What Are Landmine Shoulder Exercises?

The deltoids are a complex muscle group attached to the shoulder. And they are made up of three smaller muscles called the anterior, lateral, and posterior delts.

Furthermore, the function of the deltoid muscles varies from pressing your arms forward to pulling them backward. So shoulder exercises must also be varied to target each muscle.

For those who don’t know, a landmine is an apparatus that turns a barbell into a giant lever. And this attachment allows you to do several shoulder exercises without switching equipment.

With the landmine, you to do push, pull, and raise movements to target your shoulders from every angle.

9 Best Landmine Shoulder Exercises

Now it’s time to share the best landmine shoulder exercises. As I just explained, there are a few types of movements you can do with the landmine. So I’ve divided this list into push, raise, and pull categories.

This way, you can easily find exercises for a push-pull split. Or combine different movements for a dedicated shoulder workout.

Push Landmine Shoulder Exercises

First, push exercises resemble a barbell or dumbbell shoulder press. These compound movements are excellent for strength gains.

In addition, pressing landmine shoulder exercises are ideal for working the anterior deltoid on the front of the shoulder.

1. Landmine Press

The landmine press is a staple shoulder and upper chest exercise replicating the overhead or dumbbell shoulder press.

Start by standing at the end of the landmine with your toes facing the bar for this variation. Next, grab the end of the barbell between both hands and hoist it to shoulder level.

Now the end of the bar should be almost touching your upper chest. From here, press the end of the bar overhead until your arms are nearly fully extended.

Lower the bar back to your chest and repeat for the desired reps.

2. Kneeling Landmine Press

Another landmine press variation involves kneeling instead of standing in front of the bar. This alternate body position does a couple of things.

First, the lower position changes the loading angle so that you press the bar slightly more vertically. And that angle is better for working the shoulders with less help from the upper chest.

Second, kneeling also reduces the momentum you can generate from your legs. So this variation isolates the shoulders more and makes the exercise feel more challenging.

Raise Landmine Shoulder Exercises

Next are landmine shoulder exercises involving front, side, or rear arm raises. Generally, these are considered isolation exercises because they involve only one joint (the shoulder).

In addition, you could use these exercises as a substitute for barbell, dumbbell, cable, or machine raises.

4. Landmine Lateral Raise

The lateral raise exercise involves lifting your arm to the side while keeping your elbow relatively straight. And it is the best movement for targeting the lateral or side delt.

To do a landmine lateral raise, start by facing the landmine with the free end of the barbell on one side of your body. Next, grab the bar sleeve with your palm facing your outer thigh and your arm hanging at your side.

From this starting position, raise the bar away from your body while keeping your arm relatively straight. With the landmine pivot point, your thumb will naturally rotate down as you lift, helping to target the side delt.

You can perform the landmine lateral raise kneeling or standing. Although the kneeling position more closely replicates the feel of a dumbbell.

Related: The Best Way To Do The Landmine Lateral Raise

Pull Landmine Shoulder Exercises

In this section, I’ll show you pulling-type landmine shoulder exercises you can use to work your rear delts and traps.

7. Landmine Meadows Row

The Meadows row is an exercise popularized by bodybuilder John Meadows. And his favorite way to do this exercise was with the landmine.

It’s similar to a traditional single-arm row, except you use a pronated grip instead of a neutral grip. This hand position helps isolate the rear delt.

In addition, a Meadows row exercise involves pulling more towards your chest and flaring your elbow away from your body, which works the rhomboids and rear delts more.

Another name for this exercise is the rear delt row.

9. Landmine Shrug

Last but not least is the landmine shrug for building your traps. And there are a couple of different ways you can do this exercise.

First, you can shrug with both arms by standing with your back to the landmine and the barbell between your legs. This variation typically requires a T-bar or other handle attachment.

But you can perform single-arm landmine shrugs if you don’t have a handle. Again, stand with your back to the landmine but off to one side of the bar and hold the sleeve with an overhand grip.

Landmine Shoulder Workout

Now you have a good idea of the best landmine exercises for working your shoulders. But you might be confused about assembling them into a productive shoulder workout.

So here is an example shoulder workout using some of the landmine exercises above.

Landmine Shoulder Workout:

• Landmine Press
  • 4 sets, 8-12 reps
• Landmine Meadows Row
  • 3 sets, 8-12 reps
• Landmine Lateral Raise
  • 3 sets, 8-12 reps
• Landmine Front Raise
  • 3 sets, 12-15 reps
• Landmine Shrugs
  • 3 sets, 12-15 reps

This landmine shoulder workout includes exercise variations for working the front, side, and rear delts. As well as a finisher exercise for your traps.