The internet has great pros and some unfortunate cons. One of the biggest pros to the internet is the vast amount of information to your finger tips. At the same time, the con is that it can be really difficult to tell who really is an expert and who has mastered internet marketing. After almost 18 years in the industry and working with such a wide array of people I have realized one important thing. There are no easy questions! To answer a fitness questions accurately you have to take into consideration many variables. However, in the age of quick internet information and blog posts this can be lost. That is why it is my goal at Ultimate Sandbag Training to give you a honest and far more in depth answer to your fitness needs. Let’s look at some of those VERY incomplete, but common fitness recommendations.

-A Tool is Just A Tool: If you think about the pride that so many other industries take in their equipment it is a shame the fitness industry down plays theirs so badly. In most other industries professionals use specific tools because it allows them to create success in their line of work. Construction workers, surgeons, engineers, and many more are very adamant about using the right tools to achieve the desired results. Heck, if you can use something that does the job BETTER than something else you would be silly not to use it. Even my good friend, Martin, who does house appraisels is proud of the high tech he equipment that allows him to accomplish his work faster and more effectively.

Hmmm, then it isn’t a question of a tool being just a tool, but using the RIGHT tool for the job! That is why we work so hard to teach people the value of different Ultimate Sandbag Training progressions and programs. If you understand the value of the entire Ultimate Sandbag Training system you won’t see “just a bag of sand” or “just another tool”.

-Master Body Weight First: It is complicated enough to define what “mastery” actually means without trying to identify which movements you must master. The idea is that load being placed on dysfunctional movement patterns causes more compensations. In this respect the advice is good! However, this assumes we are always placing load in a position challenging your movement patterns. Using Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises such as the Bear Hug Squat and Zercher Good Mornings can actually help TEACH you proper position and alignment. Using the feedback of Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises will speed up the learning process to even more complex movements and avoid a lot of frustration of wasting time performing ineffective exercises.

-Train Heavy! At first glance this would seem hard to argue. Really this piece of advice is especially difficult out of context. Should everyone train heavy? No! Funny we tell people to master body weight and in almost the same breathe tell them to lift heavy. The truth is that really heavy lifting should come after a significant time building good movement patterns, ligament/tendon strength, muscle balance, and a base level of fitness.

In Ultimate Sandbag Training we have several ways of preparing the body for heavier lifts. The first is to simply slow down the speed of movement, particularly the eccentric phase (lowering phase). Research has shown such training to build better overall strength and is critical in teaching how to absorb force, alignment/posture, and strength/muscle gains. As Strength Coach, Christian Thibaudeau, states;

“Accentuating the eccentric stress during a session will lead to more strength gains. The reasons are related to structural as well as neural adaptations.” and goes on to say, “If you de-emphasize the yielding portion of your strength exercises (lowering the bar very fast, not contracting your muscles during the eccentric portion, etc.) you might as well not be training at all, at least if maximum strength and size are important to you.”

Ultimate Sandbag Training gives you the added benefit of getting some great core training because of the unique holding positions. Slowing down gives you the opportunity to maximize Ultimate Sandbag Training core work in almost every exercise you perform.

Working on altering how you hold the Ultimate Sandbag and the body position in which you perform your Ultimate Sandbag Training from can also go a long ways in making a weight feel heavier but also improve your stability training. Usually when one trains “heavy” the focus in on the prime movers and the smaller stabilizers don’t get stronger as well. Using this formula of Ultimate Sandbag Training allows you to get the best of both worlds!

-Keep Training Simple: We do live in an era where people will try to implement advance training strategies that they are just not ready to use. People can also feel confused by some experts that try to convey a message by using overly complicated terminology. This can result in people thinking if they “stick with the basics” then all their needs are covered. This too is a false ideal.

For one, it is very hard to get people to agree on what the basics actually mean! Secondly, it is an excuse NOT to think and find better ways and more practical means to advance their training.

In Ultimate Sandbag Training we help people from falling into this trap by introducing new ways to train the body. For example, instead of just focusing on performing an exercise like the Power Clean and consistently upping the weight, we can use Ultimate Sandbag Training to perform similar lifts from all types of postures and positions. Exercises such as Rotational Lunge Cleans, Lateral Lunge Cleans, Staggered Cleans, Rotational Cleans, just to name a few! Just by changing the position in which we perform such Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises allows us to make the body smarter amount movement, more mobile and athletic, and stronger in ways that go beyond JUST weight. Training doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but as performance coach, Scott Sonnon, says, don’t get “stuck in stupid simplicity (S.I.S.S.)”

-Running/Sprinting is a Great Way to Burn Fat!: Such a statement is definitely NOT helpful for someone who already isn’t pretty lean. Exercises such as sprinting places forces upon the body 8-10 times ones own body weight! So, if you aren’t already strong and can absorb such forces, sprinting may be one of the last forms of exercise you use. The faster you move in any form of movement the more skilled you have to be at that movement. Unfortunately, most people were never taught how to run correctly and within a short amount of time performing a well meaning exercise they develop all types of aches and pains. Many forget that sprinters and track athletes spend a great deal of time working on technique and while “going out for a run” doesn’t seem like a big deal, can actually be your undoing! The combination of all these variables definitely makes sprinting and such work much more challenging to implement than some would have you believe.

While sprinting is a hard form of exercise to progress and let’s face it, takes the right surface and space as well. Ultimate Sandbag Training solves both problems. The drills in Ultimate Sandbag Training have such a wide range of progressions that any movement pattern has an appropriate level of the variation. Doesn’t matter if you are JUST starting to train or have been training hard for years, you can find some pretty awesome Ultimate Sandbag Training drills to meet your goals. Did I mention Ultimate Sandbag Training can build your flexibility while you are training as well? Meanwhile it takes great flexibility (not just good flexibility) to sprint and run well.

