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Landmine exercises are increasingly popular — here are the benefits

Engage your muscles from various positions and angles using landmine equipment

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Man and people in gym doing standing one-arm landmine press exercise with barbell landmine attachment
Bear Fotos / Shutterstock

Landmine exercises allow you to reduce the compressive load on your spine compared to regular standing barbell workouts. You can target your muscles from different angles and positions using landmine equipment. This form of weight training is becoming increasingly popular due to its many benefits. Once you’ve mastered the same old moves, switching up your workout routine and trying other exercises is a good idea. Here’s why you should consider adding landmine exercises to your training schedule.

What is a landmine exercise?

landmine row diagram drawing of man wearing blue doing landmine row white background with both arms
Parkheta / Adobe Stock

You perform landmine exercises using landmine equipment, which refers to a barbell anchored to a unit on the floor on one end with a weight attached to the other end. Sometimes, the barbell is attached to a rack to keep it secure. You can pivot the barbell to work your muscles from various angles. Most gyms now have special landmine attachments that you can slide one end of the bar into to use as your anchor point. 

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If the gym doesn’t have a landmine attachment, you can lodge one end of the barbell into a corner and place a weight or heavy dumbbell over that end to stabilize it and stop it from moving around.

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What are the benefits of landmine exercises?

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Here are several of the many benefits:

  • Rather than moving in a straight line, you use a steady speed to move the barbell in a natural arcing motion.
  • You can use heavier weights while working on one side of your body.
  • You can target major muscles from different angles and positions that you can’t achieve with many other exercises.
  • Level up your balance, flexibility, and agility.
  • Improve your overall athletic performance.
  • Decrease the compressive load on your spine compared to regular standing barbell workouts.
  • Build leg and core strength, as well as targeting your upper body.
  • Enhance your grip strength.
  • Help correct muscular imbalances.
  • Keep your workout routine more interesting.

Top landmine exercises to add to your routine

the landmine row drawing diagram of man doing one single arm landmine row exercise
Adobe Stock

If you haven’t already, consider adding these effective landmine exercises to your workout plan:

  1. Meadows row — This unilateral rowing move is performed with a landmine setup, staggered stance, and overhand grip.
  2. Landmine lateral lunge — You can stabilize your body laterally and work on your balance with this landmine move.
  3. Landmine front squat — Performing a squat while lifting the weight in front of your body heightens the challenge.
  4. Landmine single-arm thruster — The thruster merges the landmine squat with a single-arm press for a killer workout.
  5. Landmine rotation — Also called the landmine twist, this exercise builds rotational strength, and you’ll really feel the burn deep in your core muscles and your obliques.

There’s a good reason why elite athletes and fitness enthusiasts perform landmine exercises. This versatile form of weight training can help you to build serious strength and muscle mass.

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Steph Green
Steph Green
Steph Green is a content writer specializing in healthcare, wellness, and nutrition. With over ten years of experience, she…
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