The Benefits of Landmine Training

Landmines are one of the many diverse tools that we use that allow Performance360™ to differentiate our training from most other concepts in the market. They carry the following benefits not afforded by any other implement.

They are excellent at accommodating poor mobility – that’s most of us. We’ll save the shoulder focus for the next paragraph and take instead a squat pattern. With the landmine, we are able to achieve a much lower and much safer range of motion because the weight is out in front of us and not back racked. For those who struggle with ankle mobility, often a much better squat pattern is produced.

They train shoulder stability safely and very effectively. A prime example of this is the overhead press where many struggle due to poor mid back mobility. What often happens in a barbell press is we compensate for this by hyperextending in our low back in order to get the bar fully overhead. In the landmine, because the weight is supported and grounded, we are able to press in a more friendly position which is just out in front of us. You could never get away with this with any other piece of equipment because only the landmine has an anchor point so that you aren’t fighting gravity as hard, and can maintain perfect press technique.

They don’t load the spine, making them a great option for anyone who wants to get stronger without stress. The landmine is never placed directly on the back and it is always supported with a base anchor. This makes it very joint friendly and tends to isolate muscles a bit more than the barbell alone.

They allow us rotational training. Because of the base anchor point that is flexible and rotating, we can perform a variety of multi-plane and athletic movements in a loaded position. This is perhaps the landmine’s greatest value point in our training. We can rotate and load, and do so much quickly. Without the landmine, this does not exist in training. Ever. We can try and call the clean an athletic movement, but it really isn’t. Explosive? Yes. Athletic? Not really. So we depend on the landmine to get some real athletics.

They are inefficient. Because we are not used to their movement patterns, we drive adaptation. Any time your body has to work hard to learn or perform a new movement, you’re going to access new muscles and use prime movers in a way they are not used to. This drives adaptation and produces gains. 

They train core stability exceptionally well. Similar to how the ring movements require our body to stabilize and move in a way that is unlike their non-ring counterpart (think ring dips versus regular dips), the landmines are the same way. Because the barbell is anchored into a rotating holder, the barbell will not follow a clean, easy path. Your abdominals, obliques, glute medius and other important stabilization muscles all must work much, much harder in a landmine movement.