Our Ultimate Sandbag Training tagline has been “revolutionize” your fitness for the past five years. What does that mean though and what is the “revolution”? At first Ultimate Sandbag Training was just giving people new ways to do classic exercises, then we began to revolutionize HOW people were approaching their exercises with Ultimate Sandbag Training. As we have continued to evolve now we are revolutionizing the fitness systems that so many people have thought were standards in fitness and performance training.
In the beginning those that were “hardcore” lifters were the only ones open to the Ultimate Sandbag Training. However, as now almost SEVEN years have passed we have really transformed and yes, revolutionized, what people thought about sandbag training. In fact, in our last post, I shared an interview with Strength Coach and sports medicine expert, Mitch Hauschildt of Maximum Training Solutions. We discussed how Ultimate Sandbag Training fits into developing innovative corrective exercise programs.
In the above video Coach Hauschildt teaches two different means to use Ultimate Sandbag Training both as a means to improve mobility and re-establish stability. That is the power of our Dynamic Variable Resistance System (DVRT) and Ultimate Sandbag Training. With proper understanding of biomechanics and anatomy we can create endless programs that address needs of many fitness enthusiasts.
Ultimate Sandbag Training Continues the Revolt!
The true revolution comes in the fact that now we don’t have to stop training “hard” or have such separate programs when it comes to developing strength, core, stability, endurance, and corrective exercise. It becomes difficult to tell where one ends and another fitness quality begins. In our DVRT program we don’t see things in the individual terms, why? Most fitness programs are very distinct in that they are aiming to develop one quality or another. For example, many times people will say they are training for strength, but sacrifice their mobility and joints. Others will perform fast conditioning work and forget about building stability and strength and their roles in fat loss and conditioning.
That is my goal and that is these are the exciting ideas I am seeing from other professionals. Below is a great video from Strength Coach, Joakim Bom from Sweden. Is this video demonstrate core training? Does it demonstrate mobility? Does it show strength? I would say a BIG yes in all respects. The lines are blending in our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training program which means we are also changing how people see their training programs. Sometimes change is hard, but if great pros like these gentlemen keep sharing such innovative ideas I think we together will “revolutionize” the industry!
Since 2005 Ultimate Sandbag Training has grown beyond any expectations I ever could have had. In all honesty, at first I didn’t think Ultimate Sandbag Training would be anything more than a great compliment to other forms of training. However, over the years both my working with more and more people and refining the design of the Ultimate Sandbag itself, I almost think of fitness programs the other way around. Meaning I really do believe Ultimate Sandbag Training should be the core of any good functional fitness program because of all the solutions possible.
Evolving Ultimate Sandbag Training
Re-inforcing this idea of how Ultimate Sandbag Training is becoming a critical tool and training system for fitness professionals around the world, is the fact we have had the pleasure of traveling the world teaching our Dynamic Variable Resistance Ultimate Sandbag Training System. Most recently I had the extreme pleasure to teach at our first university, Missouri State! There I was so excited to spend the day with not only with some great pros from the Missouri State Athletic Staff, but the man, Mitch Hauschildt. Mitch is the Prevention, Rehab and Physical Performance Coordinator as well as Strength & Conditioning Coach for Women’s Basketball and Volleyball. To say Mitch wears a few hats is an understatement, and not only is he a great coach, but has a depth of knowledge that can make anyone think about hitting the books hard again!
Mitch and I got to speak quite a bit about how Ultimate Sandbag Training and its role in sports performance and most intriguing to me corrective exercise as well. Before we get into some of the very cool ideas that we discussed and how we see Ultimate Sandbag Training into a corrective exercise program, I wanted to interview Mitch about his views on just what corrective exercise means and why we, even those just looking to get fit, should really care about corrective exercise strategies.
Q: Mitch can you tell us about your own athletic background and how you developed your philosophy of fitness and performance training?
A: As an athlete, I played collegiate football at the University of South Dakota. I was a 300-pound offensive lineman whose size and activity level eventually took its toll. A total of 6 knee surgeries later, I decided that if I was going to stay in the world of competitive, collegiate athletics, that I needed to find a better way to create great athletes who could stay healthy and not have life-long health concerns. This lead me down the path of becoming at Athletic Trainer and Strength Coach. Because of my athletic background, I describe myself as a strength coach who happens to be an athletic trainer. This mentality has worked well for me, as I have been successful in rehabilitating injured athletes back to very high levels of competition. I believe this is due not only to the fact that athletes are very familiar with the movements and exercises that I prescribe (teaching them variations to work around an injury is easy), but mentally, all athletes prefer to feel as though they are performing work, not just lying on a table hooked up to a machine. One the other side, when I get to work with my division I programs from a performance perspective, I am able to use my medical knowledge to create programming that has been extremely successful in preventing injury while simultaneously increasing performance.
Q: Obviously Mitch you believe in “corrective exercise”, what does this really mean and can and should it be applied to people that want to get just more fit?
