6 Best Upper Body Landmine Exercises for Men

The landmine is an incredible tool for building a strong body and is one of the most underutilized tools when it comes to building strength, size, and power. Many don't use a landmine while working out, as they don't know how to use it effectively.

Landmine is a versatile piece of equipment that can help build rotational strength. You don't need much else to train with this tool, so if you're looking for options, consider working out with a landmine.

Let's look at how to set up this piece of equipment and some of the most popular movements you can do with it.

How to Set Up Your Landmine Station?

A landmine station is a place where you can anchor the end of a barbell into the ground. That can be an attachment to a power rack, a floating station that stands alone, or a corner between two walls, dumbbells, or plates.

When using a landmine attachment, there are some important considerations to keep in mind. For example, if you’re working with a barbell attachment, you will want to make sure your attachment is secure so that you don’t experience any mishaps while lifting.

Best Upper Body Landmine Exercises to Build Muscle

Here's a look at six such workouts for men:

1) Shoulder Press

Landmine Press is one of the most popular exercises for training the shoulders. For many lifters, it serves as an alternative to traditional barbell and dumbbell pressing, which can irritate their shoulder joints.

The landmine press is a great alternative to regular shoulder presses. It can take stress off the shoulders, which is especially helpful for those who get shoulder pain when doing regular shoulder presses.

How to do it?

Start by positioning yourself in front of the barbell with a slight lean.
Grab the end of the collar, and pack your elbows in close to your body.
Press up and through the weight while keeping your upper arms close to your ears.

2) Meadow Row

A popular exercise invented by bodybuilding legend John Meadows, the landmine meadows row allows you to focus on pulling with your upper back and lats. It can be performed with an overhand or underhand grip and works the upper back and latissimus dorsi.

The meadow row is a fabulous exercise for the upper back and lats and can be useful for learning to limit momentum when performing rows.

Here's how you do do a meadow row:

Stand with your feet in a 90-degree angle with each other, keeping the barbell perpendicular to the front foot.
Grab the barbell with an open-handed grip, and set your back as if you were doing a traditional dumbbell row.
Row, concentrating on bringing your elbow up to about 70-80 degrees relative to your shoulder.
As you row, think about flexing your lat muscles.

3) Landmine Lateral Raise

The landmine lateral raise is a great exercise for targeting the lateral delts. This exercise works the front, posterior, and lateral delts at various ranges of motion. That makes it a good option for those with limited equipment but want to stay light on their shoulders.

How to do this exercise?

Stand with your arm across your body, hand in front of your pocket (left hand on the barbell, right hand in right pocket).
Bend the elbow a bit, and bring the barbell up to your chest without moving or twisting.
Hold it there, and slowly let it go down.

4) Single Arm Chest Press

The single arm press is great for targeting the triceps, chests, and anterior deltoids and for improving lockout strength. The main benefit of this exercise is that, as it involves using a barbell, you can load more weight onto it than if you were using dumbbells.

Here's how you do a single arm chest press:

Lie on the ground perpendicular to a barbell and a landmine, with the barbell in line with the lower pec region.
Extend your arm, and bring your elbow down towards the floor, only as far as you can without discomfort. Lift back to the starting position, and repeat.

5) Landmine Fly

This is a variation of the regular fly exercise except that it uses a barbell instead of dumbbells. This variation targets the chest and shoulders harder than the dumbbell version, as it allows you to use more weight.

To do a barbell fly:

Lie on a bench with the barbell over your chest.
Lower the weight out to your sides with elbows bent, as if you were doing a dumbbell fly.
Lift the weight up till it's over your chest.
Pause at the top, and lower till your arms are straight again.

6) Single Arm Row

The single arm row is a great variation of the dumbbell row; it makes the lift slightly harder by placing the body in a taller position. That leads to greater full-lat contraction and oblique recruitment.

How to do a single arm row?

Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and hold the barbell.
Bend forward at your waist, bringing the barbell down toward your knees.
Keep your back flat and straight; slowly extend your arms till you feel a good stretch in your lats.