brace your abs.
2. Keeping your arms straight, roll the bar out and away from you until your chest is just a few inches off the floor.
3. Pull the bar back to your legs and repeat.
4. Rest a moment, swap sides, and repeat.

Pro tip: Try for the full range of motion for superior core strength.

Benefits:

• This exercise primarily focuses on the whole rectus abdominis and will help you develop more defined abs.
• It strengthens the upper body by engaging the lats, deltoids, erector spinae, chest, and arms as secondary stabilizer muscles.

Muscles worked: Rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, and obliques.

Rep ranges:

• Strength: AMRAP

Progression: Landmine full-contact twist

13. Angled Landmine Reverse Lunge

It’s an excellent lower-body exercise to target your glutes, quads, and hamstrings. To some people, it may look like a suitcase reserve lunge, but this is an advanced variation. One of the best parts of this variation is it has you lean to your side, better engaging your core and stabilizers.

How to do it:

• Stand at 90 degrees to the end of your landmine bar. Pick one end of the bar and place it in between the crooks of your elbows.
• Step back with the leg nearest to the bar and slightly lean towards the bar.
• Bend both legs and lower your rearmost knee to within an inch of the floor.
• Push off your back leg and bring your feet back together.
• Repeat for the recommended number of reps before switching to the other side.

Pro tip: Keep the tempo slow as controlling the movement is key to achieving the best bang for your buck while performing this exercise. Start with a lightweight and progress your way to heavier weights.

Benefits:

• This is an advanced movement that will build lower body strength.
• Tilting towards the bar allows better body balance and emphasizes the working leg.
• Holding the bar close to your torso reinforces an upright torso.

Muscle worked: Glutes, quads, hamstrings, hip adductors, inner thighs, and calves.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 8-10 reps
• Strength: 3-5 reps

Regression: Landmine reverse suitcase lunge

14. Landmine Fly

You thought landmine is good for the legs, back, and shoulders only? Wrong! Landmines can also assist in building stronger pectoral muscles.

The landmine fly is an excellent variation that has similar benefits as the floor fly with dumbbells. It is a unilateral movement.

How to do it:

• Lie down on the floor with your head towards the anchor point.
• Keep your feets flat on the floor with your knees bent.
• Use both hands to bring the end of the barbell to the center of the chest. This is going to be your starting position.
• Now release one hand to hold the barbell in a single hand, and bend your elbows slightly.
• Lower the weights out and down until the tricep of the working arm touches the floor.
• Pause for a second, then squeeze the chest to get the barbell back up to the center of the body.
• Repeat for the recommended reps before you switch sides.

Pro tip: Concentrate on the slow eccentric and fast concentric motion.

Benefits:

• It’s a great unilateral exercise that will add strength and size to your chest.
• It will allow you to train both sides equally.

Muscles worked: Chest and shoulders.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine chest press

15. Landmine Sumo Squat

The landmine sumo squat is a compound movement that strengthens the lower body and helps reinforce your hip adductors.

How to do it:

• Stand in front of the landmine with your feet wider than shoulder width. Keep your toes pointed outwards.
• Squat down to grab the landmine with both hands and interlace your fingers to secure the grip.
• Brace your core and keep your back straight as you stand up.
• Lower yourself towards the floor by pushing your hips down and back until your upper legs are almost parallel to the floor.
• Explode back to the starting position.
• Repeat for the recommended number of reps.

Pro tip: You can place 45 pounds plates underneath your heels to go deep and increase the range of motion.

Benefits:

• Landmine sumo squats will strengthen your adductors and improve your lower body stability.
• It pays a great emphasis on glute development.
• The arch bar path of the landmine will test your balance.

Muscles worked: Glutes, hamstring, quads, adductors, calves, and core.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine goblet squat

16. Landmine Upright Row

The landmine upright row is slightly different from the barbell upright row. As one end of the barbell is anchored to the landmine attachment, you will be rowing the free end with a single hand. The slight arch in the movement pattern makes this exercise easier on your shoulder joints.

