Landmine

The landmine is a simple but extremely powerful accessory: a hinged cylinder where you insert one end of the barbell, anchoring it to the ground. The other end is free to move along an arc, creating a curved path no other tool replicates. If you don't have the specific attachment, you can get the same effect by wedging the barbell into a corner of the room (with a towel to protect the wall).

The landmine excels at pressing and rotational exercises. The landmine press is a hybrid between a military press and an incline press, with significant core engagement to stabilize the asymmetric load. It's an excellent option for anyone with shoulder issues on the traditional overhead press, because the arced path is gentler on the joint.

Beyond pressing, you can do landmine squats (holding the end of the barbell at chest level), landmine rows (single-arm rows), landmine rotations (explosive work for the obliques), and Meadows rows (a unilateral row invented by John Meadows). Every landmine exercise has an anti-rotation component that forces the core to work to stabilize, even when it's not the target muscle.

The beauty of the landmine is that it transforms an Olympic barbell into a completely different tool. The perceived load is greater in the bottom portion of the movement, when the bar is more horizontal and the gravitational component is maximal. As the bar approaches vertical, the perceived resistance decreases because a larger portion of the weight is supported by the floor pivot. This decreasing resistance curve makes landmine exercises more demanding in the initial phase of the range of motion.