Imagine these scenarios: You’re all pumped for leg day and make a beeline to the squat racks, but they are all taken. Or you woke up all geared for deadlifts, but your lower back has different ideas. As a lifter, it’s always handy to have a Plan B when things don’t go as planned. An excellent alternate workout is landmine training.
The landmine is an underrated tool for building lower-body strength and power. This simple and versatile method allows you to get after it without further beating up your lower back. It reduces compressive forces on the spine, making it an excellent choice for anyone recovering from or dealing with lower back issues.
With the landmine, you can challenge your lower body from angles, and its compact setup is ideal for busy gyms or home workouts. This lower-body blast will deliver if you’re looking for an effective way to strengthen and muscle up your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core.
Let’s examine the benefits of landmine training and why it’s perfect for building strength and power. Afterward, try our provided landmine workout (below) to get you rockin’ and rollin’.
The Benefits of Lower Body Landmine Training
Landmine training is an effective way to build lower body strength and power, and here’s why:
Joint-Friendly
The landmine’s angled barbell path allows for a more natural range of motion, reducing strain on the knees, hips, and lower back. This makes it an excellent option for those with joint discomfort or previous injuries.
Engages More Muscle
The landmine engages stabilizing muscles to maintain balance and control while lifting. Unilateral exercises like the landmine RDLs require excellent core stability to maintain good form.
Versatility
With landmine training, you can perform various exercises and target every lower body muscle. The landmine is perfect for bilateral moves like squats or unilateral moves like Cossack Squats and RDLs, offering endless possibilities for progression.
Perfect for Most Fitness Levels
Landmine exercises can be quickly regressed and progressed, making them excellent options for strengthening the lower body for everyone, from beginners to advanced lifters. You can adjust the load, modify the range of motion, or focus on tempo.
The Lower Body Landmine Workout Instructions
This lower-body workout is structured for efficiency and intensity. It maximizes your muscle pump and helps you miss the squat rack less.
Duration: 30 to 45 minutes, including the warmup, depending on the number of rounds completed.
Format: Supersets: Perform two back-to-back exercises with minimal rest between moves and rest for 60 seconds between exercises and one to two minutes between supersets. Aim for 2-3 rounds for each superset.
Repetition Range: Focus on 6–12 reps per exercise and side, prioritizing form and control.
Progressive Overload: Gradually increase the load or reps as you get stronger. If the weight feels easy during your workout, up it by five to 10 pounds. Having the weight plates handy will save transition time between exercises.
Form First: Keep each movement smooth and controlled to minimize strain and maximize muscle.
Landmine Lower Body Blast Workout
This workout focuses on compound movements and targets every lower body muscle, helping you build strength, power, and muscle.
Warmup (5 Minutes)
Prying Goblet Squats: Stay in the bottom position for 30 seconds to loosen your hips and activate your quads and glutes.
Hip Bridges with Marching: Engage your glutes and hamstrings for stability and power. Do two sets of 12 reps per leg.
Inchworms with Reach: Do two sets of eight reps to loosen your hamstrings and spine and wake up your core.
Workout (30-40 minutes)
1A. Jump Squat 1B. Rollout (Do both sides)
2A. Single-Leg RDL (Do both sides)
2B. Cossack Squat (Alternate sides)
3A. Tall Kneeling Rotation (Do both sides)
3B. Bilateral RDL (Go heavy)
Workout Tips
To get the most out of the Landmine Lower Body Blast, keep these tips in mind:
Prioritize Form Over Weight: Good technique ensures the correct muscles are being hit while minimizing the risk of injury.
Progression: Start with a doable weight to build confidence and strength. If it feels easy, increase the reps or weight for future sets.
Adjust To Your Level Beginners can reduce the range of motion or use a lighter weight, and advanced lifters can increase the intensity by adding tempo variations (e.g., slow eccentrics) or pauses to up the difficulty.