Kneeling Landmine Single-Arm Press

What the kneeling landmine press actually trains

A kneeling landmine single-arm press is a one arm pressing movement performed from a half kneeling position, driving the end of an angled barbell up and forward along the arc its pivot allows.

The anterior deltoid does most of the work, with the lateral deltoid and the upper chest contributing and the triceps extending the elbow. The obliques, the deep abdominal wall and the glute of the down leg work continuously to stop the load rotating and side bending you.

The angle is the defining feature. A landmine bar is pinned at one end, so the pressing path is neither horizontal nor vertical; it runs on a diagonal somewhere between an overhead press and an incline press. Saeterbakken and colleagues found that body position and loading modality both change muscle activity and strength in shoulder presses, which is the general principle here: change the angle and you change the exercise.

That diagonal is why the movement exists. Plenty of people cannot get their arms fully overhead without their ribs flaring or their shoulder complaining. Kolber and colleagues reviewed resistance training shoulder complaints and identified forced end range overhead positions as worth respecting rather than grinding through. The landmine press gives you a pressing pattern that goes above the head without demanding full overhead range, which for a stiff shoulder is a genuinely useful compromise rather than a soft option.

The half kneeling position adds the second half of the exercise. One arm pressing an offset load while kneeling creates a rotational and lateral pull that your trunk has to cancel. McGill's work on core training makes the case that resisting motion, rather than producing it, is the trunk's main job, and this is one of the tidier ways to load that.

Setting up and executing

Set a barbell into a landmine sleeve, or wedge one end into a corner with a towel around it. Load the free end.

Stand at the loaded end facing the pivot, then drop into a half kneeling position with the same side knee down as your pressing arm. Right arm pressing, right knee down.

Pick the bar end up and rest it against the front of that shoulder.

Square your hips towards the bar, squeeze the glute of the down leg and brace the abs. Keep the ribs down.

Press the bar up and forward along its natural arc, finishing with the arm straight and the bar above and slightly in front of your shoulder.

Pause for a beat without letting the torso rotate towards the working side.

Lower over two to three seconds back to the shoulder and press again.

The mistakes that cost you the most

Letting the torso rotate is the fault that removes the reason for the kneeling position. As the arm extends, the load pulls your chest towards the working side, and turning with it makes the press easier while deleting the anti-rotation demand. Keep the chest square to the bar throughout.

Sitting back on the heel collapses the hip and takes the tension out of the position. Stay tall, with the down side glute squeezed and the torso stacked over the hips.

Leaning away to press is the compensation people use when the weight is too heavy. Side bending under load moves the effort from your shoulder to your lumbar spine. Ribs down, and if you cannot press without the lean, drop the load.

Pressing across the body puts the bar on a path over your midline, which crowds the shoulder. The bar should travel up and slightly out on the working side.

And treating it as a chest press is the most common quiet error. Sit your torso back a few degrees and the movement stops being a shoulder exercise and becomes an incline press. Stay upright and let the bar's arc do the angling.

Sets, reps and rest by goal

Moderate loads and moderate reps suit this. It is a pressing pattern, not a raise.

For muscle gain, three sets of eight to twelve per arm with ninety seconds. For strength, four sets of six to eight with two minutes. In a fat loss phase, three sets of ten to fifteen with a minute.

Remember that each set is doubled in time, since you press both sides. Factor that into how many exercises you plan for the session.

Progress cautiously. The trunk is often the limiting factor before the shoulder, and the first sign that the weight has gone up too fast is a side bend or a rotation rather than a missed rep.

Schoenfeld and colleagues found a dose response between weekly hard sets and hypertrophy, and sets here count towards shoulder, triceps and trunk volume at the same time, which makes this an efficient movement on a short programme.

Refalo and colleagues found stopping a rep or two short of failure produces comparable growth to going all the way. That is a good rule anywhere and a very good one here, because the failure rep on a single arm press is the rep where your torso does something you did not plan.

Where it fits in your split

As a second pressing movement, after the main press.

On push, pull and legs it goes on push day after your barbell or dumbbell pressing. On a bro split it comes second or third on shoulder day. On an upper and lower split it can serve as the vertical press outright if conventional overhead work is uncomfortable for you. On a full body programme it is a strong choice, since one movement covers pressing and trunk work.

The clearest case for it is a shoulder that does not like true overhead pressing. Rather than dropping vertical pressing altogether, the landmine gives you a pattern that goes above the head at an angle the joint usually tolerates, and you can keep progressing it.

The second case is trunk work you do not have to schedule separately. Pressing from a half kneeling stance trains the base and the press together.

Twice a week is comfortable, since the loads are moderate and the fatigue cost is low relative to barbell pressing.

Variations worth knowing

The standing landmine press allows more weight and a little leg drive, at the cost of most of the anti-rotation demand.

The tall kneeling version, with both knees down, removes the split stance and puts more of the stability demand on the hips and trunk directly.

A two hand landmine press, cupping the bar end with both hands, allows considerably heavier loading and is the version to use when the goal is simply pressing volume.

The half kneeling dumbbell press keeps the same base but presses genuinely vertically, which is the progression to move towards if overhead range is something you are trying to restore.

A landmine push press adds a small drive from the down leg to overload the top of the movement.

And the seated dumbbell shoulder press is the conventional option when your shoulder tolerates true vertical pressing, which loads the deltoid more directly than any landmine variation will.

What the evidence says

Saeterbakken and colleagues examined how body position and loading modality affect muscle activity and strength in shoulder presses and found both matter, which is the direct basis for treating an angled, single arm, kneeling press as a meaningfully different exercise rather than a novelty.

Sakoma and colleagues described the deltoid as three functionally distinct segments, supporting the point that press angle determines which segment does the most work.

Kolber and colleagues reviewed shoulder injuries attributed to resistance training and identified end range overhead positions as worth treating carefully, which is the argument for a diagonal press when full overhead range is uncomfortable.

McGill's work on core training argues that the trunk's primary role is resisting unwanted motion rather than producing motion, which is exactly what the half kneeling single arm position demands.

Ludewig and Reynolds documented the association between scapular kinematics and shoulder joint problems, supporting the emphasis on a stable, squared base during pressing.

Schoenfeld and colleagues on weekly volume explains the efficiency argument for a movement that trains shoulders, triceps and trunk at once, and Refalo and colleagues on proximity to failure explains why the last grinding rep is not worth the position it costs.

Common questions

Is this an overhead press?

Partly. The bar finishes above your head but on a diagonal, because the landmine's pivot fixes the arc. It sits between an overhead press and a steep incline press, which is why it suits shoulders that dislike true vertical pressing.

Why kneel instead of standing?

Kneeling removes the legs, so you cannot drive the bar up with a dip, and it makes the anti-rotation demand much clearer. Standing lets you use more weight; kneeling makes the exercise more honest. Choose based on which of those you want.

Which knee should be down?

The same side as the pressing arm. That puts the down side glute directly under the load and gives you a stable base to press from. Swapping to the opposite knee is a common variation but the same side version is the better default.

Can this replace overhead pressing?

It can if true overhead work does not suit you. If your shoulders tolerate vertical pressing, a dumbbell or barbell press loads the deltoid more directly and progresses more cleanly, so use the landmine as a second movement rather than the main one.

Why does my side ache more than my shoulder?

Because the obliques on the non pressing side are doing the work of stopping the load bending you sideways. That is the position functioning as intended, though if it is the limiting factor on every set, drop the weight so the shoulder gets a proper stimulus too.