Strength training is one of the most effective ways to burn fat, get leaner, and become more athletic. It’s something that everyone should be doing from the high school basketball player to the grandmother wanting to play with her grandkids. Anyone can benefit from it.
When designing your own strength training program, it’s important to include the main, fundamental movement patterns. These include:
- Squat (squats lunge, step up)
- Hinge (deadlift, RDL)
- Push (push up, bench press)
- Pull (pull up, row)
- Core/trunk (carry, deadbug, pallof press)
The reason being, they closely mimic the way we move in day to day life. They also work a large number of muscles at one time so they are very effective at shedding fat and adding muscle.
One squat variation I’ve been playing around with lately is the Landmine Squat. This is an exercise I picked up from California based trainer, Ben Bruno.
The squat is one of the biggest bang for your buck exercises. It works your calves, hamstrings, quads, glutes, core, and upper body, depending on what variation you are doing.
The only problem is, squatting can be painful on the knees. This most likely isn’t the squat itself, but rather, the way someone is squatting. Technique is very important and if any movement is done improperly it can cause pain.
Two of the biggest reasons I like the Landmine Squat is because the technique is very hard to screw up and it teaches you how to squat correctly.
The set up is simple.
- Stick a bar in a corner or up against a wall.
- Grab the top of the bar with both hands.
- Your body should be at a slight angle versus a normal squat where you are standing straight up.
- From here, push your hips back and sit down between your legs.
- Then, push through your heels and return to the start.
Take a look at the video below for a demonstration.
The reason why this variation is hard to get wrong is because the bar guides your movement the entire time. As you squat, it push you back slightly so that your trunk remains vertical. This one difference takes pressure off the low back and knees, which are two areas that often get beat up with squatting.
Squats also require a tremendous amount of stability through the core and trunk to do correctly and safely. Since the Landmine Squat requires you to hold the bar at it’s highest point, it forces you to engage your abs and stay braced throughout the exercise.
I usually like to program this in a superset with an upper body pull or push. For example:
1A) Landmine Squat
1B) DB Bench Row
or
1A) Landmine Squat
1B) Push Up
You would perform one set on the squat, immediately perform one set on the push or pull exercise, and then rest. As far as sets and reps go, stick in the 6-12 rep range for 2-4 sets.
If you have pain when squatting or it just doesn’t feel comfortable, give this variation a shot. It not only will help you perform other squat variations (goblet squat, back squat, front squat, etc.) better, it will also allow to work the same muscles and joints pain free. It’s one of those great exercises that’s not only safe but very effective.
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