I know you are worried about the results, well, what if I told you that Ultimate Sandbag Training can produce the same if not better results? As with everything we do, we had put Ultimate Sandbag Training to the test and the results weren’t surprising to us at all! Check out this post to see for yourself!

 Is Ultimate Sandbag Training That Good?!

I am not claiming that anyone is out to hurt or mislead anyone. However, what often seems like a simple question usually has to be far more explained if we are to provide a REAL answer about achieving great fitness goals. Many people would think that I would talk a lot more about the design of our Ultimate Sandbags than the Ultimate Sandbag Training itself. While I think we have the absolute best sandbags on the market, this is only part of the equation, the Ultimate Sandbag Training System offers far more solutions to any other in the industry. While many will say that every program has a flaw, I find a hard time finding one in Ultimate Sandbag Training, why? Because we continue to prove and use science our results!

5 Mistakes Even Experts Make-Ultimate Sandbag Training is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

Watch this video on YouTube.

I know, another post on core training may seem like the LAST thing you may want to be reading. Heck, just Google the term “core training” and you won’t see any shortage of articles, exercises, even facilities named “core”! So, is there anything really to be said? Anything that is worth talking about or are we beating a dead horse?

As we have traveled the world teaching our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training courses I have realized something important, something VERY important. There seems to be a gap, a gap between the common core exercises and people performing functional training exercises. What is that gap?

To understand the missing components of core training we have to think more big picture. Many people still think of core training as some crunches or leg raises. Others may be more progressive and think of planks and glute bridges. There are even those that think of core training as deadlfits and squats. So, what is the answer and how does DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training help us create a more comprehensive core training system?

 Bridging Science and Real World with Ultimate Sandbag Training

There is plenty of great research demonstrating core stability in many different forms. One of the most interesting concepts comes from one of the most well known researches of spinal health and performance, Dr. Stuart McGill. To the surprise of many, Dr. McGill found that it is not low back strength that has a correlation of to low back pain, but endurance that has a relationship to the prevention of low back pain! This will play an important role in our creation of Ultimate Sandbag Training core exercises. Such ideas also somewhat discount the idea that heavy lifting such as deadlifts will actually help one’s low back.

If we understand it isn’t just about lifting weights then what about doing high repetition crunches and such? The truth is that crunches and sit-ups are not as evil as some professionals would have you believe. However, they are often over-emphasized. The unfortunate truth is that most of us sit most of the day, behind the computer, or at the office. Let’s be honest, most of us don’t maintain the best posture either when we are doing all this sitting. The fact of the matter is that sitting is one of the most stressful positions for the lumbar discs. According to Cornell University Ergonomics, “Sitting leads to 40 – 90% more stress on the back (disc pressure) than standing posture.”

So, if we are in bad posture, our low backs are really stressed and we have tightened up the wrong muscles from sitting and try to perform exercises like crunches, THIS is where we see such exercises possibly being problematic for people’s backs. However, this scenario is more representative of real life than thinking we are all healthy and in great postural alignment.

This leads most people to be regulated to some planks on the ground. Hey, planks are great and there are no shortage of variations of them so shouldn’t this be our goal. Work on a bunch of different planking movements? Well, that is where the gap lies. When we see people use our Ultimate Sandbag Training movements we see people can hold great ground core variations, but when they are using Ultimate Sandbag Training in more dynamic postures and positions we see an inability to use that strength.

Ultimate Sandbag Training with Better Core Training

In our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training we want to combine floor work with standing. Being standing is the ultimate goal in our Ultimate Sandbag Training program because that is where our core strength will be most challenged by both gravity and motion. We want you to be able to perform very complex movements and maintain that good postural alignment and resist all the forces that act upon the body.

The question of course is how does Ultimate Sandbag Training  help narrow that gap from the ground to standing? One of the most overlooked benefits of Ultimate Sandbag Training is the unique holding positions that we program into the system. Two of my personal favorites are the Zercher and Shoulder Position. The Zercher Position (named for old time strongman Ed Zercher) teaches the body to resist flexion of the trunk while the Shoulder Position teaches our body to resist lateral flexion in what we call the frontal plane. Both of these qualities are very similar dynamics that we can find in many plank variations.

The difference with Ultimate Sandbag Training is that we are not just working on resisting movements in these patterns, but during motion the body is going to have constantly varied challenges. Not only does Ultimate Sandbag Training cause the intensity of these exercises to be increased, but these Ultimate Sandbag Training positions create a core that must be more reactive.

A reactive core is one that doesn’t hold constant heavy tension, but knows how to scale the amount of tension depending upon the demand. In early stages of core training we teach how to maintain that tension and then by nature of motion and holding posture we teach how to gradiate that tension because at some points in the movement we will need more or less bracing from the core. Learning purely how to hold maximal tension with no ability to gradiate is far from what happens in the real world.

Of course, a lot of this sounds a bit geeky and impractical, but that it the beauty of our Ultimate Sandbag Training system, it is a bridge between science and real world application. So, how do we take these concepts and create a training program that both matches our goals and brings in some of the science?

Focus first and foremost on Zercher and Shoulder holding positions. This means using them in squats, lunges, step-ups, staggered positions, as well as maximizing the Zercher position for many of your hip hinging exercises. Number two, maybe one of the most important factors is to SLOW DOWN! That’s right, slow down the time you take to perform a repetition. Slowing down is going to make sure that your body learns how to brace and gradiate that force as the body enters different angles of movement. The tendency for a lot of people is to speed right through. Don’t do it! You can reduce your number of repetitions during these Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises if you greatly reduce your speed so be prepared for this to be far more challenging!

