http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtHCt4GoT1A

100lb Sandbag Overhead Press

I can grab the canvas in the middle of the bag for a fairly decent grip. The bag isn't loaded with enough sand to grab width-wise for it would collapse towards the middle.

I want to do some sandbag work. Good job getting that going. 1 rep? Let's see a few more!!! :D

I rated it a 5/5.

"Honors for This Video:
#38 - Top Rated (Today) - Sports - French"

Quick! Everyone else rate it high! We need to get Betastas to number 1!

I rated it a 5/5.

"Honors for This Video:
#38 - Top Rated (Today) - Sports - French"

Quick! Everyone else rate it high! We need to get Betastas to number 1!

I would but I'm not registered. Waaay to lazy right now.

I did 40 reps in 3 sets to the shoulder, where you'd sling the bag over one side. I didn't do the pressing though because it's fairly tough to do more than a few reps right now. I'm trying to get a sustained loading going where I do a higher number of reps for a longer period of time. Remember that this isn't supposed to be my workout, but more of an active recovery.

I'll move on to doing some more overhead grabs once I get proficient at the shouldering.


I don't know why it's "French". I told it to put it in English, but I guess it doesn't really matter as I'm not giving a speech.

I don't know why it's "French". I told it to put it in English, but I guess it doesn't really matter as I'm not giving a speech.

Youtube thinks all you Canadians are French :)

Good job:tu:

Have you tried squats with it yet? I saw this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuruP7IxQH8) and it got me interested.

I'll do them next time. I was avoiding them because I had a lower ME workout today.

Cool video, betastas.

Awesome, seems that more people on this forum are into functional strength than I thought :D

Here are some videos that are pretty good, check them out, some good ideas in these.

http://www.rosstraining.com/videos/lowtechhigheffect.wmv <- Has sandbag and other interesting training methods

http://www.rosstraining.com/videos/hardcore.wmv <- AWESOME VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRa5sLdGSM0 <- gotta love those pistols (1 leg squats, love em)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6JvhCTjicY

Great videos! I love some of the ideas

Awesome, seems that more people on this forum are into functional strength than I thought :D
I've never seen strength that ain't functional. :whistle:

I've never seen strength that ain't functional. :whistle:

Sure you have, bicep curls, tricep presses/pushdowns, shoulder raises and all that, traditional bodybuilding and the like, sure it builds a big body, and sure you become strong when LIFTING WEIGHTS, but I bet you that a bodybuilder or unopen trainer will be no where near as strong or be able to life the loads that of a true strength/conditioning trainer.

I have seen it for real at my old Uni, all the personal trainers I went with all believed that things they know where right and things others know were wrong, they werent open to things, and even went as far as saying training devices such as kettlebells were "pussy" because they didnt make you look bigger.....whats the fitness world comming to?

I can guarantee you, with one quote I know about true strength in relation to the battlefield, "there is no arms day in combat", and combat requires true functional strength.

3 forms of main functional strength, 1. the deadlift, 2. weighted pullups, and 3. clean and press.

Others involve throwing random stuff in there, like sandbags, grip strength, sustained periods of high endurance, explosive push and slow bodyweight/weighted/weight workouts (meaning say your bench pressing, you explosively push the weight up, then take a while lowering it, working on both explosive and tensile strength.

Sure you have, bicep curls, tricep presses/pushdowns, shoulder raises and all that, traditional bodybuilding and the like, sure it builds a big body, and sure you become strong when LIFTING WEIGHTS, but I bet you that a bodybuilder or unopen trainer will be no where near as strong or be able to life the loads that of a true strength/conditioning trainer.

I have seen it for real at my old Uni, all the personal trainers I went with all believed that things they know where right and things others know were wrong, they werent open to things, and even went as far as saying training devices such as kettlebells were "pussy" because they didnt make you look bigger.....whats the fitness world comming to?

I can guarantee you, with one quote I know about true strength in relation to the battlefield, "there is no arms day in combat", and combat requires true functional strength.

3 forms of main functional strength, 1. the deadlift, 2. weighted pullups, and 3. clean and press.

Others involve throwing random stuff in there, like sandbags, grip strength, sustained periods of high endurance, explosive bodyweight/weighted/weight workouts.
Function, by definition, has to have a specific purpose. The phrase functional strength is, by itself, meaningless -- functional for what? In combat, sure a bicep curl isn't generally a very functional lift (though for sitting in a jeep and reloading mounted guns with heavy shells in a full combat situation it seems pretty damn useful), but, say for a stay-at-home mom who goes grocery shopping every couple days, a bicep curl is a damn useful lift for lifting those heavy bags out of the cart, out of the car, etc.

In the case of a bodybuilder, it's not that he hasn't developed "functional strength" but that he's developed "unfunctional" muscle mass / bodyweight (i.e. sarcoplasmic hypertrophy or excessive fat gain in the off season). Strength doesn't have anything to do with it.

I do see your point though, but I strongly disagree with the narrow viewpoint of the definition of function. As I see it, any type of strength training is functional and the function of a lift or exercise is strongly dependent on the situation. I would agree, however, that some exercises (such as the big three you posted) tend to apply in more situations than others. But, I would never insinuate that another type of training is less functional than any other. I sure don't think what I do is very unfunctional, for example, even if it means that I'd be the first to go in a combat situation. :lol:

To be honest, I'm not really training for general functionality. My main goals consist of getting strong bench, squat and deadlift. Those would be the main functions. Sandbags are just tossed in to help with anything that I may be missing out on.

