We Were Complete CRAP!

We Were Complete CRAP!-DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training

We are about two weeks away from ten years of when it all started. I was so proud, it was so cool! Ten years ago I had my first Ultimate Sandbag sitting in my garage. It was everything I wanted. You see, I wasn’t trying to create something that would change how people saw fitness, I just wanted a way better sandbag that was available. I was fed up with messy, knuckle scrapping duffel bags, I wanted a sandbag that I could actually use A LOT! 

When I got my first Ultimate Sandbag I just wanted to play with it and I did for for a few hours. I was so excited about all the things I could do with it, how it was SO much better than what I had been using. I had no interest or awareness though of making more than my single one. After all, I was a fitness professional, not into equipment manufacturing. Heck, my first conversation with a local boat cover manufacturer was probably pretty darn funny. 

Pretty funny and disturbing to look back even to our first videos, what WERE we thinking!!

“What type of materials do you want to use?”

Me: “Um, really strong ones?”

“What color do you want?” 

Me: “What gets the least dirty looking?”

“Okay, sending you a bag”

Me: “cool”

Yea, I had NO IDEA what the right questions or answers were to this process, I didn’t care, this was awesome! My training buddies thought it was awesome, even Testosterone Nation thought we were onto something…

The first reviewed Ultimate Sandbag!

“This is a cool trend. I first experimented with sandbag training seven years ago. It was fun and effective, but a pain in the ass with the leaky and broken bags. Also, most of the old surplus bags I used would take all the skin off your hands and leave you a bloody mess after a training session. So I was glad to hear that performance coach Josh Henkin was creating a new type of specialty training bag: the Ultimate Sandbag.

I think sandbag training is one of the best forms of home training or “extra” training you can perform outside of the gym. It’s also one of the purest forms of true functional training. I was excited to torture test the Ultimate Sandbag. After picking up 100 pounds of sandbox sand (and quickly realizing that amount was a bit much for some drills!), I took my new toy outside for some training.

The verdict: Awesome. I’ve been using it now for a few weeks and playing around with cleans, snatches, good mornings, rows, complex training, tosses, overhead presses, bear hug walks, lunges, front squats, and a dozen other drills. 

So far this thing has taken a beating with no signs of wear and tear. The “fine” canvas isn’t exactly gentle on the knuckles, but finishing your session with your hands a little red is better than finishing it with bloody nubs! The covered zipper is a nice feature too.”

Awesome, right? Looking back, it was COMPLETE CRAP!!! I can say that because I didn’t know, it was the best I knew at the time, but you would all teach me so much. 

As DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training grew, so did the need for refinement, evolution, and improvements. 

When I was in a MMA gym in San Jose they had both an original Ultimate Sandbag and a more modern evolution of the Ultimate Sandbag. I chuckled. Here is the funny thing though, it was still going strong! As much I as I wanted to say “what was I thinking!” the reality is almost ten years later they were still being used! 

I realized then that we could say something that no other company could, our Ultimate Sandbags could stand at least a decade of strong training! Pretty amazing when you think about all the things we have learned the past decade to make the Ultimate Sandbag, not just the best fitness sandbag, but the best strength tool around!

A lot of today’s post was actually inspired by an email we got from one of YOU guys! Greg T. who has been one of those that had an early Ultimate Sandbag model. See if he agrees or if I am full of it!!!

“First off let me say I’m just regular a guy who likes to train with weights and I’ve done it since I was 10. I’m 65. I bought my first USB in 2005, I think. It had a few straps for holds and was a decent upgrade from the old duffle bag. I just finished purchasing a Burly and a Power bag to add to my Strength bag. These new bags are a whole different animal. Beautifully put together. But, the coolest thing of all is what you can do with them. I kind of piddled with my old Burly off and on for a few years. But then I saw a flow drill on one of the DVRT videos and it lit my interest big time. Unbelievably effective, fun, challenging. Real world applicable right now! I thought I had to lift heavy barbells or KB’s to get results. That’s a big fat NO!! I’m learning the drills better, slowing things down and feeling these movements. After 55 years of wt training using all sorts of equipment, these implements truly are revolutionary. Do yourself a huge favor and invest in a bag. Start at the Power or Strength. And prepare for some mind blowing and fun workouts.”

It made me excited to think that our more modern Ultimate Sandbags were even more likely to last a lifetime! But don’t worry, if you don’t have a modern Ultimate Sandbag we have something for you!

Want to boost your older Ultimate Sandbags to give them an even longer life? We have some Ultimate Sandbag shell liners that give reinforcement to your older Ultimate Sandbags. Just place your fillers inside and you are giving even more years to your Ultimate Sandbag! You can save 25% on these liners and get a NEW Ultimate Sandbag if you want with coupon code “ultimate” HERE