The landmine is an essential piece of gym equipment but is almost always used to work your chest, shoulder or even lower body muscles. But did you know you could also use the landmine to build yourself a set of huge arms? If you do it correctly, it’s a sure-fire route to ~gains~.
The landmine refers to a barbell being anchored to the floor via a specific landmine plate. Once anchored, the barbell can then be moved horizontally and vertically, allowing you to integrate a range of exercises into your workout routine.
Some of the most popular landmine exercises include a landmine row for your back, a landmine standing press for your chest and shoulders and the landmine squat for your lower body. But Dr Joel Seedman, founder of Advanced Human Performance, has put forward a new use for the landmine, which could help you build some huge arms.
WATCH: Dr Seedman explains the landmine bicep curl & skull crusher
Taking to Instagram, Dr Seedman has posted a video showing one of his clients performing eccentric overload bicep and triceps exercises. These exercises incorporate the Biltaerial Assisted Negative Accentuated training method, which Dr Seedman says means “up with 2 limbs and down with 1 limb.”
Landmine Bicep Curl
The first of the landmine arm exercises shows the lifter performing what is essentially a barbell bicep curl, but instead of having both hands holding the bar with an underhand grip, only one hand is held in an underhand grip.
The other hand (furthest away from the weight at the end of the bar) holds the bar with an overhand grip and is there for added support to help curl the bar up. This, Dr Seedman says, “allows the lifter to do self-assisted reps with slight assistance, thus allowing the lifter to handle greater than 1RM (1 rep maximum) for their single arm bicep curl.”
Once at the top of the bicep curl, the hand using the overhand grip is removed from the bar, and the hand using the underhand grip slowly lowers the bar back to the starting position (the eccentric part of the movement).
The landmine bicep curl is already a known exercise, but Dr Seedman’s method of adding the second arm for assistance should allow you to lift a greater amount of weight.
Landmine Skull Crusher
The same process applies to the skull crusher, a great exercise for training your triceps muscles. With this landmine variation, the lifter needs to lay down on the floor with the bar in line with their eyes. Again, the hand closest to the weight at the end of the bar should hold the bar throughout the exercise, using an overhand grip.
The hand furthest from the weight provides assistance pressing the bar up. It’s then removed so that the remaining arm can slowly lower the bar back down to the starting position.
Dr Seedman adds, “eccentric overload has been consistently shown in research to be one of the most effective training methods for stimulating muscle growth, strength & injury prevention. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to implement on your own as it often requires a spotter to assist you on the concentric (the lifting/curling part) since you’ll be handling supramaximal loads (greater than 1RM).”
What Is 1RM?
1RM stands for one-repetition maximum and literally means the maximum amount of weight you can lift, for one repetition. 1RM is often used to determine someone’s maximum strength and is the method commonly used to determine a winner in powerlifting and weightlifting competitions.
1RM might not be necessary for all gym-goers, especially those who just want to go to keep themselves in good shape. But for those who really want to test their strength, it’s a great way to monitor your progress.
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