Four Landmine Exercises to Improve Stability for All Athletes

Single leg training is here to stay—the benefits of how it can help improve stability and strength outweigh any misconceptions people may have. Some veer from single-leg methods as they require more coordination, stability, and time.

Single leg training is here to stay—the benefits of how it can help improve stability and strength outweigh any misconceptions people may have, says Mike Over. Share on X

For these types of training, the landmine is an amazing tool that can be the best investment for younger, developing athletes as it aids in rotational strength, speed, and versatility. You can even get creative like I do here and add attachments that can better serve your sports needs and demands.

The ease of use and vector angle at which most exercises start from allow for a safer setup and the ability to be explosive when needed.

1. Landmine RDL

If you are prioritizing glute work with your athletes, this version of the landmine RDL can work to help build more muscle without sacrificing the poor genetic coordination that may have been passed down to them.

Video 1. As an added bonus, this version can target some hips because of the landmine and can clear up pesky low back injuries.

The setup

1. Start with being lined up parallel to the landmine, as we will be doing more of a contra-lateral movement with the load coming from the inside while you hold the end handle on the outside.
2. From here, you will use larger plates and grab the plate with the inside hand for added stability.
3. Descend with a hinge, keeping a slight bend in the knee while you shoot your hips backward until you can’t bend more without rounding the back and losing tension on the glutes and hamstrings.
4. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Why it works?

1. Adding stability to a movement can increase its ability to build muscle. Adding the grip with the hand will allow you to load heavier, without the limiting factor of your balance being the issue.
2. The landmine allows you to progressively overload more than dumbbells, which can get awkward as you get over 80+ lbs per arm.
3. There is a slight horizontal vector component with the landmine—you can lean inwards and bias the hips as well, which can give you even more bang for your buck.
4. The setup is one most can use in a garage without needing access to a gym

Programming suggestions

1. Use as an auxiliary exercise after heavier squats or deadlifts.
2. Stick to rep ranges of 6-8. Any more makes it much easier to lose form and risk injury.
3. Cycle in on lower body days or pull days in 6-8 week blocks.

2. Landmine Lateral Lunge

Next, the lateral lunge is an exercise many coaches and athletes neglect. It’s hard, uncomfortable, and you can’t load heavy, so it strips the ego out of the lift. The movement does, however, have a massive benefit in terms of the muscles worked:

• Quadriceps
• Gluteal Muscles
• Hamstrings
• Abductor Magnus (inner thigh)
• Vastus Medialis Obliquus (VMO)

The lateral lunge also includes many proprioceptive benefits, starting with:

• Helping the body become resilient to odd movements and positions outside the sagittal plane.
• Increasing quad, glute, and hip strength.
• Stabilizing the spine and improving posture.
• Improving balance and coordination.
• Regaining strength coming back from an injury.

Video 2. Having strong hips isn’t just for show. They help you develop a bulletproof body that’s a powerhouse when it comes to squatting and deadlifting. You can watch both of those core lifts increase from working on this landmine variation.

The setup

1. Start standing, holding the landmine in the top position with your body leaning in towards the plate at your chest, core tight.
2. Step to the right a few feet with your right leg, taking a relatively large step.
3. Land, keeping your left leg slightly bent to allow more range for your working leg, bend your right knee and push your butt back, lowering slowly.
4. Lower as far as you can comfortably, aiming to get thigh parallel to the ground. Then explosively drive up and to the left, driving back to a standing position.
5. Do 3 sets of 6-10 reps per side.

Why it works?

1. It’s not as awkward feeling.
2. You can lean IN towards the plate, allowing you to shift a majority of the weight on the working leg while keeping better balance and being able to load heavier.
3. You can get a deeper stretch reflex from the muscles worked by the vector angle, allowing more angled flexion of the hip and knee.

In a typical side lunge, you’ll step one foot out at your side, then sink your hips back and bend your knee to lower your butt to the floor. As you lower to the floor, you’ll keep your opposite leg straight.

However, in this version you are bending both knees to allow for more depth in the lunge and the working leg is the one closest to the landmine. You can “feel” by placing more weight on that leg to make it do most of the work and it can fire up high threshold motor units in the hips to create more dynamic stability around the joint.

3. Landmine Row to RDL

Next is a favorite of mine for a combination move. These often get a bad rep because of their limitations with load and exercise selection, but I find this one to be stellar for many reasons.

Video 3. For hypertrophy, this is not a best friend. But for athlete or gym goers looking to improve intramuscular coordination, balance, and posture, this can be your next ticket to success.

The setup

You can combine the movements by doing a single leg RDL right into a row or, as shown above, I like doing the row first, then finishing off the legs on the single leg Romanian Deadlift last.

Why it works?

1. Isometrics work to build tendon resiliency and improve motor control, which are essential for a developing athlete.
2. Posterior chain work is a prime need for athletes in general and this variation has a “pre-fatigue” set in by starting out with the isometric, so the load goes a long way since you are limited by what you can row.
3. This variation also strengthens hips as the landmine allows a more focal vector plane to be able to shift your bodyweight towards the midline, another added benefit that will be quick to neutralize or prevent injuries from occurring.

4. Landmine Skater Lunge

This is a unique exercise I find very beneficial for hockey and any sport requiring frontal plane movement.

Video 4. This exercise will engage more of the hips and psoas region to make a powerhouse of a posterior sling, which controls rotation, stability, and strength of the lumbar spine.

The setup

The setup is key, where you have to position the end of the bar in the crock of your elbow and have a lean in towards the anchor point.

From the starting position you simply descend back into a reverse lunge and return back to the start, where I find keeping tension on the working leg crucial for overall hypertrophy. Key points:

1. Lean IN towards the anchor point, roughly 60 degrees from parallel.
2. Place the end of the bar in the crook of your elbow and push your weight against the inside of the plate.
3. Keep tension on the working leg as you perform repetitions, with a good guide being in the 6-10 range.

Use this as an accessory exercise to your deadlift day and watch your unilateral strength and stability on the field improve.

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