What is slowing down in Ultimate Sandbag Training? Try to take 4-6 seconds lowering the weight, take a 1-2 second pause at the bottom (but do not lose tension), and try to accelerate upwards in the exercise. This will stimulate more fast-twitch muscle fibers in your Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises.

When you slow down your movement, try to emphasize the lower phase of the Ultimate Sandbag Training exercise and pauses at the hardest point are terrific as well! For example, pausing at the bottom of the lunge or squat will definitely work that core to a higher level and expose any of your weaknesses.

The third concept is to put some of your unstable body positions first in your workout with these Ultimate Sandbag Training holding positions. For example, place Shoulder Lunges, Zercher Staggered Squats, Single Leg Zercher Good Mornings at the beginning of your workout so you can focus one the quality of these exercises while you are more fresh.

Today’s post also carries two great videos from some top pros! What how Strength Coaches, Mitch Hauschildt and Vince McConnell use some very different methods that show the versatility and power of Ultimate Sandbag Training.

Smarter Core Training with Ultimate Sandbag Training is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

Guest Post by Physical Therapist, Jessica Bento

If someone was to ask me what exercises I would give my patients to help their complaints of low back pain, I would have to say the following: pelvic tilts ( gotta have pelvic tilts they are a staple in the history of low back exercises ) , isometric abdominal exercises (bring out the blood pressure cuff!), bridging, cat- camel, bird –dog exercises ( love yoga ) , and don’t forget to throw in a physio ball too for various stabilizing exercises !  Now if someone was to ask me if I though they really worked, I would have to say no.  Then why would I give people these exercises to perform if they don’t work? Great question!  I think at some point as fitness professionals we have all fallen into what is “text book “ or what we have been programmed to know as the “right exercises “, but we need to start thinking differently.

I wish I knew what I know now,  especially back when I started out as physical therapist, because my exercise prescriptions would be a heck of a whole lot different. I have learned through the years that people don’t know how to move! I truly believe a great percentage of those experiencing low back pain would not have to go through it, if they were just taught basic key movement patterns, but instead they are performing exercises on their back and on a mat over and over  and over again.  Now this isn’t to say that they are not getting any benefit from exercises such as bridging and certain stabilization exercises, but are they really teaching there bodies to move properly?

I know from experience that it takes more than a few stabilizing exercise to completely eliminate low back pain. When I was 21 years old I experienced nothing like I ever felt, pain running down my leg, I couldn’t even sit for more than 5 minutes without tears building up. I spent most of my second year of graduate school standing in the back of the classroom since I could not sit without pain. I went through your traditional “ therapy’ did all the “text book “ low back exercises and eventually I was better able to manage my pain. Jump forward 5 years and I still had the leg pain and constant dull ache in my low back….I just could not eliminate the pain. Jump forward again, now to the present …….no pain! What changed you ask? I learned how to finally move!

I started training with the Ultimate Sandbag Training System; at first I thought how could a bag of sand do anything that I haven’t already been doing. I was wrong. I quickly found out that I couldn’t even do a body weight squat without extreme discomfort. What the Ultimate Sandbag Training System did for me that I wasn’t able to get from any other program was better proprioceptive feedback when perform exercises, improved postural control because I was not weighting my spine like traditional barbells did, and lastly it provided a dynamic weight so that I HAD to turn on all my muscles. I was finally able to perform exercises that fired my stabilizing muscles and in a way that was more functional and relevant to everyday activities.

Ultimate Sandbag Training Key Movements

What are the key movement patterns that I think everyone should be able to do and do well? Glad you asked! The first and number one movement is a hip hinge. The biggest issue I see is that people can not disassociate their lumbo pelvic region, basically most people are stuck and end up putting more force and stress through their low back than they should. The second movement is a squat, the ability to perform a good body weight squat is something that is extremely difficulty for persons to do, heck, it took me about two years to perfect mine, but my body needed to learn to move again. We all had perfect squats some point in our lives even though it may have been in the first years of our lives, but it is embedded in us and we need to find it again. The third and final movement is the lunge. It takes a great deal of strength and stability to perform a proper lunge and it is a movement that I feel is important for building strong backs. Now don’t get me wrong, these are all very difficult movements for those experiencing low back pain. These are definitely not for those with acute to severe pain. All the above mentioned exercises can easily be progress or digressed dependent on where the person is in their fitness level .

What are the best Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises to build a strong back? Well I will tell you ! To start lets begin with the good morning using the Ultimate Sandbag in the Zercher position, second Bear hug squat, and third the static lunge with Ultimate Sandbag in the bear hug or Zercher position.

There is several variations of the above exercise so check out the video for Ultimate Sandbag Training: Stronger Backs! See how you can do an entire circuit focused on building a better back!

Helping Low Back Injuries with Ultimate Sandbag Training is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

It was awesome, we just finished up another one of our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Certifications with a great group of fitness professionals. I have to admit I do get really excited when I see fitness professionals’ eyes light up as they see all the possibilities of Ultimate Sandbag Training. Maybe it is the immense versatility, maybe it is the ability to adapt to so many individuals, I like to think that Ultimate Sandbag Training is the answer that a lot of people are really looking for but didn’t know they could actually fine.

