Landmine Cossack Squat
What Is the Landmine Cossack Squat?
Landmine Cossack Squat is a compound exercise that primarily targets the hips and groin and the quads, and also engages the glutes and hamstrings. It is an intermediate-level movement in which you hold the loaded end of a landmine barbell at your chest, stand in a very wide stance facing the anchor, and sink into a deep squat over one leg while the other leg straightens out to the side with its heel on the floor and its toes pointing up, then rise and repeat to the other side.
Like the bodyweight Cossack Squat, it trains the legs side to side rather than forward and back, building strength at the very bottom of the bent leg's range while the straight leg's inner thigh lengthens under control. The landmine is a way to load that pattern. Because one end of the bar is fixed in the anchor, the bar moves on a set path and gives you something to lean against as you sit down, so many lifters find it steadier than holding a free weight and can work with more load. That makes it a good fit as a single-leg strength accessory on lower-body days, and with a light bar it also works as a loaded mobility drill before squatting or lateral sport work.
The bent leg does most of the lifting. Its quads straighten the knee from full bend, while the glutes and the large adductor magnus on the back of the inner thigh extend the hip from its deepest position, and the smaller glute muscles on the side of the hip keep the pelvis level as you shift across. The straight leg's inner thigh and hamstrings are stretched at the bottom of each rep, and rolling that leg onto its heel with the toes pointing up moves some of that stretch from the inner thigh toward the back of the thigh. Holding the bar at your chest also asks the upper back and trunk to stay tall while the bar swings with you from side to side.
This variation suits lifters who can already reach full depth in the bodyweight version with the bent heel flat and want to keep progressing it. If you cannot yet, build up with the Cossack Squat, the Kettlebell Goblet Squat and the Bodyweight Lateral Lunge first, and practice the chest-height bar hold with the Landmine Squat. For direct inner-thigh strengthening, the Copenhagen Plank pairs well with it.
Muscles Worked
- Adductor Magnus
- Primary
- Vastus Lateralis
- Primary
- Vastus Medialis
- Primary
- Adductor Longus
- High
- Gluteus Maximus
- High
- Gluteus Medius
- Medium
- Rectus Femoris
- Medium
- Soleus
- Low
Instructions
- Load a plate on the free end of a barbell set in a landmine base, and stand facing the anchor with the end of the bar in front of you.
- Lift the bar end and hold it against the top of your chest with both hands wrapped around the end of the sleeve and your elbows pointing down.
- Set your feet roughly twice shoulder-width apart or a little wider, toes pointing forward or turned out slightly, with the bar pointing straight ahead toward the anchor.
- Shift your weight toward your right foot, then bend your right knee and sit your hips back and down toward your right heel, letting the bar end travel with your chest.
- As you lower, keep your left leg straight and let it roll back onto its heel so the toes point up toward the ceiling.
- Lower as deep as you can while keeping your right heel flat, your right knee in line with your right toes and your chest lifted.
- Pause briefly at the bottom without bouncing.
- Press through your whole right foot to rise back to the center, finishing tall in the wide stance.
- Repeat to the left side, bending your left knee and turning your right toes up, and keep alternating until you complete the planned reps on each side.
- Finish in the center and lower the bar end to the floor by bending your knees with your back flat.
Common Mistakes
Heel lifting on the bent leg
Rising onto the ball of the bent foot to get lower shifts the load into the knee and costs balance, so only go as deep as you can with the whole foot flat.
Bent knee caving in
Letting the bent knee drift inward past the toes twists the knee under the added load, so keep it pointing the same way as the foot all the way down and up.
Folding over the bar
Letting the chest drop toward the bar to reach depth rounds the lower back and lets the weight pull you forward, so keep the chest lifted and stop where you can still stay tall.
Letting the bar drift off the chest
Holding the bar end out in front with straight arms makes it pull the upper body forward and tires the shoulders, so keep it tucked against the top of your chest with the elbows down.
Dropping into the bottom
Falling into the deepest position or bouncing out of it jolts the groin and knee at the end of their range, so lower slowly and rise under control.
Loading before owning the depth
Adding plates before you can reach full depth on both sides without weight shortens the range and puts the extra load on joints that are already at their limit.
Injuries
Landmine Cossack Squat is a medium risk exercise when performed with proper technique. It takes one knee, hip and ankle into full bend under your body weight plus the bar, while the other leg's groin works at the end of its range. The main strain points are the bent knee, especially if it caves inward or the heel lifts, the groin of the straight leg where the adductor tendons attach to the pubic bone, the front of the bent hip, which can pinch at the deepest point, and the lower back if you round forward over the bar to reach depth.
Work only as deep as you can with the bent heel flat, the bent knee following its toes and your back long, lower slowly rather than dropping into the bottom, and keep the bar end pinned to your chest. Set the bar in a landmine base or a rack-mounted sleeve; a bar wedged into a bare corner can slide out under a side-to-side load. Start light, because the added weight makes it harder to stop a rep that drifts past your range. In a lab study of 16 healthy adults, a bodyweight side lunge, stepping out to the side from standing, put more compressive force on the kneecap joint than a forward lunge between about 40 and 100 degrees of knee bend, so anyone with pain around the kneecap should keep this exercise to a pain-free depth and a light load.
To make it easier, use the empty bar, stop at a partial depth, or go back to the bodyweight Cossack Squat or the static Side Lunge Stretch. To progress, add plates gradually, pause at the bottom or slow the lowering.
Stop if you feel sharp pain in the groin or over the pubic bone, pain inside or behind the bent knee, a pinch at the front of the hip, or pain in the lower back; a strong stretch along the inner thigh of the straight leg is expected. Anyone with a recent groin strain should stay with the unloaded version and a small, pain-free range, and anyone recovering from hip or knee surgery, including a joint replacement, should get clearance from their surgeon or physical therapist before loading a squat this deep.
- Primary Focus
- Hips & groin and quads
- Modality
- Strength
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
Alternative Exercises
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: How is it different from the bodyweight Cossack Squat?
The movement is the same, but holding the landmine bar at your chest adds load and gives you a counterweight to lean against, which helps many people stay upright. Learn full depth with the bodyweight Cossack Squat first, then use the landmine to keep making it harder.
- Q: Which way should I face the anchor?
Face the anchor so the bar points straight ahead between your feet, and shift your hips side to side across it. The bar end swings with your chest as you move, so you never have to step around it.
- Q: How much weight should I use?
Start with the empty bar or one small plate. The anchor carries part of the barbell's weight, so the load in your hands is less than the bar and plates add up to; judge it by whether every rep still reaches full depth with the heel down and the chest up.
- Q: Should the toes of my straight leg point up?
Yes, the straight leg rolls back onto its heel so the toes point up as you lower, which lets that hip turn outward. The heel of the straight leg stays on the floor, and the bent leg's foot stays flat throughout.
- Q: Can I do it without a landmine attachment?
You can wedge the end of the bar into a corner, but it can slide under a side-to-side load and mark the wall. A landmine base or a sleeve mounted on a rack is the safer setup.
- Q: How many sets and reps should I do?
As a strength exercise, 2 to 4 sets of 5 to 8 reps per side with a weight you control at full depth works well. With a light bar in a warm-up, 1 to 2 sets of 5 slow reps per side is plenty.