The Best of Ultimate Sandbag Exercises

I actually find it fascinating, to go on social media and hear what people THINK of “sandbag exercises”. In all honesty, there are about three things that intrigue me most when people talk about “sandbag exercises”.

-Lack of Technique: The reason I keep putting sandbag exercises in quotation marks is that unlike so many of our other fitness tools there isn’t a singular agreed upon method of how sandbag exercises are performed.

This upsets some people, thinking that we want to be the sandbag police, but the truth is we just want to see people use good movement. After all, one of the big things that we think make DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises so unique is the fact we are using the USB to teach how to perform correct movement (DVRT Master, Cory Cripe wrote a great article about that HERE)

That unfortunately leads to people doing serious mistakes to simple ones that really lead them to missing many of the great benefits of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises.

A great example is the Ultimate Sandbag Clean that people still use the snatch grip handles for. DVRT Master, James Newman explains why this is a bad error to make!

Don’t miss James’ and more of our DVRT workshops coming up to learn how to optimize our Ultimate Sandbag exercises and DVRT System HERE

-You can’t get stronger: Even fans of Ultimate Sandbag exercises always seem like they have to justify using our programs and movements when comes to building strength. I get it, it is hard to understand that 100 pounds of an Ultimate Sandbag can be so much more difficult than 100 pounds on a barbell.

The funny part is that I don’t think it is that hard to really “get”. In getting to brainstorm and work with so many different coaches from all over, I even get some great ideas on how to explain things better.

However, it is hard to beat the simple and often profound ways fitness expert, Alwyn Cosgrove, puts things. In a discussion with him about how people struggle to see Ultimate Sandbag exercises for strength we had the following conversations…

The biggest obstacle I told him? “They are fixated on the number”. I explained people still have a hard time believing that a lower number in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises can deliver a better result than what they are use to seeing on the barbell or other strength training tools.

“B.S.” Alwyn said! I was like huh? I live and breathe DVRT Ultimate Sandbag training, I know what people say. He admitted that people may be saying that, but people always don’t mean what they say. Quickly Alwyn told me the story of his brother who could easily rep out clean and presses with a 100 pound barbell, but was barely even able to pick up a 100 pound USB!

“The uneducated trainer would say lifting a 135 pound barbell has to be better than Ultimate Sandbag Training because it is heavier. However, that same trainer can barely lift an 100 pound USB. That tells me that a 100 USB does more for your body than that 135 pound barbell. I want to maximize my training time not chase insignificant numbers.”

Add into the equation we have a very unique system of progressing that includes, but isn’t exclusive to JUST going heavier. DVRT Master, Paige Fleischmann shows how we have almost infinite Ultimate Sandbag exercises if we understand the world of progression.

–“I love sandbag exercises but of course I add other stuff too!”: This comment really intrigues me because I am utterly confused by it. The goal of training isn’t to use as many tools as possible, it is to create a desired result. Just as a carpenter to a surgeon select the RIGHT tools for the right job, shouldn’t you in your workouts?

I am often dumbfounded that people feel obligated to include tools into their workouts rather than just finding what they feel to be the most effective. That of course isn’t to say you can’t use other things besides Ultimate Sandbag exercises, but my question is when you add  something WHY are you doing it!

The reason is that you don’t have infinite resources from your body to do just endless “stuff”. Rather, you have to maximize what your body is capable of doing and making sure you are prioritizing the best training possible! Isn’t that what it is really about?

If something can offer you something BETTER you should definitely do it. However, don’t do it JUST because you feel like you SHOULD have whatever tool or exercise in your program. When you devote time to one thing you do take away from others. That is the basics of efficiency in and out of the gym.

Part of my inspiration in doing this post was to just get you thinking. I feel like we have in over 13 years, provided a pretty strong argument why Ultimate Sandbag exercises should not be just part of your workout, but play a big role! That is up to you, but ask yourself if you find yourself asking these questions and if you are doing what is best for you or to please the infamous social media crowd?!

Want to find out how and why our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises are so transformative? Check out and save 25% on our DVRT workout programs HERE with coupon code “vday” and experience the difference!