It is one thing for me to share all the Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises we do on a weekly basis, it is so much more! We have provided almost 400 Ultimate Sandbag Training exercise and workout videos so there is no arguing that Ultimate Sandbag Training is incredibly diverse, but there are still doubters! No one doubts that there is a ton you can do with Ultimate Sandbag Training but there are definitely those that wonder if Ultimate Sandbag Training can match up to popular and traditional fitness tools.

I know it can and those that go through our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training certification are always believers and often upset that they didn’t find out sooner! But how can I prove it to YOU! If you have read this blog for awhile I am not often satisfied simply giving you my opinion, or even that of top fitness professionals in the field. No, I am all about PROVING our Ultimate Sandbag Training program to people. Why?

People are getting inundated with so much hype and puffery that is becomes hard to tell what is real and why is just well done marketing. Whether it is referencing that something was used in some foreign far away country, or used by some athlete who could have gotten stronger by looking at weights, or my favorite, citing some research that is badly skewed to try to support their training ideas.

That is why I am so adamant about demonstrating facts rather than emotions. We have proven the power of Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises in a variety of comparisons, but people still wonder, if Ultimate Sandbag Training is so good then why doesn’t everyone use it?

Some fitness professionals still don’t understand Ultimate Sandbag Training and they think other fitness tools can be used to the same or better results.

How Ultimate Sandbag Training Stacks Up!

CLICK ON IMAGE TO EXPAND

Barbells: Some will tell you that barbells will always be your fitness foundation because Ultimate Sandbags don’t go as heavy as barbells. That is true from a pure number perspective. However, that is also because in Ultimate Sandbag Training you hold the Ultimate Sandbag in a variety of positions that are far more challenging to the body than  the barbell. While the barbell can reach higher numbers it is also a perfectly balanced object and typically placed on the body in the body’s strongest position. Ultimate Sandbags not only aren’t as balanced, but have the weight in a different position (far away from the handles rather through the middle). So the argument that barbells are heavier doesn’t really work, especially when you add in the fact that Ultimate Sandbags work in different angles and positions as well.

Dumbbells/Kettlebells: Others might try to tell you that you need these implements to train one side of the body at a time. Which is important, but again demonstrates a misunderstanding of Ultimate Sandbag Training. Not only can Ultimate Sandbag Training be used to train the body one side at a time like dumbbells and kettlebells through Off-set grip or Shoulder to Shoulder exercises, but also even the more foundational lifts such as Clean and Press give a very unique one sided feel. You see when the Ultimate Sandbag is being held rarely is the weight equal side to side. Causing the core to work harder and again produce a very unique training effect.

When you think about it, no, when you do a true comparison of the facts you find why there are more and more people using Ultimate Sandbag Training to solve fitness goals of their clients and themselves!

Today finished our last workout in our superhero series and we wanted to have fun with a childhood favorite. “The Incredible Hulk Workout” does a great job of showing some of the above examples and shows how Ultimate Sandbag Training is the most innovative and effective fitness program.

Proof Of the Ultimate Fitness Tool-Ultimate Sandbag Training is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

My good friend and colleague, Troy Anderson, has a word he uses over and over again. It may be one of the most important concepts in fitness that most people never really talk about. What is it? The word is accessibility and possibly one of the aspects of our Ultimate Sandbag Training that I am most proud of providing. What is accessibility and how does it relate to your fitness goals?

It happens all the time, people want to impress you with complicated sounding ideas or words. The reality is that those people are deliberately trying to make themselves sound as experts by making you feel so confused that you must believe they know what they are talking about. Trust me, there are more than a few times when I am at conferences and ask people, “what did you learn?” and simply they can’t tell me! Yet, the most fascinating thing is that while they can’t tell me really anything they learned, they also believe the presentation to be fantastic! Hmm, how can something be really good if you can’t use anything from it?

Fitness programs have often fallen into this trap. Coaches and trainers don’t use a system of progressive exercises to help teach people how to move well and build their fitness so anything becomes possible. Instead, so many times well intended fitness professionals try to use overly hyped exercises that they learned from their own guru with their clients. What ends up happening is that really neither the coach or individual really understand WHY they are trying to work through these complex movements.

I know all this because so many times in our Ultimate Sandbag Training program people look at some of our exercises and think they might be dangerous, or just don’t understand why? That is because of a few things that most people just don’t realize.

Understanding Ultimate Sandbag Training Systems vs. Exercises

-Ultimate Sandbag Training is a SYSTEM! If you look at an individual exercise not in the context of a fitness system then it can be hard to understand what you are trying to accomplish. Imagine if you read a chapter in the middle of the novel, or tried to watch twenty minutes of the middle of a movie. NEITHER would probably make any sense without the context of the story. Fitness is actually very much the same thing!

-Because Ultimate Sandbag Training is a system that means there is a level of an exercise for anyone to perform. That is why we say Ultimate Sandbag Training is not married to an exercise, but designed to improve movement.

How does this relate to accessibility? I like to think of Ultimate Sandbag Training as a great teacher. A great teacher can make any complex subject into something understandable. For example, think learning how to squat is complicated? Not so much when you use our Bear Hug Squat. Never heard of Olympic lifts and have no idea where to start? I have seen newbies actually learn these lifts with our Ultimate Sandbag Training in under a minute, no lie! Some people choose to butt their heads against the wall in hope of chasing some mysterious achievement. I don’t know about you, I like results to be the answer to my fitness programs and that is why we believe in the power of our Ultimate Sandbag Training system.

