Posts Tagged ‘Sandbag Training’
Beef Up Your Training, Part II
Folks are always looking for ways to beef up their training. Whether it is muscle building, adding, strength, improving conditioning, or fat loss, chances are there is some aspect of your training you feel is lacking. Personally, I’m never satisfied with my training. Maybe I’m just hard on myself but I’m constantly trying to improve all aspects of my strength and conditioning. Hell, if you’re not trying to improve, you’re wasting your time. Below is part two of a three part series on my top 10 ways to beef up your training.
4. Bodyweight Training
I touched on bodyweight training briefly in part one. There I mentioned how valuable using your bodyweight can be for “cardio.” Don’t be fooled! Bodyweight exercise such as pushups, pullups, lunges, squats, dips, and the hundreds off others WILL add tons of strength and muscle to your frame. Think I’m wrong, check this dude out and tell me that bodyweight training isn’t valuable.
Herschel Walker never did anything but bodyweight training and that took him all the way to the Heisman trophy. When you can do a couple sets of 25 pushups and 15-20 pullups, add some weight by throwing on some chains and keep on pulling and pushing!
5. Sandbags
I started using sandbags in my training pretty regularly a few months ago. I don’t know if it will ever replace the barbell as my favorite training tool but it’s quickly becoming a close second. Sandbag training is nearly limitless. You can do just about everything you do with a barbell. Below is a list of my top 5 sandbag exercises.
1. Clean and Catch - Stand over the bag and rip it off the floor. Can you say explosive?
2. Clean and Squat – Again, stand over the bag, rip it off the floor, catch it in a front squat position and drop your ass! Remember to keep your elbow high, push you hips back, and drive through your heels.
3. Shouldered Squat – This one requires a ton of core stability and control. Clean the bag to your shoulder, keep those abs tight and chest up and squat!
4. Clean and Press - This one is much more difficult than it seem as you really have to rip the bag off the floor to get your hands in the right position to press the bag. How hard can it be right? Well, try pressing a 75lb. sandbag over your head and then press a 75lb barbell and tell me which one kicks your rear end more!
5. Shouldering - This one is an awesome conditioning exercise. Stradle the bag and get your hands underneath it. Rip it off the floor and take it straight to one shoulder. Take the bag back to the floor and repeat to the opposite shoulder. Rock 10 totals reps and your lungs will be screaming!
6. Take it to the playground or backyard!
I love backyard or playground training training. There nothing like getting out in the fresh air and sunshine and getting busy. The best thing about backyard or playground training is that you don’t have to follow any rules. You can get a killer workout with just using the jungle gym, monkey bars, parallel bars, etc. If you want to add a little extra to it bring your ropes, chains, tires, and sledgehammer and really get after it.
So, shake things up a bit and go to your backyard or playground and train. Get out in the fresh air! You’ll be surprised how it feels.
YOU DON’T NEED A GYM!
YOU DON’T FANCY EQUIPMENT!
Even the most seasoned and advanced lifters can benefit by taking it to the backyard. You can use your own bodyweight for a killer training session or you can use some simple homemade tools like in the video below to get strong and build slabs of fat burning muscle.
Check out these videos I put together in my own backyard!
Let’s hear those comments on how you like to beef up your training. I don’t know everything so I want to learn from you guys as well!
No Rules – Backyard Training III
A playground like this or an open backyard is all you need!
In previous posts I’ve talked a lot about no rules, bodyweight, and sandbag training and I’m a firm believer in practicing what you preach. So, at least once per week I bring the gym to my backyard and tear it up a little!
I love getting my training sessions done outdoors. Call me crazy, but there is just something primal about running around outside ripping heavy objects off the ground and pushing, pulling, and pressing them. Some of my best training sessions over the past few weeks have come in my own back yard.
Right now my home/homemade equipment collection consists of a couple of lighter tractor tires, sandbags, blast straps, tire sled, and a sledge hammer. Now that’s not a ton of equipment but I promise you, used properly these tools will kick anyone’s arse! Plus, in my backyard I can get loud and make as much noise as I want. Hell, in some gyms they kick you out for grunting!
Another advantage of backyard training and homemade equipment is you don’t have to fight traffic getting to the gym or fight the crowds in the gym. You can plan a training session and follow it exactly how you want. You don’t have to worry about some knucklehead screwing up your workout by jumping in the middle of your superset!
That was a workout from last week I did in my backyard!
I also rocked another backyard session this morning. It looked like this:
1a Sandbag Squats
1b Blast Strap Dips
2a Box Jumps
2b Pullups
Max rds in 10 minutes
3a Backward Sled Drag ~ 100ft.
3b Forward Sled Drag ~ 100ft
3c Sandbag Shouldering 5 reps ea. side
I finished it off with some hanging legs raises, sandbag bicep curls, and plank for good measure!
I had to get a little creative with the dips and pullups. I hung the blast straps from the 2×6 rafters in my shed. I also did the pullups using those same 2×6 rafters. It’s not the prettiest setup in the world but it’s damn effective.
If you don’t have any homemade equipment, GET SOME NOW! Most of the stuff I have is easy to make and crazy cheap. Don’t neglect the bodyweight exercises outside either. If you have a playground close by, use it.
Get outside and do something different and I promise you’ll love it!
Let me know what your favorite outdoor or homemade equipment workouts are. Also, I’d love some feed back on the video above. Drop me a comment here or on my YouTube channel.
I know! I know! I need a heavier tire. Some of my collegues have already given me the business about the tonka tire I used to flip!
Homemade Equipment: How to make a sandbag
I have recieved some questions over the last few days about how to make your own sandbag. Here is a quick how-to.
What you need:
1. Army/Navy or canvas duffel bag. You can find these at your local army surplus store for about $20.
2. Duct tape, zip ties, heavy duty contractor bags, pea gravel. All this stuff can purchased at any hardware store. The bags of pea gravel usually weigh between 40-50lbs.
Assembly:
1. Open up your bags of pea gravel and take out or add the desired amount of weight. Place the excess pea gravel in a separate bag for later. The bags of pea gravel I got from Lowe’s have room for about 8-10 more pounds.
2. Seal the bags of pea gravel with duct tape. Then completely wrap the bag with duct tape.
3. Place two of the contractor bags around the wrapped bag of pea gravel and completely wrap with duct tape. This should keep the bags of pea gravel from busting open during use.
4. Place the double wrapped bags into your canvas bag. Close up the open end with a couple of zip ties and you’re ready to get busy.
My sandbag collection consists of a 40, 50, 70, and 90lb. bags. I made all four of these bags above for around $100 bucks.
Check out my previous post about sandbag training. I also have some other sandbag training videos here.
I hope you found this helpful.
Drop me a comment and let me know some of your favorite sandbag exercises.
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