Barbell · intermediate · upper legs
Barbell landmine squat to press
Also called Landmine squat to press, Landmine thruster, Landmine squat press.
You hold the loaded end of an anchored barbell against your chest, squat, stand, and press the bar away from you. The quads straighten your knees with the glutes extending your hips, and the delts and triceps do the press. One thing is worth knowing before your first set: the press does not finish above your head. The far end of the bar is fixed to the floor, so the end in your hands swings forward as much as up, and it locks out in front of your face.
How to do it
- Step oneStand holding the end of a landmine barbell with both hands at chest height.
- Step twoPerform a squat by lowering your hips until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
- Step threeAs you drive upward from the squat, press the bar overhead until your arms are fully extended.
- Step fourLower the bar back to chest height as you return to the standing position.
What usually goes wrong
Each starts with what you would notice.
However hard you push, the bar never gets above your head.
WhyIt cannot get there. The far end is pinned, so the end you are holding travels on a curve around that point, and the curve runs forward as much as upward. The steps call it an overhead press and the position it finishes in is not overhead.
FixPress up and away, and finish where your arms finish. Nothing is missing from the rep. If a bar above your head is what you came for, you need a bar that is not attached to the floor.
You cannot tell whether your shoulders pressed anything.
WhyThe stand and the press have run into each other, so your legs threw the bar and your arms came along for the ride. That is a thruster, which is a real exercise, but it is not the one described here.
FixCome all the way up, hold still with the bar at your chest, and only then press. If the bar is already moving while your knees are still straightening, your legs are doing the shoulder work.
At the bottom of the squat the bar pulls you forward and your chest folds toward it.
WhyYou are holding weight out in front of your sternum, and the anchored end is dragging down its own length at the same time. Both of those want your torso to close.
FixKeep the elbows tucked underneath the bar and the end of it touching your chest, and let the knees take you down. The moment the bar leaves your chest it has a longer reach on you than it did.
What it is for
The landmine squat to press is a compound exercise that combines a squat with an overhead press using a landmine barbell. It targets the quadriceps and glutes while developing shoulder strength and core stability throughout the movement.
Questions people ask
- What muscles does the landmine squat to press work?
- The quads straighten your knees to stand up out of the squat and the glutes extend your hips. The delts and triceps press the bar away at the top, with the upper chest helping because the path is angled rather than vertical. Your midsection holds the bar against you for the whole set.
- Can you press a landmine bar straight overhead?
- No. The far end is anchored, so the free end can only travel on a curve, and it finishes forward of your head rather than above it. That is the geometry of the setup, not something to correct.
- Is this a thruster?
- It becomes one if you let the stand and the press run together, which is a legitimate way to train. The version described here keeps them apart: stand up first, then press, so the shoulders are what raise the bar.
- Do you load it for the squat or the press?
- What your shoulders can press. That sits well below what your legs can squat, and loading it the other way round just means the top of every rep stops happening.
- How far from the anchor should you stand?
- Close enough that the bar end sits at your chest with your elbows pointing down. Further out flattens the bar and pulls you forward, closer in makes it steep and pushes it into your chest. Once you find the spot, keep it, because moving your feet changes how heavy the same plates feel.
- Why does my chest fold at the bottom of the squat?
- Because the load sits forward of your sternum, which is about the hardest place a torso can be asked to carry one. Keep the bar in contact with your chest and the elbows under it. If you still close down at the bottom, take a plate off.