That is what we did with today’s Ultimate Sandbag Training workout. We wanted to take some classic gym exercises and transform them into something most people didn’t think possible! When you do so, you don’t create just “cooler” Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises, but more effective exercises! Combine great exercises with great programming and all of a sudden not only do the elite get great results, but anyone who works hard and works within our Ultimate Sandbag Training system can achieve great results. Yes, the word is accessibility and it could be the way you break plateaus and stop being a slave to misguided fitness programs!

Find out more, check out our NEW DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training book HERE!

Solving Fitness Mysteries with Ultimate Sandbag Training is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

It can appear that we are very serious a lot of the time at Ultimate Sandbag Training. That’s partly true because we are very serious about providing the highest quality fitness and functional training information. However, this is fitness and it should be fun and we like to think Ultimate Sandbag Training can bring some of that fun spirit with your fitness program.

In that idea of having fun with training I wanted to do something with our Ultimate Sandbag Training and the upcoming movie “The Avengers” coming out end of this week. Yea, I am pretty excited! I didn’t grow up on comic books, but I can remember watching the early 80’s “Incredible Hulk” and like most young boys was brought up with the infatuation with superheroes.

It makes you wonder why we like superheroes so much as a culture! Blogger, Alex Wilgus, suggests the longevity and uniqueness of superheroes goes pretty far into our mindset.

“Action heroes deal with immediate, external properties of the world; superheroes deal with the interior elements of humanity. Superheroes are colorful incarnations of the human soul.”

Ben Shapiro compares superhero stories to our modern mythologies. “In a certain way, then, the superhero world is true to real morality: it has heroes and villains, treachery and valor. “ Something that is really skewed in our reality where it can be difficult to distinguish the hero from villain (anyone look at politics lately?).

It could simply be our desire to think we can be more than our current world sees us. So many people feel “stuck” in their lives and superhero stories open up a world so much bigger where we can see our “super-selves”! No matter how you break down the psychology, they are darn fun! Some even display common human faults that actually make them more relatable and seem more possible.

Ultimate Sandbag Training Superhero Fitness

In some ways that is how I feel about our Ultimate Sandbag Training. Really the roots come from not some laboratory or concocted in some larger company board room. Ultimate Sandbag Training is first and foremost a solution to a very real problem that I have experienced. Severe injury, pain, frustration, and feeling as though my reality was being altered by all these obstacles.

Following our Ultimate Sandbag Training system really has brought out the best in not just my physical abilities, but my creativity and problem solving as well. Hopefully that it continually shown through our almost 400 Ultimate Sandbag Training Youtube videos, books, and most importantly education.

Once you feel good the “fun” and “play” components of fitness really start to come back as a major role. That is why this week we are going to share with Ultimate Sandbag Training workouts based upon many of the characters in “The Avengers” movie. That might sound a bit funny, but there is a way to bridge great training and having fun at the same time!

I wanted to model our first one after the first Avenger: Captain America. what does this Ultimate Sandbag Training workout have to do with Captain America? I thought about the character, someone who went from undersized and weak to strong and incredibly athletic. In light of the idea I wanted to demonstrate how our Ultimate Sandbag Training can hit those common weak spots that people often neglect in their fitness programs. Typically people think moving well and being strong to be mutually exclusive. The problem really comes in how they attempt to solve strength and fitness needs and the tools they choose to use!

With Ultimate Sandbag Training we can build strength in both the big and little muscles of the body. We can challenge cardio and strength training at the same time. We can move better and build a better body. It may be because Ultimate Sandbag Training is stronger than exercises, we believe in training movements and aren’t married to any one particular exercise. Instead with over 400 exercises in our Ultimate Sandbag Training system we can create so many unique movements and programs to address anyone’s specific needs and problems.

That is what today’s Ultimate Sandbag Training workout is all about and I hope you have fun with the inspiration and the concepts of the week. Remember, long-term success is going to be more than Ultimate Sandbag Training itself, it is going to be having fun and having a playful attitude towards your fitness routines. That is how exercise and Ultimate Sandbag Training becomes a positive part of making you the best you possible!

Superhero Workout 1:

Circuit Style

-One Staggered Snatch to Two Overhead Staggered Overhead Squats x 5 Reps Per Side Rest 45 seconds

-Front Body Circles x 30 seconds Per Side Rest 45 seconds

-Zercher Cossack Squats x 10-12 Per Side Rest 45 Seconds

-Pullover to Bridge x 15 Reps Rest 45 Seconds

-Leg Threading x 30 Seconds Per Side Rest 45 Seconds

Perform 4-5 Rounds

Ultimate Sandbag Training Superhero Workout is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

“No! Not another post about the darn lunge! I get it Josh, the lunge is good can we move on?!” That might be what you are saying right now, but how many people actually took the challenge I placed which was taking our Ultimate Sandbag exercises and made them a priority in their training? No, not just used them use them, but put them FIRST in your workout? Pushed yourself HARD on every repetition? My guess is not many!

It also isn’t about Ultimate Sandbag exercises or a cool lower body exercise, it is about understanding training and how to get the most out of it while minimizing negative effects! Are there any bad Ultimate Sandbag exercises or exercises in general? No, there can be the wrong exercise for YOU or poorly performed exercises.

For example, people are told to squat and deadlift if they want to get real results. After all aren’t these the BEST exercises? Heck, why would I complain, you can perform many Ultimate Sandbag exercises just based around squatting and deadlifting. The reason is that more times than not people have a very hard time performing these movements well and getting the results everyone promises them. In fact, the bigger problem is that most people are told just to keep going heavier to make progress when in many cases it exacerbate so many issues people are trying to make better such as low backs, knees, shoulders, the list goes on and on!

