Landmine Kneeling One Arm Shoulder Press
Muscles Worked: Landmine Kneeling One Arm Shoulder Press
The landmine kneeling one arm shoulder press mainly trains your front delts, which drive the bar up and slightly forward through the pressing path. Your triceps help finish each rep by straightening the elbow, and your upper chest adds support because the bar moves on an angled path instead of straight overhead. Your shoulders do the main work, while your arms help you lock the weight out. Because the press starts and finishes with your arm high, it may also emphasize the triceps, which is at least indirectly supported by research showing greater triceps hypertrophy during elbow extension training performed in an overhead versus neutral arm position (Maeo et al., 2023).
Technique and form
How to perform the Landmine Kneeling One Arm Shoulder Press
- Set up a landmine attachment with an appropriate weight, then kneel with your right knee and left foot forward, positioning yourself perpendicular to the bar.
- Grasp the end of the bar with your right hand using a neutral grip, and position your elbow at shoulder height with your palm facing inward.
- Brace your core and maintain a tall spine with shoulders pulled back, ensuring your weight is evenly distributed between your knee and foot.
- Inhale deeply and create tension throughout your body, keeping your non-working arm slightly extended to the side for balance.
- Press the bar upward by extending your arm overhead while exhaling, following a slight arcing path that's natural to the landmine's pivot point.
- At the top position, your arm should be almost fully extended with your bicep near your ear, but avoid locking out your elbow completely.
- Pause briefly at the top while maintaining core stability and ensuring your torso remains upright without leaning to compensate.
- Lower the weight under control while inhaling, returning to the starting position with your elbow at shoulder height before beginning the next repetition.
Important information
- Keep your core engaged throughout the entire movement to prevent arching your lower back, especially as fatigue sets in.
- Make sure your working shoulder stays packed down and away from your ear to maintain proper shoulder mechanics.
- Adjust your kneeling stance width for optimal stability; a wider base often provides better support for heavier weights.
- If you feel pressure in your lower back, reduce the weight or check that you're not hyperextending your spine at the top of the movement.
Is the Landmine Kneeling One Arm Shoulder Press good for muscle growth?
Yes. The landmine kneeling one arm shoulder press is a solid muscle-building exercise for the front delts because it lets you press hard through a shoulder-friendly angled path while still training the triceps and upper chest. It also puts your arm in a high pressing position, which may indirectly support triceps growth based on research showing greater triceps hypertrophy during elbow extension training done overhead versus with the arm by the side (Maeo et al., 2023).
- Front-delt bias — The angled landmine path keeps the load in front of you, so your front delts stay under tension from the bottom to the top. That makes this a better shoulder-builder than chest-dominant barbell presses when your goal is to bring up the front of the shoulder.
- Helpful triceps stimulus — Each rep ends with a strong lockout, so your triceps have to work hard to finish the press. Research on elbow extension training found more triceps growth with the arm overhead than in a neutral position, which indirectly supports using high-angle pressing in your program (Maeo et al., 2023).
- Easy to push close to failure — The half-arc path of a landmine press usually feels smoother than a straight overhead barbell press, so many lifters can train the target muscles hard without their lower back becoming the limiting factor. If standing overhead work bothers you, barbell-standing-military-press is often tougher to recover from.
- Good for side-to-side balance — Pressing one arm at a time stops the stronger side from hiding the weaker side. That makes it useful for evening out pressing strength before returning to heavier two-arm work like the landmine-squat-press.
Programming for muscle growth
Do 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps per arm with 90-120 seconds rest. Train it 1-2 times per week, usually early in your workout after your warm-up, because it responds best when you can press with focus and add load over time. Use the lower end of the rep range for strength-focused shoulder work, and the higher end when you want more total delt volume with cleaner reps.
Landmine Kneeling One Arm Shoulder Press Variations
Alternative Exercises
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FAQ - Landmine Kneeling One Arm Shoulder Press
The exercise primarily targets the front deltoids (anterior shoulders) and triceps. Additionally, it engages your core stabilizers, serratus anterior, and upper chest as secondary muscles while the kneeling position forces greater trunk stability.
Yes, it's generally shoulder-friendly because the arced pressing path follows a more natural movement pattern than strict vertical presses. The landmine setup reduces impingement risk and places less stress on the shoulder joint, making it suitable for many people with mobility limitations.
The most common mistakes include rounding your lower back, rotating your hips instead of keeping them square, rushing through the movement, and not hinging properly at the hips. Focus on maintaining a neutral spine, moving with control, and keeping your standing knee slightly soft rather than locked.
To make it easier, reduce the weight or switch to a half-kneeling position (one knee up). To increase difficulty, add more weight, slow down the eccentric (lowering) phase to 3-4 seconds, or progress to a tall kneeling position with knees close together to challenge core stability further.
For optimal results, incorporate this exercise 1-2 times weekly as part of your push or arm-specific training days. Since it's an isolation movement, it works best when programmed after compound exercises, using 3-4 sets of 8-15 repetitions depending on your specific goals.
Scientific References
Maeo S, Wu Y, Huang M et al. · European journal of sport science (2023)
Sources are peer-reviewed academic publications from PubMed.
Landmine Kneeling One Arm Shoulder Press
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