Ultimate Sandbag Deadlifts for Better Strength & Success!

It does my heart good to see people talking about smarter ways of approaching single leg deadlifts. I don’t know if they will ever get the true love they deserve because let’s face it, it is way harder to use anything close to the same weight on your single leg deadlifts than it is the standard bilateral deadlift.

So, you probably won’t live in social media fame, but you will get some exceptional training results by focusing on single leg deadlifts. Let review quickly why we are working on single leg deadlifts will give you huge bang for your buck!.

-actually allows you to target the muscles you want to improve without high risk to the low back.

-reduces possible chronic low back problems by improving the muscles that support the pelvis and low back.

-builds awesome core strength that floor exercises can’t match!

You might be all on board with the idea of single leg deadlifts, but of course we have to talk about the elephant in the room which is why our Ultimate Sandbag single leg deadlifts. Most because of one simple fact, when people move into more unstable environments like single leg deadlifts they need tension to maintain balance and stability.

We achieve that tension from a few different ways using our Ultimate Sandbag deadlifts. The first is the fact we can create handle tension. Pulling the handles apart (not bending the elbows) allows us to engage the lats and core which helps stabilize our pelvis and trunk. That is coach talk for you feel more balanced and stable. Good deal right?

The other is moving to our Front Loaded position like you see above. It isn’t just about holding the Ultimate Sandbag, but trying to “break” the Ultimate Sandbag apart. The Front Loaded position creates more tension on the core but we have to properly engage the lats. A major mistake people make is that they try to use the Ultimate Sandbag like a barbell. Because the load placement is different, if you do so you wear out your shoulders and feel it in your low back.

The Many Layers of Ultimate Sandbag Training Deadlifts

Whew, that is a lot of information in a short amount of time right? So, what do we do with all of it? First we start with the easiest holding position which is pulling the handles apart. We manipulate the body position in our sprinter stance deadlifts.

A lot of people screw up sprinter stance deadlifts all the time. I started teaching this back in 2008 and it has been interesting to see how it has been incorrectly interpreted on the internet. The whole point is to create SLIGHT instability which is important in teaching success in single leg deadlifts.

What do people do wrong? They don’t use both feet first! You want to think 60/40 with the lead foot getting the most work, but the ball of foot in the back leg still working to help resist rotation.

Yea, our red Ultimate Sandbags were cool, but they showed too much dirt, so our black and camo are here to stay! But that sprinter stance deadlift is pretty solid!

Another common mistake is to allow the back heal to drop to the ground. That causes rotation in the hips which we don’t want! So, keep that 60/40! Lastly, don’t lose tension on those handles, it happens when we introduce instability.

Our next step is using a floor glider like a Valslide. This allows us to create another progression of Ultimate Sandbag Training deadlifts. By sliding we can keep more stability and work on progressively adding a longer stride to the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training rear slide deadlift. By increasing the stride we are slowly reducing the level of stability of the Ultimate Sandbag Training deadlift, just like adding a little bit of weight in traditional strength training.

Once we have the rear slide Ultimate Sandbag Training deadlifts working well, we can start change how we hold the Ultimate Sandbag. The most obvious progression is going to the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Front Loaded position. What are we looking for? All of a sudden the core and upper back are being stressed big time!

However, because of the new stress we are applying to the body, we want to see if we start rounding the shoulders, flexing the low back, or any compromise of your posture. Even more subtle is the leg not going straight back but crossing over or going out to the side. In other words, when we go to the Front Loaded position we want to see the same technique at we would with the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training rear slide deadlift.

The rear slide gives a chance to build a really small jump to the rear step. C’mon, does sliding to stepping making a big difference. Technically speaking, yup. Why? When we implement a stepping action the foot must completely leave the ground and your body must have the confidence to step in the right position. This is exactly why people can perform a split squat, but actual lunging could look pretty sloppy.

We see more mild changes or compensations when we perform a rear step Ultimate Sandbag Training deadlift or front loaded good morning because we have less stability. Therefore, we need to be aware of the details. What seems subtle for some people can be extreme for others. If we have at least the choice to have these progressions in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training then we can more accurately choose who and when to use them.

Rear sliding in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training allows us to work through many of the holding progressions again. That means we are building so many quality layers of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises you should be able to see anyone on the road to success. We have worked through rear sliding and the holding positions for these DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises, now what? We can work to rear step hinging and then, maybe then we can…

Our Core Strap being used as a way to enhance tension is another great way to introduce this new holding position and give feedback. It teaches people to create tension against the Ultimate Sandbag and the ground!

YES! With careful planning and attention to the quality of work you should be able to progress to DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training single leg deadlfits. Even with all this preparation of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training exercise progressions, we may still find going to true single leg a true challenge. I love having people perform DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training single leg deadlifts barefoot if possible. Chances are, when you do this you will see how hard the lower leg and ankle works! This is why DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training complex movements are so demanding, because there is so much demand from the nervous system to work with the muscles!

While I have walked you throw how you can create DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training progressions, from simple to complex, think of each of these exercises as possible weeks of work. Focus on really gaining the quality of the movement and don’t be in a rush to progress to the next level. If you do so, you will be surprised how your fitness quickly improves and you didn’t have to place so much emphasis on mindless repetition, but meaning and purposeful training!

Want to know more about how we use Ultimate Sandbag Training to improve the quality of your workouts? Check out our DVRT Certifications HERE and upcoming Workshops HERE.  Can’t get to one of our programs, don’t miss our online programs HERE for 25% off with coupon code “thanks”!