How to do it:

• Stand at 90 degrees to the end of your landmine bar with your feet hip distance apart. Pick up the bar with your nearest hand, using an overhand grip.
• Keep your chest up and torso braced.
• Flare out your elbow and row the landmine bar up until your upper arm is parallel to the ground.
• Hold for a second at the top before you let the bar come down to the starting position.
• Repeat for the recommended number of reps before you switch sides.

Pro tip: Squeezing every contraction and pausing for two seconds at the top will significantly improve the quality of exercise.

Benefits:

• It’s a unilateral exercise that will help develop stronger shoulders.
• Landmine upright row also strengthens the core.
• Training each shoulder unilaterally will correct strength and size imbalances.

Muscles worked: Delts, obliques, abs, and arms.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine shoulder-to-shoulder press

17. Landmine Z Press

Z press got its name from the strongman Žydrūnas Savickas. It’s a pressing variation that improves shoulder strength, core stability, and hip mobility. It’s an excellent variation for people who struggle with overhead presses and want to build shoulder strength and size.

How to do it:

• Sit on the floor facing the landmine bar with your legs spread around the bar, forming a “V”.
• Grab the end of the bar with one hand and hold it in front of your shoulder with an underhand grip.
• Keep your elbows forward and your torso perpendicular to the floor.
• Now push the bar up to extend your arm overhead.
• Slowly bring the hand down to the starting position.
• Repeat for the recommended number of reps before switching hands.

Pro tip: Do not try to go heavy. Focus on controlling the tempo.

Benefits:

• Doing overhead presses in a seated position removes the involvement of the lower body and will let your shoulders do all the work.
• Landmine Z press is a unilateral exercise that improves core stability and strength.
• It improves hip mobility and hamstring flexibility as you keep the legs fully extended throughout the pushing movement.
• It’s a perfect exercise for people who experience shoulder impingement during overhead pressing lifts. The landmine station produces a slight arch in the movement which takes unnecessary tension off your shoulders. This helps build shoulder strength without the need to perform heavy vertical presses.

Muscles worked: Delts, obliques, abs, and triceps.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine half-kneeling shoulder press

18. Kneeling Landmine Thruster

Do not make the mistake of considering the kneeling landmine thruster same as the standing variation. Standing landmine thrusters engages the quads and calves for the movement but kneeling on the floor while doing landmine thrusters improves the glute and hamstring activation while eliminating the role of quads and calves.

How to do it:

• Kneel down and lift the bar from one end and hold it in front of your chest with both hands. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
• Sit back onto your heels, and take care NOT to round your lower back.
• Thrust your hips forward while squeezing the glutes, and use this momentum to help drive the weight up and overhead to arm’s length.
• Lower the bar back to your shoulders and repeat.

Pro tip: Follow the 4-2-1 tempo, four seconds of eccentric motion, two seconds pause at the bottom, and then one second of concentric movement.

Benefits:

• Kneeling landmine thrusters strengthen the glutes.
• It’s a low-back and knee-friendly thruster variation that enhances full-body explosiveness.
• Strengthens the hip extension, which improves athletic performance and pelvic stabilization.
• Develops glutes, shoulders, triceps, and core explosiveness.

Muscles worked: Glutes, hamstrings, core, shoulders, triceps, chest, and traps.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 10-12 reps
• Strength: 1-5 reps

Progression: Landmine single-leg RDL

19. Landmine Squat to Rotational Press

It’s an excellent functional exercise that combines a landmine squat with a rotational press. Landmine squat to rotational press combines two movement planes, thus improving strength, mobility, and coordination.

How to do it:

• Stand at 90 degrees to the end of a landmine bar with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Grab the bar with your outside hand using an underhand grip and hold it in front of your chest. This will be your starting position.
• Lower yourself towards the floor by pushing your hips back and down.
• Return to the starting position while simultaneously rotating your torso towards the anchor point and press the bar towards the ceiling.
• Your arm should be fully extended, and your torso should be facing the anchor point at the top of the movement.
• Slowly return to the starting position.
• Repeat for recommended reps before switching sides.

Pro tip: Keep your core braced all the time, inhale as you squat down, and exhale as you stand up and press the weight overhead.

