Tips on how to Do the Landmine Press: Muscle groups Labored, Kind, and Alternate options

The landmine press is an overhead urgent train involving a landmine press attachment.

In contrast to different overhead press variations, it means that you can press in an arc barely in entrance of your physique along with your wrist in a impartial place. For a lot of weightlifters, that is extra snug than urgent with a barbell as a result of it takes some stress off your shoulders. 

This makes the landmine press a wonderful overhead press variation for these coaching round an harm or with a historical past of shoulder points.  

On this article, you’ll study what the landmine press is, why it’s helpful, methods to use correct landmine press kind, the very best landmine press options, and extra.

What Is the Landmine Press?

The landmine press is an overhead urgent train involving a barbell and a “landmine press attachment,” which is a bit of fitness center gear consisting of a steel sleeve with a pivoting joint often hooked up to the ground or the bottom of a squat or energy rack.

(You may also get landmine press attachments that you simply anchor to the ground utilizing weight plates, although these are much less widespread in business gyms.) 

There are a number of variations of the landmine press, however the commonest (and the one we’ll give attention to on this article) is the single-arm landmine press (hereafter known as the landmine press).

To carry out the landmine press, insert one finish of a barbell in a landmine press attachment and cargo the opposite finish with weight plates, then hoist the weighted finish of the barbell as much as shoulder peak, and press it overhead utilizing one arm.

Landmine Press vs. Overhead Press

The primary variations between the landmine and overhead press are the orientation of your grip and the trail the bar travels as you press it overhead.

Within the landmine press, you’re taking a impartial grip (palm going through towards your physique) and press the burden barely ahead. As you press, you additionally lean towards the burden in order that on the high of the rep, your physique varieties a straight line out of your hand to your hips. 

Conversely, within the overhead press, you’re taking a pronated grip (palms going through ahead), stand upright, and press the burden instantly upward. 

For these with achy shoulders or poor shoulder mobility, taking a impartial grip and urgent the burden barely ahead tends to really feel extra snug. That’s why many individuals with cranky shoulders or a historical past of shoulder points choose the landmine press to the overhead press.

Nevertheless, when you have wholesome, cellular shoulders, standing upright and urgent a barbell straight overhead engages extra muscle tissue throughout your whole physique and means that you can carry heavier weights safely, which is why I usually advocate the overhead press in case your shoulders permit it.

That stated, each workouts successfully practice most of the identical upper-body muscle tissue in barely alternative ways, which is why it doesn’t make sense to suppose by way of landmine press vs overhead press. As an alternative, you’ll possible profit from together with each workouts in your program.

A great way to do that is to incorporate the overhead press in your program for 8-to-10 weeks of coaching, take a deload, then exchange the overhead press with the landmine press for the next 8-to-10 weeks of coaching.

Then, you may both proceed alternating between the workouts each few months or stick to the one you like.

That is how I personally like to prepare my coaching, and it’s just like the strategy I advocate in my health books for women and men, Greater Leaner Stronger and Thinner Leaner Stronger. 

(And if you happen to’d like much more particular recommendation about how you must manage your coaching to succeed in your well being and health targets, take the Legion Energy Coaching Quiz, and in lower than a minute, you’ll know the proper energy coaching program for you. Click on right here to test it out.)

Landmine Press: Advantages

Equally to most overhead urgent workouts, the landmine press successfully trains a number of main upper-body muscle teams, particularly the shoulders, higher again, arms, and core. 

Nevertheless, in contrast to many different overhead presses, the landmine press means that you can press the burden in an arc barely ahead of your physique and convey the burden down in entrance of your shoulder slightly than out to the facet within the so-called “high-five” place (higher arm out to the facet along with your elbow bent at 90 levels and your palm going through ahead).

That is vital as a result of many individuals discover that urgent in an arc with their elbow ahead and wrist in a impartial place locations much less stress on their shoulders and feels extra snug. That is significantly true for individuals with a historical past of shoulder accidents.

The landmine press additionally means that you can practice your shoulders unilaterally (one after the other), which is useful as a result of it . . .

• Might allow you to carry extra complete weight than you may when coaching each side of your physique concurrently, which ought to assist you acquire extra muscle and energy over time
• Helps you develop a larger mind-muscle connection with the goal muscle tissue since you solely must give attention to one facet of your physique at a time
• Helps you discover and repair any dimension and energy imbalances you might need
• Might enhance your athletic efficiency greater than bilateral workouts (people who practice each side of your physique concurrently)

Landmine Press: Muscle groups Labored

The primary muscle tissue labored by the landmine press are the . . .