Aside from that, they're pretty entertaining to work with. :tu:

Function, by definition, has to have a specific purpose. The phrase functional strength is, by itself, meaningless -- functional for what? In combat, sure a bicep curl isn't generally a very functional lift (though for sitting in a jeep and reloading mounted guns with heavy shells in a full combat situation it seems pretty damn useful), but, say for a stay-at-home mom who goes grocery shopping every couple days, a bicep curl is a damn useful lift for lifting those heavy bags out of the cart, out of the car, etc.

In the case of a bodybuilder who may not be able to lift the loads that a powerlifter or strongman can, it's not that he hasn't developed "functional strength" but that he's developed "unfunctional" muscle mass / bodyweight (i.e. sarcoplasmic hypertrophy or excessive fat gain in the off season). Strength doesn't have anything to do with it.

I do see your point though, but I strongly disagree with the narrow viewpoint of the definition of function. As I see it, any type of strength training is functional and the function of a lift or exercise is strongly dependent on the situation. I would agree, however, that some exercises (such as the big three you posted) tend to apply in more situations than others. But, I would never insinuate that another type of training is less functional than any other. I sure don't think what I do is very unfunctional, even if it means that I'd be the first to go in a combat situation. :lol:


I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say, sorry, kind of have my mind on a few other things at the moment lol :o

I am not saying that any strength training is a bad thing or not good for wellbeing and health, I am just relating to the type of training involved for very strong functional strength when required, which is what sandbag training pretty much is.

I am into all types of training, even bodybuilding, I admire the will power of people who attain and gain through any type of training, its just when I talk to others for real who are suppose to be physical trainers, and they throw in my face things like "kettlebells are for pussy's" or "you wont gain from training the same excersise every day" (which is quite the opposite, when doing pushups or pullups, you can train them every day to gain in reps and strength, just do them throughout the day and only do 1/2 of your max reps without training to failure.)

It may be the strength/endurance trainer in me comming out when I talk to them and cant help but pity their knowledge for not being able to be open to anything and everything, thats what I thought physical trainers were suppose to be like.... I have only met a couple but the rest were so blatantly biased towards certain forms of training, which brings me to wonder what the hell are they teaching people these days...

But you have to admit, in relation to combat stress and physical hardships it involves, the best type of training is conventional strength and endurance, always making the body guess what is comming next and always improving and improvising.

To be honest, I'm not really training for general functionality. My main goals consist of getting strong bench, squat and deadlift. Those would be the main functions. Sandbags are just tossed in to help with anything that I may be missing out on.

Aside from that, they're pretty entertaining to work with. :tu:

If they are the things your aiming for, then I am sorry to say but you ARE training for functionality :lol: they are some of the top strengths in my agenda aswell, along with clean and presses, pushups, pullups and running.

But you have to admit, in relation to combat stress and physical hardships it involves, the best type of training is conventional strength and endurance, always making the body guess what is comming next and always improving and improvising.
I'd agree with that. :tu: If you're going to be in the military (and I think I've read that that is one of your goals), then your methods are absolutely functional for that situation. It's just that most people never experience a combat situation during the course of their life, so I tend to not evaluate their method of training in that context. :nod:

If they are the things your aiming for, then I am sorry to say but you ARE training for functionality :lol: they are some of the top strengths in my agenda aswell, along with clean and presses, pushups, pullups and running.

Sounds good to me. The next step will be adding more reps, then eventually adding another 25 pounds.

Sandbag squat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tffdmFLyQE

Sandbag squat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tffdmFLyQE
That's a wiiiiiiide stance. Did it take a long time to get used to squatting that way?

That's about how wide I normally squat. Normally I push my butt out more, but the weight is higher on my body and halfway in the front, so I ended up squatting down more instead of back. I could probably have brought the stance in more but I was focusing on keeping my knees pushed outwards.

It's tough to tell in the video because the camera is looking down on my hips, but I break parallel each time. The last 5 or so reps I went lower than I typically do with a barbell.

That's a wiiiiiiide stance. Did it take a long time to get used to squatting that way?
:lol: Yeah, that's a little less than about twice as wide as I would stand. :D Definitely more of a power squat.

Nice work, betastas.

I want to incorporate some sandbag training into my routine, especially after I found out how easy it is to make one, but I'm not sure how to put it into my current workout with out getting fatigued.

Quick, do 20 from the other shoulder now ;)

Quick, do 20 from the other shoulder now ;)

I did. Though I took a bit of a break before I did that.


I want to incorporate some sandbag training into my routine, especially after I found out how easy it is to make one, but I'm not sure how to put it into my current workout with out getting fatigued.

Depends on what you want to do with it really. I do all my sandbag work on "rest" days as a form of general physical preparedness. You could probably do it as a full blown workout, but I prefer to do that in the gym.

Depends on what you want to do with it really. I do all my sandbag work on "rest" days as a form of general physical preparedness. You could probably do it as a full blown workout, but I prefer to do that in the gym.

This was my initial goal. But I wasn't sure if it would casue me to overtrain and be fatigued and the end result would be me not gaining as much muscle as I want.

I think that's up for you to decide. Increasing work volume is one benefit of this training. You can't increase your ability to do more work without increasing the quantity of work done. I don't think that I'm overtraining namely because the of my nutrition and resting. I'm pretty familiar with my overtraining symptoms and I haven't run into any yet. Sometimes I don't do anything on my off days and just rest and recover. Most days I do some form of GPP at the very least because I feel it helps my recovery.