Landmine press: the setup, one arm or two, and what the angle means for chest and shoulders

A landmine press is a press with a barbell anchored at one end. The bar's end sits in a corner or a landmine attachment on the floor, and you press the other end up and forward from your shoulder. Because the bar travels in an arc around the anchor, the press runs at an angle: steeper than an incline press, less upright than an overhead press.

This page covers the setup, standing or kneeling, one arm or two, what the angle means for the chest and the shoulders, what hasn't been studied, the faults, and the sets. The full shoulder day is on the shoulder workout.

How to do a landmine press

1. Set the anchor. Put one end of an empty barbell in a landmine attachment, or wedge it into a corner with a towel around the end so it doesn't slide or mark the walls.
2. Load the other end with a small plate and pick it up to your shoulder. For one arm, hold the end of the sleeve in your palm, elbow under it.
3. Stand facing the anchor in a split stance, feet hip-width apart, the foot on the pressing arm's side back. Lean forward slightly so your body and the bar line up.
4. Brace, ribs down, glutes tight.
5. Press the bar up and forward until your arm is straight, letting your shoulder blade move with it at the top.
6. Lower it under control back to your shoulder. That's one rep; switch arms after the set.

Standing, kneeling, one arm or two

One arm at a time asks more of your trunk. In 11 adults, six men and five women, one-arm shoulder presses produced more activity in the back's stabilizing muscles than two-arm presses, and one-arm chest presses more activity in all the trunk stabilizers measured.¹ For the arm itself, a 2025 meta-analysis of nine studies found no difference in muscle growth between one-limb and two-limb training, while strength rose most in whichever version was trained.² (One side at a time covers the rest.)

Chest or shoulders: what the angle means

A PubMed search for this page found one landmine press study, which tested a camera system for measuring bar speed, and no study of which muscles it works. The closest evidence is bench angle. In 30 trained adults pressing at 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 degrees at 60% of their max for each angle, the upper chest was most active at 30 degrees, the middle and lower chest most active flat, and the front of the shoulder most active at 60 degrees.³

Measured against those benches, a standing landmine press sits at the steep end or past it, because your torso is nearly upright and the bar travels up and forward. Standing farther back from the anchor, or leaning more, flattens the path a little; standing tall over it makes it more upright. That's geometry, not a measured result, and no study in that search tested the landmine press "for chest". So read it as a shoulder press first, with the upper chest helping. If the chest is the goal, the incline bench press is the one with the angle data.

What a training study found

One trial in PubMed has used landmine exercises in a program, and they were a mix, not the press alone. In 18 professional female volleyball players over 16 weeks, nine trained with weights and nine with weights plus landmine exercises such as a squat to press. Both groups got stronger on the deadlift and the back squat; the jump test improved more in the landmine group.⁴ That's one small trial in professional athletes, and it doesn't single out the press.

The common faults, and a fix for each

• Leaning back to finish the rep. Lean slightly toward the anchor, not away from it. If you can't finish without arching, go lighter.
• Elbow flaring out wide. Start with the elbow under the bar and press along the line of the bar.
• Twisting to move the weight. Unless you're doing the rotation version on purpose, keep your hips and shoulders square to the anchor.
• Pushing with the legs. A dip and drive turns it into a push press. Keep your knees still, or press from a kneel.
• The anchor sliding. Use an attachment, a heavy plate around the end or a corner with a towel. Check it before every set.
• Pressing through something that hurts. Sore muscles the next day are normal; a sharp or lasting hurt in the shoulder isn't. Stop, and see a doctor or a physical therapist.

Sets, reps and where it goes

• Two or three sets of 8 to 12 per arm on a shoulder or upper-body day, stopping one or two reps short. (How to judge reps left.) The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 position stand, which covers healthy adults, advises at least two sets per exercise.⁵
• As your vertical push or alongside it. It can stand in for an overhead press, or follow one as a second press. Count it with your shoulder sets; the same stand found muscle growth was enhanced by ten or more sets per muscle group a week.
• Pair it with a pull such as a row, so one group of muscles rests while the other works.
• Add weight in small steps. When 12 reps come easy on each arm, add the smallest plate you have. (Progressive overload covers the options.)

If you'd rather not plan it alone

The landmine press is one exercise; whether it replaces your overhead press or joins it depends on the rest of your week. Coaching is the version where your workouts are built around the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one. Coaching to build muscle explains how that works, and here's how to apply. Otherwise: at your next upper-body session, try two sets of 10 landmine presses per arm with a small plate, and write down the weight.