An Exercise You Never See In Commercial Gyms That You Should: The Landmine Press
I’ve been training in a commercial gym often for the last few months.
Yes, I own my own gym, where I can work out any time I want. I’ve got better equipment, more privacy, better music, (that last ones debatable as the commercial gyms been playing some really solid mid 90’s pop, LFO anyone?) so what gives?
Honestly, I don’t focus as well in my place, I tend to get distracted easily.
Also, the current kids club attendant in my gym is, well, me, and workouts with my 3 year old have become increasingly difficult to get through, so having a bit of help has been nice.
I’ve also had the joy (terror) of remembering what exactly people get up to in commercial gyms when left to their own devices.
To be more accurate, what I tend to notice these days is what people ARE NOT doing. Meaning I notice the near total absence of exercises I use with my clients and athletes all the time that I thought had been around long enough they had entered the world of “unsupervised, I saw this in a mag/on IG “ workouts I see most often at the gyms.
Enter, the landmine press…
Honestly, one of the things I hate about online articles is the need to overly complicate things with long explanations, or overly elaborate anatomical considerations. Which is great...for people like me, but for people looking to get a more intelligent, safe, effective workout, WITHOUT needing to pass an anatomy exam, simple and straight forward probably is the most helpful.
So, the landmine press for most people will be:
A more joint friendly exercise than barbell overhead presses
A better combination of core and shoulder strength than barbell or dumbbell pressing
An easier tool to progress with in a variety of ways than dumbbells or barbells, both in weight and in complexity
So, if the landmine press is not an exercise you have tried, give it a go and my guess is you will like it enough that it will become a reoccurring staple in your program.
**not all gyms have a landmine piece (ask if you don’t know, it could be small and attached to something) but in a pinch, setting a weight plate on the ground and putting one end of the barbell in the middle will stabilize it well enough