The landmine squat is a lesser know variation of the squat exercise. Find out how it compares to the typical back squat in a variety of areas.
Landmine squats will focus slightly more on your quadriceps and slightly less on your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.
Additionally, landmine squats without an attachment work your biceps, trapezius, and shoulder muscles a small amount.
Due to the different upper body angle, landmine squats tend to be easier on your lower back. Some people also find the shoulder angle to hold the weights a lot more comfortable than back squats.
The main downside of landmine squats is that they are inconvenient or at least require some extra equipment to do with enough weight to train the strong leg muscles. With the standard version, your upper body muscles may fatigue too soon.
On the other hand, barbell back squats can strengthen your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings more. This variation is also easier to do with a lot of weight which is extremely important.
Individuals who like the different focus and extra back and shoulder comfort of landmine squats but don’t like the limited weight capacity can consider investing in a safety squat bar.
Differences in technique
The differences in technique of these squat variations are straightforward but worth mentioning anyway. This is because the different effects in other areas come from these techniques.
Landmine squats involve holding one end of a barbell in front of your chest while the other side is anchored close to the ground. Because of this, your upper body is more upright and you go slightly forward in the upward trajectory.
On the other hand, back squats involve squats with a barbell resting horizontally on your upper back. To stay balanced throughout the movement you have to tilt your upper body forward a good amount.
Below you can find more in depth steps to follow and demonstration videos to be able to visualize the movements.
How to do a landmine squat
As the name implies, you will need a landmine setup for the first type of squat. Once you have that, take the following steps to do a landmine squat:
- Set up the landmine with the desired number of plates. Squat down right in front of the end of the barbell with a straight back and put your two hands under the barbell.
- Squat up relatively explosively and bring the landmine to chest height. Hold the end of the barbell right above your chest with both of your hands.
- Slowly lower your hips by bending your knees. How far depends on different factors like knee health but at your lowest point you want your hips to be at or lower than your knee height. Keep your back straight throughout the movement.
- Push yourself up again into starting position by stretching your legs in a controlled motion.
- Lower the landmine to the ground after your desired number of repetitions.
If you want to avoid the initial clean movement, there are also landmine stands that allow you to load the barbell in an elevated position.
Additionally, there are landmine squat attachments that allow you to put the weight on your shoulders instead of holding the end of the barbell in front of you.
How to do a back squat
For a back squat you need a barbell, weight plates, a way to rack the barbell at about chest height, and preferably safety bars or spotters. Once you have these, take the following steps to do the exercise:
- Find a squat rack and rack the barbell at about chest height.
- Stand under the barbell, push your shoulders up so that the cambered bar rests on your upper back, and hold it there with your hands.
- Unrack the barbell and take a few steps back so that you have room to squat. Stand up straight with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
- Slowly lower your hips by bending your knees. How far depends on different factors like knee health but at your lowest point you want your hips to be at or lower than your knee height. You will likely have to bend forward for balance but keep your back in a straight line throughout the movement.
- Push yourself up again into starting position by stretching your legs.
- Rerack the barbell after your desired number of repetitions.
If you are new to back squats you likely want to improve your technique with low weights first.
Differences in muscles worked
Both exercises still work your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and lower back muscles.
However, because of the different weight distribution, the ratio you work these muscles is different between landmine squats and back squats.
More specifically, landmine squats will focus slightly more on the quadriceps and slightly less on the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back than back squats.
For most people, the most noticeable difference will be the extent to which the lower back muscle engagement changes.
Lastly, the muscles used in landmine squats also include the biceps, trapezius, and deltoids if you do the version where you hold the end of the barbell in front of your chest with your hands.
How easy it is to use heavy weights
Something important to keep in mind is that the strong leg muscles used in both exercises need a lot of pressure for muscle growth and strength progress.
In terms of how easy it is to use heavy weights, the back squat is the clear winner. Even if you keep the different muscle engagement ratio in mind, landmine squats just tend to be inconvenient to do with heavy weights.
If you start with a landmine setup on the ground, it can be challenging to get a lot of weight up to chest height.
Even if you do get there, potentially with the help of a landmine stand, your upper body muscles holding the barbell could fatigue before your leg muscles.
With a landmine squat attachment and a landmine stand, you should be able to do heavy landmine squats in a convenient way but these equipment options are not always available.
In short, with the equipment most people have available, landmine squats are a lot less convenient to do with heavy weights than back squats.
Putting your muscles under enough pressure is important so this is a relatively big downside and means that landmine squats are likely not able to completely replace back squats.
Comfort
Landmine squats and barbell back squats are also different in two key comfort areas. Comfort is not always a good thing but in these two areas, it can definitely be positive.
These two benefits of landmine squats are that they are easier on your shoulders and lower back than back squats.
First of all, some people are not able to (comfortably) do back squats due to the shoulder angle required to keep the barbell in place.
Secondly, because you keep your body more upright and the weight in front of you, landmine squats are easier on your lower back.
With this second difference, you do have to keep in mind that this also leads to less potential for lower back strengthening.
If these things stop you from doing back squats, landmine squats are generally a big improvement over doing no squats at all.
