Exercises You Should Be Doing: 1-Arm Landmine Row

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Things have been cranking the past few days, and it’s been hard for me to keep up with the blog.  I posted one up late on Monday, skimped yesterday, and am posting a short one today. I’m slacking, I know.

If it’s any consolation I’m really sorry everyone, but I promise I’ll make it up to you soon.

(Bambi Eyes)

I actually do have a lot on my plate right now:

1.  Within the next week or so, strength coach Dan Trink and I will be exposing to the world a project we’ve been working on in collaboration with Greatist.com.  It’s thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to being complete – everyone’s busy putting the finishing touches into place – and we’re pretty certain it’s going to help out a lot of people, if not win us a Nobel Prize.

Stay tuned.  News to come shortly.

2. I’m cranking away on my next T-Nation article, which discusses some of more common exercises that trainees tend to butcher.

3.  And yesterday I actually spent the afternoon hanging out with JC Deen, lifting heavy(ish) things and eating some dead animals. We met up in the city, headed over to Boston University to get a quick lift in and then spent the afternoon talking about training, marketing, writing, and even read some poetry to orphans.

Okay, we didn’t really do that……..but we did spend a fair amount of time shooting the shit and talking about the industry.

All I have to say about JC is that he’s a great dude, and my man has a very, very bright future a head of him.  You might even say I officially have a little man-crush.

I know some of you reading may already be familiar with his work, but if not, I’d highly encourage you to check out his website HERE.

So anyways, enough with the small talk.  Lets get to today’s Exercise You Should Be Doing

1-Arm Landmine Row

Who Did I Steal If From:  I know Ben Bruno has been posting a lot of new exercises as of late with the landmine, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s already highlighted this one. However, in my defense I looked at the date from when I actually filmed this video and it was November 23, 2008 (hence the winter skully on my head).  HA – take that Bruno!

What Does It Do:  Actually, a lot. As with any row variation we’re hitting the upper back, lats, and biceps pretty hard, so this should be a popular “go to” exercise for all the meat heads out there reading – especially for those who train in a gym who’s dumbbell selection is limited.

You could foreseeably load this sucker up pretty heavy.

A little less known is that this exercise is an absolute beast when it comes to anti-rotation (or, rotary) training.  Because it’s done in a two-point stance – only two points of contact – there’s a strong demand on the torso to resist rotation, which I feel makes this exercise pretty key.

Key Coaching Cues:  Maintaining a “neutral” spinal position throughout is paramount.  If we’re going to keep ourselves honest, if one were to place a long PVC stick down the backside, there should be three points of contact – back of the head, between the shoulder blades, as well as the sacrum.

This is just a point of reference, of course, I don’t expect you to really place a PVC pipe on your back while performing this exercise. But it might not be a bad idea for those struggling with proper positioning.

Moreover, it’s important to refrain from using too much “body english” on these.  While it’s inevitable there’s going to be “some” movement in the torso, the key objective here is to not look as if you’re having an epileptic seizure and stay as still as possible while performing the movement.

To that end:  you’ll want to push your hips back, keep your knees “soft” (don’t lock them), brace your abs, and focus on pulling “through the elbow.”  Ideally, I like to tell trainees to pull their elbow towards their hip……..and to NOT go past that point.

Another thing to consider is the size of the plates used.  It’s actually less cumbersome to use the smaller 10 lb plates and just load the bar up with as many of those as you need.

Using the larger plates – while they look waaaaaaaay cooler – will just get in the way of everything.

I like to perform these for sets of 6-10/side.  Try them out today and let me know what you think.

NOTE:  For those who don’t have access to a landmine apparatus (the thingamajig on the floor that the bar goes into), you can just as easily place barbell in the corner between two walls and do the exact same thing.  You might have to place a towel around the bar so that it doesn’t mark up the wall, but that shouldn’t be too much of a hassel.

Did what you just read make your day? Ruin it? Either way, you should share it with your friends and/or comment below.

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Comments for This Entry

  • Debra A Papa Civ

    My boyfriend and I do something called "Sundays in the Corner".  We do all sorts of things with the longbar.  I think it's my favorite workout of the week.  Takes us both 1:20:00 total and it's a killer.  Thanks for posting something we can add to our torture.

    July 25, 2012 at 9:45 am | Reply to this comment

    • TonyGentilcore

      Glad you liked it Debra. You should check out Nick Tumminello's Landmine DVD if you haven't already. It's an entire DVD filled with exercises you can do with the landmine.

      July 27, 2012 at 6:10 am | Reply to this comment

  • Kellie Hart Davis

    Going to try this today... after I write poetry with orphaned children (whom I cooked a 5 course dinner for). Thanks!

    July 25, 2012 at 9:53 am | Reply to this comment

  • Grant Pierce

    Ha! Just did this one this morning! Love the landmine! offers and interesting twist on a lot of old school exercises. A great way to keep things new and fresh!

