Barbell · intermediate · back
Barbell landmine stiff stance deadlift
Also called Landmine RDL, Landmine stiff leg deadlift, Landmine Romanian deadlift, Stiff stance deadlift, Landmine deadlift.
You stand with your back to a floor anchor, hold the loaded end of the bar in front of your thighs with both hands, and hinge at the hips while the knees stay nearly straight. The hamstrings do the work of bringing you upright, the glutes finish it, and your lower back is holding a position rather than producing one. What the anchor changes is the path: the bar end travels on a curve instead of hanging straight down, so it moves away from you as you go.
How to do it
- Step oneAnchor a barbell in a landmine sleeve and stand facing away from the anchor with feet hip-width apart.
- Step twoHold the end of the bar with both hands behind you or from the side.
- Step threeHinge at the hips with a slight knee bend, lowering the bar toward the ground.
- Step fourKeep your back flat and core engaged throughout the movement.
- Step fiveDrive through your heels to return to standing, squeezing your glutes at the top.
What usually goes wrong
Each starts with what you would notice.
The loaded end swings out in front of your thighs as you descend.
WhyIt has to. That end is following a curve around the anchor, and on that curve, going down also means going further out. A loose bar could travel straight down and this one has no way to.
FixLet it swing and keep sending your hips backward anyway. Trying to hold the bar tight to your legs at the bottom means fighting the only path available to it.
Your hands give out a long way before the back of your legs does.
WhyThere is no handle. Both hands are stacked on a bare sleeve, thicker than a bar shaft and free to spin, which is a harder thing to hold on to than a knurled grip.
FixUse a handle attachment if the gym has one, and keep the sets short enough that your grip lasts the distance. A load your hands cannot hold is a load your hamstrings never met.
Every set feels slightly different and you are not sure why.
WhyYour distance from the anchor sets the angle of the bar, and that angle decides the direction the load pulls in and how far down you can go. It is a setting, and it is easy to change without noticing you have.
FixSet the distance from the bottom of the hinge rather than from standing. Walk to where the bar is where you want it at the bottom of the rep, then stand up and begin from there.
What it is for
The landmine stiff stance deadlift is a hip hinge exercise that uses the guided arc of a landmine barbell to target the hamstrings and posterior chain. The fixed range of motion makes it an accessible option for developing hip hinge mechanics and lower back strength.
Questions people ask
- What muscles does the landmine stiff stance deadlift work?
- The hamstrings extend your hips to bring you upright and the glutes finish the movement. Your lower back and your abs keep the torso angle from changing, and your grip is working the entire time. The knee angle barely changes, which is what keeps the job at the hip.
- Does the landmine make a hip hinge easier to learn?
- That is the usual claim and there is nothing behind it. The anchor constrains where the bar can go. It does not constrain your hips, your knees or your spine, and it will let a back round exactly the way a barbell would. Nobody has measured a landmine hinge against a barbell one.
- Is the range of motion fixed?
- No. The bar end has one path available to it, but how far you descend is still decided by you, and by the same thing that decides it on any hinge: how far your hips can travel before your back has to start helping.
- How far from the anchor should you stand?
- Far enough that the bar end reaches your thighs while you are standing upright. Nearer than that and the end sits too high to hold comfortably. It is worth remembering the spot, because a different distance is effectively a different exercise.
- Why is it called a stiff stance deadlift?
- Because the knees stay close to straight and hold that angle while the hips do the moving. Names in this family get swapped around constantly, so the same setup turns up elsewhere as a landmine RDL.
- Is this better than a barbell Romanian deadlift?
- Neither has been measured against the other. A barbell gives you a straight line of pull and no ceiling on the load. The landmine gives you one hand position, one path, and a grip that will end the set early. Use it as a variation rather than a replacement.