Today I made a sandbag that I'm going to be using to train. The plan is to try to incorporate some sandbag lifting, holding, walking and other activities into my lifting cycle. By using awkward and unbalanced loads, I hope to strengthen everything that I have been missing in the gym. Core strength and chaos training are very important to me.

The materials I used include:
1. A strong canvas military duffel bag
2. 150 lbs of sand
3. Contractor garbage bags
4. and of course, duct tape

I attached some pictures. Basically, I filled the contractor garbage bags with 25 lbs (give or take) of sand, got as much air out of them as I could, then spun the bag and duct taped the neck. I flipped the bag over/inside out (they were very large) and repeated. Double bagging would be advisable. If you get your hands on authentic sand bags, I suggest using those to fill with sand and then place into the military duffel. I am not absolutely sure how well these garbage bags will hold. If one of them breaks I will have to re-bag them, but luckily sand and bags are inexpensive.

I made 4 x 25lb bags to put in the military duffel. I stopped there because I don't think I'm ready for 125 or 150 pounds. I attempted to lift it over my head in 10s for a picture, but as you can see I only got so far. My second and third attempts were just as close. So my next challenge is to get 100 lbs over my head, then I'll bump it up 25 pounds. I think that I could stuff the bag full with 150 pounds, perhaps 175 pounds, but we'll have to see. :tu:

That looks like fun! (minus the frigid Canadian tundra, of course)

I'm sure you'll get that overhead in no time. :bb:

If you lived in Green Bay I could just hire you as a mason tender. Then you could get paid to lift odd shaped and sized bags instead of doing it in your free time.:D

Ok, I can't hold back...

If you shaped the bags into a human form--torso, legs, arms, head--it
might make for more interesting conversations with the neighbors,
as well as more real world applications for your skills. :D

I could practice hitting it over the head with a shovel too. :D


Fender: I probably would work for you too, but I have lots of classes and labs. In the summer though this is going to be even better.

Hey Betastas, keep up updated on how the sandbag training goes...I'm always interested in the unorthodox.

That being said, a guy named Ross Enamait has a book for this kind of stuff that deals specifically with exercises involving sandbags.

I'll probably be putting updates in my Journal. I just wanted to toss this out here first.

Yeah there are some good books and articles on sandbags. I don't really think I'll need to buy them though, I'm going to be doing some pretty basic work in the meantime.

Thanks for the name though, I may look him up anyways in the near future.

no problem buddy. Just so you know, I have read two of Ross's books and he is the real deal, very creative, and an overall great guy.

A big Russian guy in my office is a grappler. He regularly works out with sandbags. I don't know much about it but I assume they are heavy and he moves them around quite a bit.

I did it. Overhead pressed it. Ridiculously challenging though, it took me close to 25 seconds to get a proper grip and I ended up mostly pressing it like you would shoot a basketball, one hand off to the side and one underneath. :lol:

These sandbags put forearms in a new world of hurt.

Ok, I can't hold back...

If you shaped the bags into a human form--torso, legs, arms, head--it
might make for more interesting conversations with the neighbors,
as well as more real world applications for your skills. :D

We had several of those in High School for wrestling practice. The lightest was (I think) 75 pounds and the heaviest was 150 or 175. It definitely made for a good workout to toss those around.

Sounds cool. You could make a 10-15 lb bag to bridge the gap to 125 as you strengthen.

I bet it can be good for grip training, too.

I'm going to do exactly what you did here, but I want to hang my sandbag in the air to box. Is there anything inexpensive to keep the sandbag up the air? I rent an appartment in 3rd floor and they don't allow me to drill anything on their walls.

Punching the sand bag will probably result in the plastic tearing and the sand leaking out into the exterior sack. If you can figure out a way to prevent that from happening, you could probably rig up some sort of weighted frame to hang the bag from.

Interesting.....I've been wanting to do that too.

My dilemma was the same as yours. What to put the sand in, where do I get sandbags, what do I use for the inner liner etc....

So instead I got some old truck tire inner tubes, cut sections of about 4 feet and filled them with pea gravel. Bound the ends real tight with wire and cord.

If it breaks in the basement I only have to clean up gravel not sand.

Mine weigh about 70 lbs. each. I could make them shorter and lighter.

If I go bigger I'll have to get a fatter diameter inner tube because if it's too long in length then there's too much flex in the middle of the tube and it might eventually break when picked up.

I also use them for extra weight in the snow in the back of my pickup in the winter time :lol:

But these things are a lifting experience. Why? Well have you ever noticed how "floppy" weight is a lot harder to handle than "stiff" weight?

Police know this. If a perp that they have handcuffed on the ground goes all floppy and limp on them, they have a lot harder time picking him up than they do if he goes rigid.

Where did you get your military duffel bags from, Betastas?

Where did you get your military duffel bags from, Betastas?

At a local army surplus store. I think it was about 15 bucks. I could have done with a smaller one, but they didn't have any. I'll probably end up using it more in the summer then I do now, namely because I don't like exercising in my apartment.

just to second someone from above...

ross enamit has awesome sandbag routines that will really make you work... :)

I've been thinking about making one in the future.

I made a sandbag a while back, been using it regularily ever since. I did essentially the same thing as you did, but my bags kept breaking so i decided to try one of those 'vacuum seal' machines. Just filled those special bags with sand, heat sealed them up into nice 10 lb packages and I was set. Tried vacuum sealing them but they turned into rocks, so i just used the heat seal.

I also made a medicine ball with a cheap basketball, a funnel, sand, and a tire repair kit.

Pretty cool way of training, 100 lbs on a sandbag feels much different than 100 lbs on a barbell.

Yeah, Ross also reccomends to buy quart size ziplock bags and double bag the sand then put some duct tape around it. It takes alot of time, but its worth it. You can add and subtract weight easily in small increments. If one breaks, it beats having to vaccum 150 lbs. Now you only vaccum 4lbs.

I just used my sandbags, I couldn't get to the gym and I had to improvise with one exercise. Got the job done. Either way good luck and I'll be sure to check out your journal for your progress.