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June 13, 2022 9 min read
The shoulders are a staple part of your upper body and building some serious muscle mass requires hard work and consistency. To help build broad shoulders and increase your strength you will need to occasionally change up your current shoulder workout, so to help with that, we'll to show you seven of the best landmine press alternatives.
The landmine press is one of the most diverse shoulder exercises in the gym.
Using just a landmine anchor, some weights, and a barbell, you can train almost every muscle in your body, which includes your upper body, lower body, and core.
Plus, you get the added benefit that most landmine exercises are joint-friendly due to typically having to have a neutral grip.
Two of the best landmine exercises for shoulder strength are the standing overhead press and the kneeling landmine press. When done correctly, this exercise is like a standing incline press, so it hits your deltoids, chest, glutes, and triceps at the same time.
It can even be done bilaterally, meaning with two arms, or unilaterally using one arm at a time. The unilateral version is also a great core stability exercise that can also improve your core strength as well.
The landmine press, just like any other exercise, will start to become less beneficial if you do it over and over again without increasing the difficulty. Your body is great at adapting to situations and will get used to the demands of doing landmine presses all the time, which can result in fewer gains in muscle mass. To help repair those muscles after a demanding workout, make sure to check out Whey-Iso.
To avoid training progress plateaus, it is essential to include plenty of variety in your workouts.
You don’t have to switch it up every week, but adjusting your workouts every 5-6 weeks should be just fine.
Once you start incorporating landmine presses into your workouts don’t overdo it and enjoy the new gains you are going to see.
Below we break down seven landmine press alternatives to see your shoulder strength skyrocket.
For any exercise to be considered a worthy alternative for the landmine press, it needs to incorporate the same muscle group(s).
The major muscle groups the landmine press works are the following:
While the landmine press is an amazing movement, you always want to have some great alternatives to do as well. Sometimes the gym is going to be super busy and you won’t have room to set up a landmine press in a proper landmine attachment, or maybe you are just looking to try something different.
Here is our list of seven landmine press alternatives to try out the next time you’re in the gym:
The half-kneeling cable press is a great press variation to the landmine press that does require a cable machine.
This alternative can be more difficult to perform because performing a press with a cable machine is more unstable and requires more core stability than a traditional landmine press.
The half-kneeling cable press also provides the advantage of having options of choosing the angle to where the cable starts from. So by changing the angle of where the cable starts you can change how upright or horizontal the pressing motion is and what muscles are targeted more.
The more upright you are pressing the cable, the more it focuses on the deltoids. The more horizontal the cable press is, the more emphasis it puts on the pectoral muscle groups.
How to Do it:
The advantage of the half-kneeling Arnold press is that it can target the side deltoids a little more than the landmine press as you can rotate the dumbbell outwards as you press it.
The Arnold Press engages all three muscle heads, which not only develops great pushing power in the anterior deltoid but also maximizes width and thickness in the lateral deltoid and shoulder joint stability in the posterior deltoid. Being able to hit all three delts makes this a great press variation.
How to Do it:
The single-arm standing kettlebell shoulder press is a great free-weight alternative to the landmine press. Pressing a kettlebell overhead with one arm is one of the most functional movements you can perform because it helps to build strength throughout the entire upper body, trains the shoulder muscles through a full range of motion, and works the core.
Plus, if you stand up while performing this exercise there will be more activation in the core muscles to help stabilize and balance your torso.
How to Do it:
The push press is an explosive overhead press where you incorporate your legs to help you drive the weight up over your head.
This momentum created by the leg drives helps to increase the amount of weight you can lift and also develops muscle power and coordination, which helps you to create large amounts of power efficiently. As an added benefit you can do push presses with a barbell, dumbbells, or kettlebells.
How to Do it:
The Z-Press is a fantastic free weight strength-building exercise that is typically used by powerlifters, strongmen, and Olympic lifters.
They are done with your butt seated firmly on the ground with your legs out in front of you.
This seated position with no back support makes you activate your core significantly. Plus, it isolates the press by removing any kind of leg drive out of the equation. Increasing the difficulty while performing exercises will result in more
How to Do it:
Wall ball is a classic functional exercise. While this move is a full-body exercise, it’s especially tough on your shoulders, core, and triceps.
Done for high reps, wall ball is great for building muscular endurance and cardiovascular fitness, if done with heavier wall balls it is a great way to build strength and stability. This exercise is also great because all that you need is a wall ball and a wall to through against.
How to Do it:
Most lifters use a 30 to 45-degree bench press angle to do incline presses. While this will increase upper chest engagement, you will need to go steeper if you want to replicate landmine presses. It would be better to raise your bench to around 60-70 degrees to mirror the landmine press.
Dumbbells will allow you a greater range of motion, and you can use just one weight at a time to increase core activation. However, you can use a barbell or kettlebells to perform this lift as well.
How to Do it:
The landmine press is just one of the ways to build strong shoulder stabilizers that can help improve your life in and outside the gym. With the right routine and proper nutrition, the shoulders you desire are achievable.
So the next time you're at the gym, don’t forget to change up your shoulder workout with one of these landmine press alternatives to see massive gains.