    July 25, 2012 at 11:26 am | Reply to this comment

  • Niel

    Great horizontal row - I grab the bar's sleeve end to avoid hitting the plates and getting a fat grip on it.

    July 25, 2012 at 11:51 am | Reply to this comment

  • Ben Bruno

    I like that one! Maybe we'll do em' Friday?

    July 25, 2012 at 8:59 pm | Reply to this comment

  • Top Good Reads of the Week: Edition 8 | LaVack Fitness

    [...] EYSBD: 1-Arm Landmine Row – Tony Gentilcore Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday – Tony Gentilcore Functionally Fit: Unstable Tall Kneeling Pallof Press – Brian Schiff Functionally Fit: Chair Press-Ups – Brian Schiff What to Do Between Sets – Kyle Newell Become a Basement Badass – Jon Erik Kawamoto 8 Ways to Spice Up a Plank – Jon Erik Kawamoto Can Crossfit Make You Better? – Ryan Munsey Get Your Press Up! – Mark Rippletoe Scapular Taping for Postural Awareness – The Manual Therapist When Do You Prescribe Stability Exercises? – The Manual Therapist The Biggest Shoulder Problem of Them All – Kelly Starrett Exercise Induced Muscle Damage (DOMS) – The Sports Physiotherapist Working Out When You Don’t Really Want to Work Out – Dean Somerset Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 12 – Greg Robins Balance Training and Recovery – Greg Robins Jerk Technique – Wil Fleming How Hard Do We Push When We Stretch? – Mike Reinold Old School Muscle – Adam Bornstein Chicken Legs and the Big Picture – Arnold Schwarzenegger 8 Ways to Make Practice More Productive – Eric Cressey Advanced Deadlift Technique – Smitty Top 6 Best Squat Tips – Smitty What If I Don’t Want to, or Can’t, Lift Heavy? – Nia Shanks Cobra Traps and Cannon Ball Delts – Todd Bumgardner Unleash the Power of the Jump Squat – Brad Longazel Where Should You Feel The Barbell Row? – Anthony Mychal All About Nutrition & Gut Health – Ryan Andrews 7 Single-Leg Exercises You’re Probably Not Doing – Julia Ladewski How is Ballistic Training vs Traditional Resistance Training? – Chris Beardsley You Can’t Get Jacked if You’re All Jacked Up – Molly Galbraith 6 Words or Less – Shon Grosse Don’t Worry, You’ll Be Dead Soon – TC Luoma Be Sociable, Share! Tweet /* [...]

    August 1, 2012 at 5:48 am | Reply to this comment

  • DanielAipa

    I really like performing this exercise.  I've seen John Meadows do a variation of these.  I've been incorporating these into my training program instead of DB rows and actually feel it a lot more in my back.  Good stuff Tony! Thanks for sharing. Aloha

    August 3, 2012 at 9:55 pm | Reply to this comment

  • Top Good Reads of the Week: Edition 8

    […] EYSBD: 1-Arm Landmine Row – Tony Gentilcore Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday – Tony Gentilcore Functionally Fit: Unstable Tall Kneeling Pallof Press – Brian Schiff Functionally Fit: Chair Press-Ups – Brian Schiff What to Do Between Sets – Kyle Newell Become a Basement Badass – Jon Erik Kawamoto 8 Ways to Spice Up a Plank – Jon Erik Kawamoto Can Crossfit Make You Better? – Ryan Munsey Get Your Press Up! – Mark Rippletoe Scapular Taping for Postural Awareness – The Manual Therapist When Do You Prescribe Stability Exercises? – The Manual Therapist The Biggest Shoulder Problem of Them All – Kelly Starrett Exercise Induced Muscle Damage (DOMS) – The Sports Physiotherapist Working Out When You Don’t Really Want to Work Out – Dean Somerset Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 12 – Greg Robins Balance Training and Recovery – Greg Robins Jerk Technique – Wil Fleming How Hard Do We Push When We Stretch? – Mike Reinold Old School Muscle – Adam Bornstein Chicken Legs and the Big Picture – Arnold Schwarzenegger 8 Ways to Make Practice More Productive – Eric Cressey Advanced Deadlift Technique – Smitty Top 6 Best Squat Tips – Smitty What If I Don’t Want to, or Can’t, Lift Heavy? – Nia Shanks Cobra Traps and Cannon Ball Delts – Todd Bumgardner Unleash the Power of the Jump Squat – Brad Longazel Where Should You Feel The Barbell Row? – Anthony Mychal All About Nutrition & Gut Health – Ryan Andrews 7 Single-Leg Exercises You’re Probably Not Doing – Julia Ladewski How is Ballistic Training vs Traditional Resistance Training? – Chris Beardsley You Can’t Get Jacked if You’re All Jacked Up – Molly Galbraith 6 Words or Less – Shon Grosse Don’t Worry, You’ll Be Dead Soon – TC Luoma […]

    September 12, 2013 at 9:32 pm | Reply to this comment

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