What exercises like lunges and these other Ultimate Sandbag exercises allow for is to make the body look better, get stronger, and actually feel better. Because Ultimate Sandbag exercises are not reliant upon JUST weight you can correct your muscle imbalances, but build functional muscle, and burn calories. Check out this study that compares the single leg squat (SLS) to the double leg squat (DLS).

“SLS had the highest integrated and peak activation for both muscles, regardless of load. ”(1) In this case “both muscles” were glute medius and glute maximus that are highly correlated to full body power and more importantly low back health.

Therefore using more weight isn’t the most important factor in fitness programs, which is why Ultimate Sandbag exercises can produce such powerful results even though the actual weight is not as high as the barbell. This is not a detriment, rather a HUGE benefit! Read what actually happens when you put a barbell on your back to squat…

“Cappozzo et al. (11) determined that a half-squat with a barbell load between 0.8 to 1.6 times bodyweight produced compressive forces on the L3-L4 segment equating to 6 to 10 times bodyweight, with forces increasing with increases in external load.”(2)

Even the legends had a hard time being perfect!

There are a lot of professionals that would tell you that it should be your goal to squat at least DOUBLE your bodyweight! Now are your goals in conflict? Sure you are stronger, but are you healthier, more mobile, and ultimately more fit or just “stronger”?

Are These Ultimate Sandbag Exercises Important?

After working with people for almost 18 years in developing fitness programs what really gets me excited about Ultimate Sandbag exercises is how they solve many of these problems. I know, it isn’t a problem if maybe you don’t squat heavy, but we also live in a time where performing a great squat requires flexibility that most people just don’t possess. Lunges and some of these other Ultimate Sandbag exercises allow us to build strength and flexibility. The reality is most people force their bodies to perform some of these heavy squats and deadlifts that they just can’t do well. What happens?

“Moreover, because lumbar forces are increased with increases in forward lean (55), it is beneficial to maintain a posture that is as close to upright as possible at all times.” The truth is that being upright is important in squats, but the idea of “hinging” at the hips is equally as important in the hip exercises. This is a similar concept as your torso is upright the hips just change the angle.

Again, why should I be so strong in trying to tell you to take these exercises more seriously? Having been someone that was completely debilitated by a low back injury I know not just the impact to your fitness program such pains have, but to your whole life. I want to save you the frustrations that a low back injury caused me! You may be fortunate, you may have no low back pain which is great! But more then 65 million Americans suffer from lower back pain annually. (3) The chances are you are going to be exposed to situations for low back pain and why should it come to from your exercise program?

That is why I am so proud of our Ultimate Sandbag exercises and our overall program. You can get strong, move better, and actually feel good and not beaten up from your fitness program. That is why we keep posting these Ultimate Sandbag exercises and what they can do for you!

I personally have developed my best fitness to date by using these concepts and have almost no semblance of back pain. People will often ask me what I did to accomplish such a great goal? The truth is that is not a secret, in fact, two to three times a week I am giving you “the secret” through our blog posts. It is up to YOU to choose to starting implementing these Ultimate Sandbag exercises and training program.

1.HIP MUSCLE ACTIVATION AND KNEE FRONTAL PLANE MOTION DURING WEIGHT BEARING THERAPEUTIC EXERCISES

Amanda J. Lubahn,1,2 Thomas W. Kernozek,1,2 Tiffany L. Tyson,1,2 Kenneth W. Merkitch,1,2 Paul Reutemann,1,3 and John Mark Chestnut

2. SQUATTING KINEMATICS AND KINETICS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO EXERCISE PERFORMANCE BRAD J. SCHOENFELD

3. American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS)

Are You Doing the Wrong Exercise? Ultimate Sandbag Exercises is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

There is something about it, I don’t know what it is, something about sandbag training that makes people lose all sense of their fitness intelligence! I am not sure if it is the idea of a bag of sand, but all I can say is GET OVER IT! Training systems and tools are what you make them and sandbag training is no exception. They can be as powerful as you want them to be or as ordinary as you make them. That is why at Ultimate Sandbag Training we are about elevating not sandbags, but how people perform Ultimate Sandbag Training and get so much more out of them!

-Sandbag Training Instability Is An Option, Not A Necessity:Traditionally people think of sandbag training and think of them being awkward and “unstable”. In fact, many people will list the instability of sandbag training as a primary benefit. Well, it can be, but it just depends. Those that think only in terms of instability are generally just trying to use Ultimate Sandbag Training as a means of replicating barbell or other types of traditional lifts. While this can be helpful it is only a small part of using Ultimate Sandbags well!

You may not want an Ultimate Sandbag to be unstable for several reasons as well. As a teaching tool we can use the dimension and unique design of Ultimate Sandbags to give feedback to people for learning how to perform foundational exercises correctly. Time after time we surprise people how Ultimate Sandbag training can teach almost anyone to squat using a Bear Hug Squat. In the beginning of teaching the Bear Hug Squat you don’t want too much instability because the Ultimate Sandbag will fold over and cause too much loading through the upper back and take away from learning positioning of both the trunk and lower body.

Instability is also not ideal when you are adding complexity or body position instability at first. Some people are going to get stuck doing the same old movements and not venture into developing their movement skills, those people are lifting a bag of sand and NOT performing sandbag training. When you change the instability of the position of where the Ultimate Sandbag is loaded or your own body’s position you are going to want to begin with a more stable Ultimate Sandbag. Not being aware of these variables can make a quantum leap in intensity and set you up to both not the result you want and possibly injury.

