How To Do A Landmine Press: Benefits, Form & Variations

If you’re reading this thinking ‘WTF is a landmine press?’, you’re probably not alone.

We promise it’s not dangerous, but a word of warning: it is explosive and you will feel the burn in your shoulders. This single-arm exercise is powerful, and in turn, it will do wonders for your overhead pressing strength, shoulder size, and stability.

So if you’re ready to switch things up and be a little more adventurous with your upper body workouts, then this is the exercise for you.

In this article, we’ll investigate what a barbell landmine is and break down our favorite landmine exercise – the landmine press – to find out why you should include it in your upper body workouts.

What Is A Barbell Landmine?
What Is A Landmine Press?
Landmine Press Benefits
What Muscles Does The Landmine Press Work?
How To Do A Standing Landmine Press
How To Do A Half Kneeling Landmine Press
Is Kneeling Or Standing Landmine Press Better?
How To Effectively Include Landmine Presses Into Your Upper Body Workout

What Is A Barbell Landmine?

First things first, let’s talk about what a barbell landmine actually is.

The barbell landmine is a floor-mounted hinge that the barbell slots into, giving it a new range of motion, and allowing lifters to move vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and even rotationally. This makes it a great dynamic, and power-building piece of equipment - suitable for strength athletes looking to build muscle, or hybrid athletes looking to improve explosiveness.

Where Did the Barbell Landmine Come From?

Single-end barbells are not a new phenomenon – in fact, they can be traced back to the golden age of bodybuilding with evidence of Arnold Schwarzenegger rep-ing out t-bar rows since 1977.

But the creation of the barbell landmine wasn’t until 1999, when Bert Sorin (CEO of Sorinex Strength Training Equipment) was testing out ways to improve his power generation for discus throwing, ahead of the 2000 Sydney Olympic trials. After experimenting with family equipment, he attached a universal joint to his squat rack, and the landmine was born. Eventually, Sorin started to market the landmine to the wider gym community. Whilst it is a common feature today in many gyms, its versatility and effectiveness is often overlooked.

What Is A Landmine Press?

The landmine press is one of the most popular landmine exercises involving raising the barbell overhead from chest level.

Landmine Press Benefits

1. Fixes Strength Imbalances

Unlike a traditional shoulder press, the landmine press is a unilateral exercise (single arm) [1], performed in a kneeling or standing position. This allows the shoulders to be challenged individually, helping to fix muscular imbalances which has been found to lead to greater improvements in strength [2].

2. Works Around Shoulder Mobility Issues

The landmine press is a great alternative option for lifters who lack the mobility to press overhead. Unlike an overhead press, where the bar is pressed directly upwards, the landmine press has a fixed bar path, guiding the lifter to press at a diagonal angle. This increases stability and reduces injury risk, putting less strain on the shoulder joints whilst still building pressing strength.

3. Improves Both Horizontal And Vertical Pressing Strength

That being said, the landmine press is not easy. It will challenge you and, in turn, enhance pressing power and strength that will carry over to other exercises including the barbell overhead press, push jerk and bench press.

What Muscles Does The Landmine Press Work?

Similar to the traditional overhead press, the landmine press isolates the deltoid muscles of the shoulder (particularly the anterior and medial deltoids) responsible for shoulder stabilization and range of motion in the shoulder joint [3]. From an aesthetics point of view, well-developed delts lead to a well-rounded shoulder shape sought after by bodybuilders. From a performance perspective, the deltoid muscles create power and control for pushing and pulling movements required in many sports.

In addition to the deltoids, the landmine press also fires up the pecs (or chest muscles), and the triceps. The standing landmine press incorporates more secondary muscles, as the core and glutes become essential to stabilize the body throughout the movement.

Standing Landmine Press

The standing landmine press is a great exercise to load up the shoulders. Although this variation requires greater body control than the kneeling landmine press, most people will find the standing landmine press easier than a traditional barbell overhead press.

How To Do A Standing Landmine Press

First, you’ll want to set up the landmine by inserting one end of the barbell into the landmine base. If you wish, you can load a weight plate onto the free end of the bar to increase resistance.

Then, follow these steps to master the standing landmine press:

Pick the end of the barbell up with one hand and hold it level with your shoulder, nearly touching it, or resting just below the front of the shoulder. The elbow should be bent and directly in line with the wrist.
Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core, ensuring your back is straight.
Press the bar upwards, extending the arm until the elbow locks out. Note: This pressing motion should be at a slight diagonal angle, not straight up.
Lower the weight back down in a controlled manner back to the starting position. Repeat.

Tip: As you perform the movement focus on keeping your shoulders back and down, and pulling your ribcage towards your pelvis. This will prevent the ribcage flaring which could lead to excessive pressure on the lower back.

Half Kneeling Landmine Press

Whilst the half-kneeling landmine press recruits less stabilizing muscles compared to the standing variation, the lower center of mass allows for pressing without strain on the pelvis or lower back. This makes it well suited to lifters suffering from lower back issues, but who still want to build overhead pressing and shoulder strength.

How To Do A Half Kneeling Landmine Press

Set up the landmine as above.

Then, follow these steps to master the half-kneeling landmine press:

Come down onto one knee. Take the end of the barbell in the opposing hand to the bent leg.
Bring the end of the barbell up, so it is level with your shoulder, nearly touching it or just below the front of the shoulder. The elbow should be bent, directly in line with the wrist.
Take a deep breath into your belly and brace your core, ensuring your back is straight.
Press the bar upwards, extending the arm until the elbow locks out.
Lower the weight back down in a controlled manner back to the starting position. Repeat.

Tip: At the top of the movement, when your arm is extended, lean into the bar slightly. This will help ensure you reach your full range of motion and improve stability.

Is Kneeling Or Standing Landmine Press Better?

Both variations of the landmine press have their benefits – The standing landmine press is slightly more advanced, requiring more secondary muscle recruitment to stabilize the body.

We suggest starting with the half-kneeling landmine press and then progressing to the standing version. However, if you struggle with stability or lower back issues, you may be better off sticking to the kneeling version. Both versions effectively build shoulder strength and increase overhead performance, so you are still able to benefit from the exercise, whichever variation you choose.

How To Effectively Include Landmine Presses Into Your Upper Body Workout

To achieve well-rounded shoulders, it’s important to target all three heads (the anterior, medial, and posterior) [3]. As mentioned, the landmine press effectively targets the anterior and medial delts, so for an all-round, effective shoulder workout, you’ll want to make sure you are also targeting the posterior (or rear) delts too.

Research studies have found that lateral raises produced significantly higher activation of the posterior deltoid, compared to other shoulder exercises [3]. Try pairing the landmine press with some dumbbell lateral raises in a superset, as part of your upper body workout, to fire up your shoulders.

The Takeaways:

Next time you’re in the gym, think twice before walking past the barbell landmine. As discussed, is an extremely versatile and effective piece of equipment that is often underused.

If you struggle with overhead pressing mobility, lower back pain, or muscular imbalances, try adding the landmine press into your upper body workouts – it could just be the solution you need to build shoulder size, strength, and range of motion.

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WRITTEN BY: Alex Kirkup-Lee

Alex is an inhouse Content Writer for Gymshark’s Health & Conditioning categories. A qualified Personal Trainer, CrossFit Level 1 and Functional Fitness Coach, Alex is experienced in training clients from a range of sporting backgrounds. With a passion for functional training, her favorite workout is anything that includes deadlifts, rowing, or wallballs.