A: The term “corrective exercise” is a term that has been growing in recent years and because of that, defining it is a little bit difficult. To me, it refers to any exercise or movement that is specifically designed to fix or improve a pattern which has been deemed “faulty”. How we define “faulty” is another discussion all together. But, for the most part, corrective exercise tends to be very focused on movement quality, rather than quantity. The answer to the second part of the question is, YES everyone should be performing some sort of corrective exercise. It is very rare that I come across anyone in any walk of life that doesn’t have some sort of restriction, whether it is mobility, neurological patterning, strength, or biomechanical in nature. Our lifestyle in general does not lend itself to helping us move well throughout our day. Because of that, everyone has an ache or pain that is nagging them. And, if they don’t, they soon will when their exercise intensity begins to climb to the point where their body breaks down. Some people reach that point much sooner than others, but everyone eventually will. The good thing is, if you are training in a really good, well-rounded program, corrective exercise should be temporary. Once the corrections have been made. The training program should keep you mobile, active and healthy.
Q: What do you think are some of the more common misconceptions about “corrective exercise”?
A: The number one misconception that I hear a lot is that corrective exercise is only for those who are injured or for preventing injury. And, it is true that we almost always prescribe corrective strategies for injured athletes and/or use them to prevent injury, but we are also finding that by making the necessary corrections with our athletes, that we improve performance. I can show you a number of athletes who are average to above average athletically, but have some movement issues and restrictions. Once their restrictions are identified, we will often take 2-4 weeks of doing nothing but correcting those areas. This means no real lifting or movement training. Virtually every time that we retest these athletes, they have greater strength, power output, and speed, even though we have not trained them in a traditional strength and power program. This is because for the first time in a long time, their prime movers are actually performing the work they were designed to do, instead of trying to make up for another part of the body which is restricted or “lazy.” Once that begins to happen, suddenly the body’s nervous systems wakes up and they function at a much higher rate on all levels.
Q: More and more professionals are trying to implement corrective programs, what do you think as an industry we are doing right and wrong?
A: I think we are trying to do the right thing by attempting to implement the programs in general. Identifying the issues and attempting to correct them is a huge first step and I applaud many great professionals in the field for trailblazing this area. I do think that oftentimes we fall short in understanding exactly what is going on with an athlete who doesn’t move well and then how to correct it. This comes down to education. We have wonderful, well-meaning people with a lot of schooling who can’t see through the holes in the traditional ways of looking at the body as individual muscles, bones and joints that by themselves create motion. Conversely, we see a lot of young people trying to break into the fitness field who aren’t skewed by the traditional education system, but they just don’t posses the understanding of the body’s structure to begin the connect the dots. The human body is very complex and we need to do a better job of training the “system,” not the parts. When people come into our training room and see me doing rehab on an athlete, they usually can’t tell which part of the body I am treating, because we are treating the “system” in order to fix the injury. I love what Thomas Myers says in Anatomy Trains when he states “…we must look globally, act locally, and the act globally to integrate our local remedies in the whole person’s structures.” This is why functional training has become so popular in recent years. It places an emphasis on training the “system” instead of the part. Other areas that we need to improve upon are making sure that we don’t rush to add load to movements which aren’t perfectly clean, as well as figuring out better ways to integrate corrective strategies into large group and team settings efficiently.
Q: How does Ultimate Sandbag Training and the DVRT system fit into what you see the future of corrective exercise?
A: What strikes me about the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system is that it allows you to train the body in ways which are unique to other implements. If an athlete or client is willing to focus on the details of the system in every movement, they will feel and find areas of their body which are restricted that they never realized. Those unknown restrictions, no matter how small they may be, have a cumulative effect on the system, leading to large deficiencies in movement. While I think that the term “posterior chain” is a bit over used, lets face it, our backsides in this country suck. The DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system is almost always training the backside in some form or capacity. I believe that if we simply make improvements in that area of the body, that we will correct a ton of the movement based issues that plague our society as a whole. Along with that, the varying loads that the sandbag provides makes for a very unique programming tool. And the final, and maybe most important advantage of the system is that it allows me to easily and safely train our athletes in an eccentric nature with rotation. I have found no other implement that can do that, and we have ignored that area of training for years with our programming.
Ultimate Sandbag Training Corrective Exercise
Working with pros like Mitch is helping us to constantly evolve our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system to all new heights. This means for you, better programs, better exercises and experiencing how Ultimate Sandbag Training can be revolutionizing your fitness!
Love Josh's Sandbag, by far it is the best in the market. We use his Sandbag for all of our workouts, inside on the wooden floors and outside in the dirt. The construction is solid and lets me know I can bang this product and it can take it! — Jon Hinds - Former NBA Strength Coach and Strength Advisor to NFL and MLB teams.
The Ultimate Sandbag is the top product of its type on the market today — Chip Morton - Professional Football Strength & Conditioning Coach
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We're a bunch of big, mean people who like abusing heavy equipment. The Ultimate Sandbag is the only bag that holds up with our training. — Greg Everett, CSCS, USAW, RKC
As a Sports Performance Coach and US ARMY Veteran I am very particular when I make an investment in my fitness and training equipment. One thing that I can say is first and foremost is that nothing comes close to the Ultimate Sandbag and YES that even means the military issue duffel bags. — Nii Wilson
Josh Henkin of Henkin Fitness Systems has created an incredible piece of equipment — Scott Sonnon - RMAX.TV, Creator the Clubbell and Circular Strength Training
The Ultimate Sandbag is by far the best one on the market. No other model even comes close. — Steve Maxwell - Kettlebell Specialist and Strength Coach
The Ultimate sandbags are tools that I use everyday... rarely is there a product that comes on the market that I will back with my aprouval,Ultimate sandbags are one.Serve many purposes in my facility,and my guys love them. — Jonathan Chaimberg, Elite MMA Coach to Georges St. Pierre