Apr 01, 2024

Landmine Press: How To, Targeted Muscles & Alternatives

The landmine press is one of the best shoulder exercises that you’ve probably never heard of. During the landmine press, you literally kneel on one knee and press a loaded barbell (with weight plates) from its sleeve.

The opposite side of the barbell is secured by a lever-based landmine attachment, which also guides the vertical movement.

Optionally, you can apply a barbell collars to secure the weights. Now, as great as the landmine press is, overtime it can get boring and tedious.

In turn, this can cause a withdrawal from effort levels, which can halt strength and muscle gains, and even undo your hard work.

So what’s the solution? LANDMINE ALTERNATIVE! From time to time, including landmine press alternatives can help maintain motivation and training levels, thereby promoting muscle and strength development.

How To Perform The Landmine Press?

Slot a barbell into a landmine attachment
Load up the empty sleeve of the barbell with weight plates
Optionally, secure the weight plates using a barbell collar.
Lift up the weights from the barbell sleeve.
Get into a kneeling position
Optimally, If you are working the right side of the body, point the left knee forward and vice versa.
Grasp the barbell sleeve with one hand and a neutral grip (palms facing the body)
Take a deep breath, brace the stomach and look up to ensure the spine stays in a safe/neutral position.
Press the barbell upwards
Upon reaching the top of the movement, slowly breathe and lower the barbell back down to repeat

Additional Information: Make sure you alternative between arms to prevent muscle and strength imbalances.

What Muscles Do The Landmine Press Work?

The landmine press works most of the frontal muscles of the upper body. To be specific, you could expect it to tap into the:

Shoulders
Upper Chest
Triceps
Upper Trapezius (back)
Core Stability Muscles

Over the long halt, the landmine press could build and strengthen these five muscle groups, as well as improve the pressing movement pattern. This could translate into other activities and sports.

The Alternative To Landmine Press

The 3 alternative exercises that we highlighted include:

Viking Press
Barbell Overhead Press (OHP)
Push Press

Viking Press

Why have we chosen the viking press as the #1 alternative? It’s basically a standing double landmine press, so you’re working both sides of the upper body within a single set.

You can either use a fixed viking press machine, alternatively you can create one. You would set two rack safety pins one higher than the other.

Once the foundation is created, place two barbells on the safety pins so that they slope down to your shoulder height.

Apply some weight plates and secure the sleeves using barbell collars.

The Viking press activated almost identical muscle groups to the landmine press.

There could be additional stimulation to the core stability muscles and from having to stand up and keep balanced.

To perform the viking press

Grasp the barbell sleeves with a neutral grip (palms facing each other)
Bring your torso close to the barbell sleeves and place the feet hip-shoulder width apart
Take a deep breath, stand upright, brace the core and press the weight upwards
Upon reaching the top of the movement, slowly breath out and bring the weight back down to repeat

Barbell Overhead Press

The overhead press (OHP) is one of the most brutal and rewarding landmine press alternatives out there.

The muscles activated during OHP are almost identical to the landmine press, but perhaps with additional core stimulation from being in a standing/balancing position.

For those interested in including the OHP, the following steps should get you there.

Place a barbell on top of a lifting rack, positioned around collar bone height
Load up the barbell and secure the weight plates
Stand centered to the barbell and grasp it shoulder width apart with an overhand grip
Pin your body against the bar and being your feet hip-shoulder width apart
Create a slight bend at the knees and hips
Take a deep breath, brace the core and straighten the knees/hips to get the bar off the rack
Take 2-3 steps back and reposition your feet to shoulder width apart, then breath out
Taker another deep breath and keep the midsection tight
Press the barbell above the head
Breath out and slowly bring the barbell down to repeat the movement

Additional Information: To re rack the barbell take a few steps forward to place it back on the rack

Push Press

The push press is similar to the OHP in that you would press a loaded barbell above the head, but the difference lies in the lower body.

During the push press, you would essentially squat down partially, squat back up with momentum followed by pressing the barbell above the head.

Additionally to the upper body, the push press activates the muscles of the calves, glutes and quadriceps (lower body). This exercise is great for its transferability into power based sports with similar movements.

The following 10 steps can help you perform a safe and effective push press.

Place a barbell on top of a lifting rack, positioned around collar bone height
Load up the barbell and secure the weight plates
Stand centered to the barbell and grasp it shoulder-width apart with an overhand grip.
Pin your body against the bar and bring your feet hip-shoulder width apart.
Create a slight bend at the knees and hips.
Take a deep breath, brace the core and straighten the knees/hips to get the bar off the rack.
Take 2-3 steps back and reposition your feet to shoulder width apart, then breathe out
Taker another deep breath and keep the midsection tight
Partially squat down, immediately bounce into an upward squat and press the barbell above the head using the momentum.
Breathe out and slowly bring the barbell down to repeat the movement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How to do a landmine press without a landmine?

A: You can secure one side of a bar using a weight plate or place it in the corner of the room.

Q: Can you do a landmine press with dumbbells?

A: You could, but it becomes more of a single arm dumbbell press even if the same muscle groups are activated

Q: What can I do instead of landmine rotations?

A: Landmine rotations alternative could include cable twists, dumbbell twists, and medicine ball twists

Conclusion

The landmine press alternatives that we covered include the Viking press, OHP and push press.

We recommend lifters incorporate these variations of the landmine press from time to time to maintain motivation levels and training efforts for well-rounded muscle development.

For a more personalized exercise selection of any landmine chest press alternative, you should always consult a fitness professional.

We hope that you enjoyed the article, please feel free to leave a comment, question or query and we will get back to you as soon as possible.