-How You Hold the Ultimate Sandbag Matters, BIG TIME!: Unfortunately there are still a lot of people that thing sandbag training is a crude and unthoughtful means of training fitness. They heave and throw the Ultimate Sandbag up on their body with very little consideration of the impact of holding the Ultimate Sandbag in different positions. The positional loading factor is one of the most powerful and unique attributes of Ultimate Sandbag Training.

Ultimate Sandbag Training has 15 holding positions that all have a different impact and purpose in a fitness program. Most other training modalities have 4 if you are lucky! That means we can vary an exercise in 15 different ways and create so many fun and effective exercises if we remember that where we place the Ultimate Sandbag or how we hold it will change possibly even the goal of the exercise.

For example, people begin with our Ultimate Sandbag Training Bear Hug Squat and find over time that they can go beyond our Burly Ultimate Sandbag even when they try all the variations in making it heavier. That is when we move to the Zercher position that makes that same Ultimate Sandbag feel heavier just by changing where it sits in relationship to the body. That now “too easy” Ultimate Sandbag feels challenging once again and also places a lot more stress upon the core.

-Yes, Sandbag Training Size DOES Matter!: I know, the jokes are waaaaay too easy here, but it couldn’t be more true and one of the most overlooked areas of Ultimate Sandbag training. This may be due to the fact in homemade sandbags you don’t get to control this variable and therefore become a victim of another sucky homemade sandbag program. Having three Ultimate Sandbag sizes goes beyond just having varying weights, it is a dimensional variable as well.

Because of the unique ways we use Ultimate Sandbag training the actual dimension of the Ultimate Sandbag can play a role in how a movement feels, getting the desired result,  the level of difficult, and overall intensity. Let’s take a look at our Bear Hug Squat example again. In using this exercise to teach correct squatting form using a Power Ultimate Sandbag often will not have the same impact of using our Strength Ultimate Sandbag. This is due to the length of the Strength Ultimate Sandbag and the weight that hangs below your Bear Hug position actually helps direct you in the correct position. Because the Power Ultimate Sandbag is significantly smaller you want get that weight below the center point to help move you.

On the other hand, using a Strength Ultimate Sandbag to perform some of our drills such as Around the Worlds and other rotational movements at first may be too awkward and not allow people to learn the proper position and alignment.

People also often make the mistake in thinking larger Ultimate Sandbags are purely a way of going heavier. If we have our Strength and Burly Ultimate Sandbags loaded to the same weight we can have VERY different training challenges. The Burly Ultimate Sandbag will be far LESS stable and will make instability a primary challenge. The Strength Ultimate Sandbag will be more stable and allow us to work on more complex exercises and/or corrective strategies. The size of the Ultimate Sandbag can even challenge the performance of specific exercises!

Taking our example of our Strength and Burly Ultimate Sandbags loaded to the same degree, we can use an Ultimate Sandbag Training Power Clean and have a very different experience. The Strength Ultimate Sandbag will be lower to the ground allowing us to build more momentum to perform the lift and will not “drop away” during the lift allowing the lifter to learn this exercise more efficiently. On the other hand, the Burly Ultimate Sandbag makes most people clean from almost their knees. This decreased range of motion makes the lifter have to move FASTER to perform the Power Clean great for people that are looking for more power! The instability and different range of motion will usually lead the lifter to have to accelerate longer leading to the more advanced development of power.

Did You Know These Ultimate Sandbag Training Concepts?

Next week we will talk about three more variables that people often overlook in their Ultimate Sandbag Training. Hopefully this helps open your eyes to really how many options are available and if you use these variables correctly your Ultimate Sandbag Training begins to show how powerful it can actually become. Want to get even MORE though? You gotta check out our NEW DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training book that takes you through the steps of getting GREAT results with Ultimate Sandbag Training. So powerful we recently hit #2 on Amazon’s Exercise & Fitness category, now time for YOU to get your fitness goals with Ultimate Sandbag Training!

 CLICK HERE to get the best of real world fitness training!

6 Things You Didn’t Know About Sandbag Training Part 1 is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

It is almost like dirty locker room talk. “Yea, lunges are for girls!” You would probably being whispered by most trainers and coaches. Even women are taught that lunges are your foundational “firming and toning” exercises. It is time though, time for the lunge to have its revenge on the fitness and sports performance industry!

I’ll admit, I was one of those coaches and athletes that thought the lunge was ok, but if you wanted to get strong, if you wanted to gain muscle, then throw me those squats!!! Probably one of the biggest hindsight concepts for myself is about the value of the lunge.

how most people think of lunges maybe dancing?

I think to start though we have to ask why? Why does it have the reputation that it currently finds? It took two herniated low back discs and a neck spinal fusion to get me to really re-think the whole idea of the lunge. To be honest, without such occurrences I am not sure would have ever questioned them myself. In a lot of ways I consider myself fortunate to have such injuries that forced me to find “better ways” to train and ultimately help others!

Ok, ok, back to lunge! If what I am proposing is right then why is it that the squat is so often thought of “the king” of lower body exercises. To be perfectly honest, I think it almost all has to do with the amount of weight we usually use. Very few, if it all, can people use the same weight to lunge than they can squat with. As silly as this sounds this seems to be a common argument I hear from professionals that re-enforces my thought that fitness has become all about the weight and not about the movement!

Our fitness and sports culture values bigger and in this case the squat can almost always use more weight than the lunge. But what a false premise, it doesn’t take someone with schooling in biomechanics to figure out, “well of course, you are more stable in the squat” and therefore you are able to handle more weight. More weight always equals more results right?

Well, let’s look at this study which used 8 healthy college female athletes and showed the difference in muscle activity during the 90, 60, 30 degree squat and lunge.

