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Incorporating Landmine Training Into a Total Body Conditioning Program

This is an excerpt from Complete Guide to Landmine Training by David Otey & Joe Drake.

Incorporating Landmine Training Into a Total Body Conditioning Program

One of the reasons the landmine is such a powerful training tool is because of its versatility and ability to serve as a stand-alone corner gym. This means you can train the entire body without much equipment and in a relatively small footprint. This makes it an exceptionally effective stand-alone training tool, especially for total body training programs like those found in this chapter.

However, you will most often find the landmine as a cornerstone tool integrated into a bigger-picture program that mixes modalities and equipment. Some of the landmine exercises introduced in this book serve as upgrades or replacements to some traditional strength and power moves and are best suited to be plugged in at the appropriate place in a general total body program.

We have provided examples of each in the landmine training total body conditioning programs that follow. This means you can use some of them as additions to your current total body program or use them as a stand-alone strength training program.

Here are a few overarching key points regarding these workouts that will help you get the most out of them and adapt them as needed over time:

Rest

• The sets that follow in each workout are set up in either superset (A1, A2) or triplex (B1, B2, B3) fashion. This means they are meant to be done back to back with just enough rest between exercises to transition to the next move—ideally 20 to 40 seconds max. Once you have completed each one, you have completed an entire set and should take a full rest period.
• Rest for 60 to 90 seconds after completing an entire superset or triplex.

Reps/Time

• The priority here is the controlled and intentional execution of each rep with perfect technique.
• Minimize momentum and fight the urge to cheat reps to hit the rep range with a certain weight; instead, lower your weight as needed to hit the rep ranges included.
• Tempo matters here, so when in doubt slightly slow down the lowering phase (two to three seconds eccentric) and move normally with the lifting phase (one second concentric) of each exercise.

Intensity

• Leave a few reps in the tank on most of the exercises included in each workout for total body conditioning. It’s good to challenge yourself with more load in this phase over time, but most sets you should finish knowing you probably still could have pushed out three or more good reps without compromising form. You will build muscular endurance and still likely gain some ancillary hypertrophy and strength without working to failure in this phase of training.
• If you measure your intensity on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 representing total technique or muscular failure, then your goal should be to work up to just 7 or 8 on your final sets in each of the following workouts.

Substitute when necessary

• Great training programs are not about handcuffing you to exercises that aren’t right for your body. If you find yourself in pain or uncomfortable with an exercise, don’t force it.
• Chapter 7 talks about the concept of individuality, and we had this in mind when we built out the programming options that follow. We have included movement patterns in the workout programs that match the exercises listed in earlier chapters to give you programming options and the ability to adapt. Some moves may just not fit your body and how it moves. Simply choose another exercise option in that movement category that you can perform through the full range of motion without pain.

More Excerpts From Complete Guide to Landmine Training

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