I’ve been a fan of the ground mine since the early days of Cressey Sports Performance when we started implementing it into our clients’ and athletes’ programs.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that Land Mine is a fitness and performance panacea. I like it and use it (often). But it’s not like it’s going to cut your 40 time by 0.7 seconds, add 50 pounds to your deadlift in a week, make it so your folks can cut diamonds, or give you the power of invisibility.
That being said, there are many reasons why I dig it.
Here are some…
Land mine training and why I think it sucks (Sorry, non-PG title goes here)
1. User friendliness
I remember having a conversation with my friend Ben Bruno a few months after he left Boston to begin training people west of Los Angeles.
I often say that people in Boston, and on the East Coast in general, tend to be a little tougher. We live in miserable weather 50% of the time, we tend to swear like sailors more often, the weather sucks balls and also, from a training standpoint, east coast peeps tend to be a bit more “power” oriented.
Did I mention the weather is abysmal? In case I wasn’t clear… it sucks.
Now, that’s not to say that people on the west coast aren’t strong or can’t get strong. Rather, it’s just to say that when you live in 75-80 degree weather year-round, you tend to worry more about maintaining a six-pack than deadlifting 2-3 times.
via GIPHY
Ben, to his credit, having trained at Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning for several years, wanted to take his mindset to Los Angeles, but he soon learned that wasn’t going to fly and that he would have to redefine or change his approach to succeed in his new environment.
He would ask clients to deadlift, drop or squat a (regular) barbell and they would look at him like he had just said The Godfather III he was the best of the Godfathers.
Get the hell out of here.
However, Ben soon realized that all he had to do was pick up the bar and slide it into a Landmine device and his customers would be like “weeeeeeeeeeeee, that’s fun”.
Set up a bar on a squat rack for someone to squat? = No.
Set up a bar on a landmine for someone to squat? = SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.
And that’s okay.
If the landmine makes something less intimidating and more accessible to the user and makes them more excited to train, then I see no reason why we wouldn’t want to lean into it.
As my friend Kevin Mullins recently stated, “exercises are expressions of movement patterns.” In the grand scheme of things who cares how one does squats, deadlifts, lunges, rows, (or whatever). since they move and cause the body to adapt and change?
2. Mutual friendship
I have defended this view for many years, so I do not feel the need to press it any further here. In short, and to paraphrase myself..
“…many people have very poor overhead mobility.”
Therefore, often, the overhead press may not be best for some people (at least right now) because they probably don’t have access to the required shoulder flexion to do it “safely” and without some major compensations (ie, excessive lumbar extension and forward head posture).
As such, the Landmine Press is a perfect solution because it keeps trainees out of the “danger zone” but still gives plenty of opportunity to train the shoulders, albeit in a more co-friendly way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Bmle–DUw
3. Takes up minimal space
My old training studio (before I moved to what is now Core Collective) in Boston was 500 square feet (so barely the size of a Jetta).
I would have to be very judicious with the gear I bought so that I don’t take up too much space. I don’t know how everyone else feels, but for me open space was GOLD (and still is, even with 10x the space)
The more I have the more activities I can do.
via GIPHY
I bought two landmine attachments for my Rogue squat rack because 1) I knew I’d get good use out of them and 2) I knew they wouldn’t take up too much space.
Rogue Mine Attachment = $95
Selectorized Shoulder Press Machine = waaaaay more than that (and takes up way too much space).
Now, admittedly, I understand that you can still McGyver landmine without a landmine using the corner of a wall (which is free), but this can still get fishy at times
One option is Bomb bar sold by Ab Mat. Each of my Core Collective racks (six in total) has one of these as part of the “pod”. This makes it so you can set up a “Landmine” anywhere in your gym – in someone’s corner, in the middle of the gym floor, on the ceiling, anywhere! This can open the gate to pressing, rowing, squatting and lifting things wherever you want.
WU-TANG!
4. John Wick likes it
True story.
5. Flexibility
The landmine can be used to train any part of the body.
Upper Body (Meadows Series)
Lower Body (Offset Shouldering Squat)
Up and Down Together (Deep Squat 1-Arm Mine Presse)
Everything
And whatever the hell
Additionally, the landmine can be used by beginners, gym rats, athletes, Doug from Accounting, and even magicians. It really is one of the most versatile pieces of equipment out there.
In addition, the exercises can be performed in several positions:
Recumbent (Landmine in hollow position)
Half Kneeling (Half Kneeling Sideways Mine Presse)
Single Leg (Angled Mine Reverse Lunge)
To name just a few
6. Flexibility Part II
Actually I lied, there is more.
I used the land mine to help groove a hip hinge.
Because the bar is “locked” into place, it makes it much easier for someone – especially those new to training – to intuitively feel the hinge.
Likewise, we can also easily add rotation and layered motion to the mix:
And finally, who says you HAVE to do traditional Olympic style training to train and improve strength?
This is it
I don’t do landmines justice with this simple 1100-1200 word blog post. That said, I think I’ve come across that it’s a very versatile piece of equipment with an even more versatile range of applications. For an extra layer of bad quality, I would highly recommend the Landmine University page HERE. There you will take your land mine training to the next level and possibly take on a second career in crime fighting.