Pretty interesting that the lunge showed very similar if not superior results in these athletes with the lunge compared to the 90 degree squat. However, what is more interesting is that the study used 70% weight on the squat and JUST bodyweight on the lunge, hmmmm.

Want more? How about this study that states, “The lunge exercise produced the VMO:VL ratio (1.18:1) closest to the idealized ratio of 1:1. Potential clinical recommendations can be made proposing the lunge exercise as a key tool in early rehabilitation when restoring preferential VMO:VL ratio is essential.” (2)

Ultimate Sandbag Training in the Real World

I know, I know, no one said the lunge wasn’t good, but really great? Let’s try to look beyond just the muscles being used. Let’s actually talk about some real world ideas. Seeing a perfect squat in the gym might be like hunting down Bigfoot in the Northwest. There are people that believe it exists, very few claim they have seen it, and most of us haven’t seen anything resembling anything like it!

Bigfoot and a Great Squat both Rare to Find!

In almost 18 years in the fitness industry I can tell you it is far easier to get people into a good and safe lunge position than it is to get them into a good squat (well, not of course now with the Ultimate Sandbag Training Bear Hug Squat;) From a practical stand point we have far more options to get people to do a good lunge. In our Ultimate Sandbag Training program we have over 100 lunge variations compared to 20 squatting variations. The open stance of the hips just allows the body to do more!

It has been said a million times but not emphasized enough but lunging also provides a great deal of hip flexibility. Guess what hurts a lot of people in their squat? LACK of hip flexibility! It would actually make more sense to make the lunge the focus that would actually help the squat!

Am I getting to you yet? Does it make sense? We haven’t even addressed about working in more planes, stabilizing the lower leg, I could go on and on! The different patterns of lunging have so much value as well I almost think people are crazy for not making the lunge more of a priority.

How does Ultimate Sandbag Training fit into this whole equation and why am I making such a big deal about it? Having over 100 Ultimate Sandbag Training variations sounds cool, but one of the reasons it is so powerful is because it allows us to progress people far beyond just the idea of weight. We can challenge stability, coordination, core strength, strength, power, yea, pretty awesome right? It takes understanding the why’s and how to progress and that is what today’s Ultimate Sandbag Training video is about today. Just a simple way to re-invent what you thought about lower body training and how Ultimate Sandbag Training begins to opens a whole new door of getting more fit, stronger, and actually feeling better!

Revenge of the Lunge-Ultimate Sandbag Training is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin

It may sound like a recruiting mission to become a part of the fitness industry when you hear most coaches say “we got into this business to help people change their lives!” Unfortunately some lose this very noble vision and get caught up being “hardcore”, “tough”, you name it! They make the programs they make or show people about proving themselves to others rather than making it a great means in helping people reach their own specific goals.

I’ll be honest, when I began Ultimate Sandbag Training back in 2005, I really didn’t have aspirations or even the idea of impacting people in more than 70 countries worldwide! I was hoping to have a medium in Ultimate Sandbag Training that I could help my clients. Now coming up on 7 1/2 years later it has been an amazing journey to see how and more importantly WHY Ultimate Sandbag Training has impacted so many different people.

One of the most rewarding times in my career was just very recent when Coach Keith Gordon shared with us some very special information to his use of Ultimate Sandbag Training with a very unique client…

 “I have been working with Master of Arms Brock Shiffer for about a year now.  We have used ropes, kettlebells and now Ultimate Sandbag Training in his road to recovery. Using the new water fillers makes the weight around 25 lbs in the small bag. Which is perfect for Brock….for now!

 We use the Ultimate Sandbag Training not only to help his flexibility but also to strength his core, which is huge for him in his chair. Thanks again for all the inspirational videos and hard work your team is doing.”-Keith Gordon, Flo MMA Palatine IL

Coaches Keep Making Ultimate Sandbag Training Better!

That would be pretty awesome enough, but then I saw another side of the spectrum. One of the most respected coaches in the industry, Vince McConnell, who has worked with hundreds of professional athletes and serious fitness enthusiasts gave me another perspective of Ultimate Sandbag Training. Coach McConnell sent me this great video demonstrating why Ultimate Sandbag Training may be the best fitness tool for young people looking to get ready for different sports!

“’Shoulder Lunge’ is one of my favorite Ultimate Sandbag Training drills to start youngsters out with as it allows them to “get used to” the Ultimate Sandbag without too high a degree of technical demand. The “intimidation factor” is eliminated which means they have a positive “first experience”. There’s enough challenge with getting LOW (as you hear me remind them) to engage the Ultimate Sandbag as well as the stability demand in the core (which is evident on their faces). I follow with a ‘contrast’ bodyweight drill which, again, builds integration into the training so they quickly learn respect for the Ultimate Sandbag but without it being too much focus on the bag itself.

Ultimate Sandbag Training is the best tool to teach young athletes both stability, and explosiveness ( re high pulls, cleans). Also, the invaluable mental focus/mechanical integrity aspect is cultivated. Kids, like their older amigos, love “to hate” Ultimate Sandbag Training…as it never allows “ADHD” to take over;)”

I think that is really what makes our Ultimate Sandbag Training different. I could talk about materials, design, etc., but that isn’t the really cool part. When really gets me going (maybe from being in the industry for almost 18 years), is seeing how what we provide in Ultimate Sandbag Training is having such a profound impact on people’s lives! We would love to hear how YOU are using and benefiting from Ultimate Sandbag Training so send you story to us at info@ultimatesandbagtraining.com and if we send you a special gift!

No Excuses Fitness-Ultimate Sandbag Training is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training Fitness System by Josh Henkin