It additionally trains your abs and obliques to a lesser diploma, too.

Right here’s how the primary muscle tissue labored by the landmine press look in your physique:

Landmine Press: Kind

One of the simplest ways to study methods to do the landmine press is to separate the train into three components: arrange, press, and descend.

1. Arrange

Insert one finish of a barbell in a landmine press attachment and cargo the opposite finish with weight plates. 

Stand going through the weighted finish of the barbell along with your toes shoulder-width aside. Bend over and seize the tip of the barbell with each fingers and hoist it to chest peak. 

Transfer the barbell in entrance of your left shoulder, then take your proper hand off of the bar and let it cling at your facet. Place your elbow instantly beneath your hand and preserve your wrist straight and torso upright, then stagger your stance by shifting your left foot barely backward.

2. Press

Take a deep breath of air into your abdomen, brace your core, and press the burden away out of your shoulder till your arm is straight. As you press, lean barely ahead in order that while you attain the highest of the rep, your physique varieties a straight line out of your hand to your hip.

3. Descend

Reverse the motion and return to the beginning place with the barbell in entrance of your shoulder. This can be a mirror picture of what you probably did throughout the press.

Don’t let the barbell fall again to the beginning place or attempt to decrease it slowly—all the descent must be managed however take lower than a second.

Whenever you’ve accomplished the specified variety of reps, swap sides and repeat the method along with your proper arm.

The Finest Landmine Press Alternate options

1. Kneeling Landmine Press

The distinction between the kneeling landmine press and the common standing landmine press is you carry out the kneeling landmine press whereas kneeling on each knees. 

Performing the train in your knees is much less steady than in your toes, which implies your core and abs should work tougher to stabilize your torso. The draw back is which you can’t carry almost as a lot weight, which limits the train’s muscle- and strength-building potential.

2. Half-Kneeling Landmine Press

The half-kneeling landmine press is just like the kneeling landmine press, solely as a substitute of kneeling on two knees, you kneel on one.  

The good thing about kneeling on one knee as a substitute of two is you’ve a extra steady base to press from, which implies you may carry heavier weight extra safely. That is vital as a result of, usually talking, the extra weight you carry, the extra muscle and energy you acquire.

3. Landmine Squat to Press

You start the landmine squat to press (typically referred to as the “landmine squat press”) by dropping right into a squat and exploding again up. As you attain the highest of the squat, you employ the momentum generated by your decrease physique that will help you press the burden overhead.

The primary advantages of the landmine squat to press are that it successfully trains your whole physique and means that you can press heavier weights than you sometimes would as a result of you may harness momentum.

The downsides, nonetheless, are that it requires a variety of coordination, so it might not be appropriate for brand spanking new weightlifters, and it’s extremely taxing in your cardiovascular system. This implies many individuals should cease their set once they’re too “gassed” to proceed slightly than when their muscle tissue are sufficiently stimulated, which isn’t optimum from a muscle- and strength-building perspective. 

4. Landmine Push Press

The landmine push press is just like the landmine squat to press, solely as a substitute of beginning with a full squat, you solely drop your butt 3-to-6 inches after which shoot your hips upward as explosively as potential.

This helps you generate sufficient momentum to get the bar off your shoulder and thru the primary few inches of the press, the place it’s most certainly to get caught. It additionally means that you can use heavier weights than with the common landmine press with out lowering vary of movement a lot.

A draw back is it’s onerous to evaluate your progress if you happen to don’t duplicate the enhance rep to rep, set to set, and exercise to exercise. In the event you usually squat in another way, your weights would possibly go up, however your shoulders and arms would possibly do much less work. It additionally requires a variety of coordination, making it much less appropriate for newbie weightlifters.

5. Landmine Chest Press

The landmine chest press is a landmine press variation that primarily trains your pecs. Since you grip the bar with a impartial grip (palms going through one another) and press the burden diagonally upward and in an arc, many individuals discover it extra “shoulder-friendly” than different chest workouts, such because the barbell and dumbbell bench press.

To carry out the landmine chest press, arrange a barbell in a landmine press attachment and maintain the weighted finish of the barbell in entrance of the middle of your chest in each fingers, then press the burden away out of your chest with out leaning ahead till each of your arms are straight.