Better Squats with THESE Ultimate Sandbag Exercises

DVRT Master, Ian Vaughn (Creator of DVRT Real World Strength & Mass and DVRT Obstacle Course programs)

If there’s one exercise that’s gets a lot of attention…it’s the squat. Rightfully so! That is because squats can be used to solve so many issue. Use properly squat can help reduce chances of low back pain and strengthens the legs real world challenges.

However, when a typical person (average joe) squats, it comes to no surprise mobility in the hips and rounded shoulders are poor at first…it’s the DVRT coaching that really make a difference finding one’s stability in the right places. When we teach squats with our Ultimate Sandbag exercises it is in order to fix someone’s squat pattern AND get them strong!

A lot of people get caught up in doing tons of corrective exercise work because they want people to move better, but are they missing their target? While this isn’t a bad thing people are becoming more mindful of their movement patterns, it can be easily misinterpreted as “needing more mobility/flexibility” sometimes for example. We want to seek stability and tension in the right places first.

This is where utilizing the Ultimate Sandbag can really change the way you view squatting. Ultimate Sandbag exercises like our dead bug resembles a lot of exactly you see in a squat: knees flexed over hips, straight back, with shoulders down and back. Pulling the Ultimate Sandbag from the outside handles engages the lats to keep the shoulders from rounding. The spine needs to stay in contact with the ground – hiding the ribs down with a braced core ( a common compensation for most is hyper extending the mid back). Lastly is to arc the Ultimate Sandbag to toward the flexed leg, as the other extends. These are integral part of our Ultimate Sandbag exercises because they fully engage the glutes to sync with core and lats all at once. be sure to keep the knees tracked over the toes the who time.

That’s not the only way we use Ultimate Sandbag exercises to build great movement from the ground up! Our Tall Kneeling Press Outs are great movement for those who tend to fold in like a accordion – flexing into their low back (butt winking) and have trouble keeping their torso over the hips. This also teaches the feet to root to the ground so the glutes can maintain tension – as the Ultimate Sandbag feels heavier when its fully press out away from the body. While this is a press, it’s important to pull the USB back in with the shoulders down and back:

Then lastly, one of the Ultimate Sandbag exercises I like the most and not because we just get to integrate the DVRT Core Strap, but it teaches so much reactive strength as in the ballistic front squat. I love this because starting lying out on the ground grabbing the outside Ultimate Sandbag handles automatically pulls the shoulders down and back with the spine rooted into the ground (just like in the dead bug) to hide the ribs down. Once set up in that supine position, clean the bag pulling the outside handles and snap the feet near the hips rooting them into a solid front position at the same time. Stand tall maintain tension resisting the Core strap trying to pull you forward. It’s great way to reverse the mechanics of the squat owing the bottom position with the shoulders down and back, core braced resisting the forward pull, and rooting the feet first before standing:

So these DVRT corrective Ultimate Sandbag exercises can give a better understanding on how to squat in your strength training program. As you can see from the all movements, they all connect to the squat with simple solutions to fix what’s needed for the body to perform at its best. You can get much more out of my new program: DVRT for Real World Strength.