A landmine attachment is one of the most versatile and least expensive pieces of gear you can add to your garage or basement gym. So much so that it doesn’t make sense not to have one!
I get a lot of questions about landmines here at GymCrafter, but the most common one is, “Will a landmine damage my barbell?”. A very close second is, “How can I keep my landmine attachment from damaging my barbell?”.
So I put together an article to answer both questions.
Will a Landmine Attachment Damage Your Barbell?
A landmine attachment will not damage your barbell. If your barbell has a low-quality finish, you may see some aesthetic wear, but no functional damage will occur. Improper use of a landmine, on the other hand, will cause damage, and using it correctly is important for preserving your barbells.
Two Types of Possible Damage When Using a Landmine Attachment
When people ask me if a landmine attachment will damage their barbell, they are usually asking if the attachment will scratch their bar. An important thing to remember:
Aesthetic blemishes will happen to your bar whether you use a landmine or not.
Functional damage, damage that breaks your bar, should be the real concern. Your bar will collect aesthetic damage through use, but that doesn’t prevent you from using it.
If you break your bar, that can be a huge problem. And improper use of a landmine attachment is one of the fastest ways to break a barbell!!!
Aesthetic Damage
When we buy our first quality barbell, most garage gym owners get overly protective of it. I know I certainly was! After all, most of us didn’t think we would end up spending $300-$500 or more on a bar!
Who wouldn’t want to ensure their bar is cared for with that size investment? Proper barbell storage and regular maintenance are two subjects I’ve covered in depth here on GymCrafter for just this reason.
But what about normal wear and tear? You bought the bar to train with it, right? That means that scratches, nicks, dings, and other aesthetic “damage” are bound to occur across the life of your bar.
I want to stress that this is normal! In fact, in my opinion, it adds character to your gym! I love the nicks and scratches on my cage. I like that you can tell my favorite barbell simply by looking at how much more wear it has than the other bars on my wall.
That doesn’t mean we should treat our bars like crap, but we should have realistic expectations about how they will wear over time. And that means that your barbell’s sleeves will show wear. There’s simply no way around it.
The part of your weight plates that touch the bar is metal. Sliding those plates on and off of your bar means metal-on-metal contact. And that means scratches, nicks, and scuffs over time. NO different than sliding your barbel in and out of a landmine attachment.
How quickly this wear shows is determined by the finish on the sleeves of your bar. Hard chrome, bare steel, and stainless steel will all hold up nicely over time. Fancy finishes like Cerakote, black oxide, or black zinc will wear much more quickly.
This is one of many reasons I highly recommend getting an end-to-end stainless steel barbell for your garage gym.
Functional Damage
When I think of the word “damage,” I think of a piece of equipment that has been broken and needs repair before being used again.
And that’s precisely what you can do to your barbell if you misuse a landmine attachment.
Barbells are designed to take a lot of abuse. They hold hundreds of pounds. They get lifted overhead and dropped repeatedly. With proper maintenance, they are designed to last a lifetime.
But they are also designed to be used in a particular way. They are intended to be kept horizontal (and should even be stored that way if possible). They are also designed only to be dropped when loaded with bumper plates.
Break any of those rules, and you might be surprised at how easily you can damage your barbell.
Never drop an unloaded barbell to the ground. This will damage the bearings or bushings in the sleeves. And please never drop an unloaded bar to the floor if one end is in a landmine attachment!
If you do this, one end of the bar is held in the landmine and typically raised above floor level at least a little. If you drop the other end, the full force of that drop will be taken by the very end of the barbell. That’s a surefire way to damage the bearings or bushings significantly.
Another rule to follow is always to ensure the end of your bar is fully seated in the landmine. If not, you put undue angular force on the sleeve at that end. The same type of bearing or bushing damage is possible.
Lastly, many people try to do landmine exercises without a landmine attachment. Some folks do this with an unprotected bar, and others stick a tennis ball on the end for protection.
I don’t advise this at all. Here you have a loaded bar being supported at one end by only the very tip of the bar. One of the purposes of the sleeve on a landmine is to move the force of the load inward, away from the bar’s tip. This relieves stress on the bearings/bushings, so they don’t break.
What My Landmine Bar Looks Like
When I built my garage gym, I started with two barbells. One was my main bar, and the other was a factory second “beater bar.” This was specifically because I didn’t want to put my “nice” bar into my landmine attachment.
I wouldn’t do it that way again. As you can see from the images below, after three years of regularly using the landmine, there are no issues with the bar. If I were to start all over,