Benefits:

• This exercise teaches you the transfer of force from one plane to another.
• Excellent functional exercise that strengthens the whole body.
• Needless to say that it builds explosive strength and coordination.
• For anyone who plays sports, working on your rotational strength will benefit your athletic performance.

Target muscles: Quads, glutes, core, shoulders, chest, erector spinae, and calves.

Rep ranges:

• Hypertrophy: 8-10 reps from each side
• Strength: 3-5 reps from each side

Regression: Landmine thrusters

Full-Body Landmine Workouts

Depending on your fitness and experience levels with the iron, we have created two programs for beginners and advanced lifters.

Landmine Workout For Beginners

#	Exercises	Sets
1.	Landmine goblet squat	4
2.	Landmine reverse suitcase lunge	3
3.	Landmine single-leg RDL	3
4.	Landmine half-kneeling shoulder press	4
5.	Landmine floor fly	4
6.	Landmine full contact twist	3

Advanced Level Landmine Workout

#	Exercises	Sets
1.	Landmine squat to rotation	4
2.	Angled landmine reverse lunge	3
3.	Kneeling landmine thruster	4
4.	Landmine Z press	4
5.	Landmine Meadows row	3
6.	Landmine rollout	5

Essential Tips For Landmine Training

Although landmine exercises are relatively safer, you can get hurt if you do not follow the proper form and techniques. There are a few pointers that you should remember.

1. Don’t neglect the warmup: Training with a landmine includes multi-planar movements, thrusts, rotations, etc. It’s always recommended to pay emphasis to the warmup before training. Pre-workout warmup will prepare the muscle and joints for the intense workout. Doing some core stabilization and hip mobility drills will surely help.
2. Start with lightweight: If you are new to the landmine, always start with lightweight. The barbell will move in an arch which is quite unusual for the body. Allow your body sufficient time to get used to it.
3. Take your landmine workout seriously: Many people have a tendency to take the landmine workout lightly just because they are lifting light weights. These exercises require seriousness towards perfecting the form and focusing on the correct movement pattern.
4. Focus on the tempo, not the weight: Training with landmine involves a lot of muscle coordination, and you should be more focused on the slow and controlled tempo instead of going through the motion for the sake of it.

FAQs

1. What kind of exercises can I do with the landmine?

You can train every body part with a landmine. Landmine allows you to do the squat, lunge, hinge, push, pull, and rotation movements. Additionally, it also facilitates multi-planar movements to make a highly versatile platform.  

Landmine training is especially beneficial for training legs, glutes, core, back, shoulders, and grip.

2. How heavy is a landmine bar?

Generally, the Olympic barbell (which weighs 45 pounds) is used in the landmine attachment. But the bar will not feel like 45 pounds because one end is attached to the landmine.

Many gyms install cheap barbells in the landmine attachment that might weigh less than an Olympic barbell. So basically, there is no standard weight of an empty landmine bar.

3. Is landmine press for shoulders or chest?

The landmine press can help you develop stronger shoulders and chest both. The landmine press primarily works the anterior delts and upper chest.

4. Best landmine shoulder exercises?

There are a variety of shoulder exercises you can do with the landmine bar. Here are some of them:

• Landmine press
• Landmine thruster
• Landmine shoulder-to-shoulder press
• Kneeling landmine thruster
• Landmine upright row
• Landmine reverse fly

Best Landmine Exercises – Wrapping Up

Bodybuilding and functional training are often seen as being on opposite sides of the workout spectrum. And while bodybuilding is more about aesthetics than performance, that doesn’t mean you can’t be muscular and move well too. Check out athletes like wrestlers and Olympic weightlifters for inspiration.

Landmine training is one way to build muscle and enhance athletic performance at the same time. Using a landmine develops balance and coordination while overloading your muscles, and most exercises done with this particular training tool also provide your core with a great workout.

You don’t have to go all landmine all the time; that would probably be overkill. But, adding some upper body, lower body, and core landmine exercises to your training week will do you nothing but good. And remember, you don’t even need a landmine device to do these exercises; just shove one end of your barbell in a corner, and you’re good to go!