Sandbag Training

5 Mistakes Even Experts Make-Ultimate Sandbag Training 0

Problem Solving Ultimate Sandbag Training Style

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.

5 Mistakes Even Experts Make Ultimate Sandbag Training

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!

Posted on: 05-15-2012
Posted in: Sandbag Training

Smarter Core Training with Ultimate Sandbag Training 1

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.