Go to Glute Ultimate Sandbag Exercises

Cory Cripe, DVRT Master (Creator of DVRT Movement Strength)

Could you imagine two exercises that not only train the entire body with intelligence, but also build a healthy butt to boot? Too good to be true? Just you wait and see!

As a teenager I became curious about weight training and developed a passion for lifting weights as I experienced the benefits from it. It’s amazing that in the infancy of my career, I knew the glutes were important.

My sources though weren’t the most reliable or accurate: various bodybuilding magazines, my high school football coach, and a handful of serious lifters at the basement gym I was a member at, were not the most informed on why or how glute training was so important. They were only able to inform me the “to do” list.

So not knowing why the glutes were important, and being ignorant of their role in performance, left me like most people, doing exercises that I thought were good but not having a clue why!

Fast forward 20 years and personally learning (and experiencing) how the glutes tie in to serve the body better by working with the lats gives me a better understanding and appreciation for the glutes and improved ways to train them!

Yea, it never dawned on me till going though and learning the science of Ultimate Sandbag exercises why the lat being the only upper body muscle to connect to the pelvis would be so important to the glutes. 

People get that Ultimate Sandbag exercises have elements of instability due to the shifting the weight, but what people don’t know is how we connect the body through our Ultimate Sandbag exercises. I didn’t know either, I thought the Ultimate Sandbag was just “another” sandbag until I learned the “secrets” of what Ultimate Sandbag exercises allow you to teach the body.

So, let’s begin with my first Go-to-Glute Ultimate Sandbag exercises, the MAX Glute Bridge. I used to say how silly glute bridges were … but that was before I realized how smart Ultimate Sandbag exercises can make them – now they’re everywhere in my programming for me and my clients!

It’s easy to understand if you haven’t done this before the excitement you’ll experience when first performing the MAX Glute Bridge. The key focus during this movement is to resist rotation through your glutes as you stabilize the pelvis and keep your spine safe. Sounds simple, I know, but when you “chop” the Ultimate Sandbag during the bridge something needs to happen or you’ll fall over! In order for this to be successful for the glutes, you have to engage, better yet – you have to pack your lats!

What I never received in any of my education (even at the university level) is the glutes do not move in a vacuum – meaning they work with other body parts (namely the lats) to create more efficiency and strength in your movement patterns. How can you pack your lats during the MAX Glute Bridge? That is what makes these types of Ultimate Sandbag exercises so powerful and simple at the same time!

Extend your arms, corkscrew your elbows into the ribs, and pull the Ultimate Sandbag apart! Keeping the focus on tension in the lats by pulling the handles off the Ultimate Sandbag will give you all you need and more during this life-changing movement ???

Moving into my second Go-to-Glute Ultimate Sandbag exercises,  Shoveling. I will admit I was not a big fan when I first encountered this rotating DVRT drill. It was challenging for me to figure how to pivot while hip hinging in a fast paced environment. And also, for a guy that has two left feet it was difficult to find the rhythm of this movement. That too is a lesson of Ultimate Sandbag exercises, teaching you where you have been neglecting movement and strength training!

What did I have to do before becoming efficient with the Shoveling drill? I was obligated to take some steps back and practice various hip hinge movements emphasizing rotation with a purposeful pivot!

Even though the pivot foot is important, the power and hip extension comes from the stance foot pressing into the floor in unison with the drive of the pivot foot. When pivoting, you should create tension into your body by drilling your foot into the ground elevating your heel high. There is a coil, a spring generated in your body connection the stance leg’s glutes to the opposite lat during the pivot, and then an explosion with the extension. When done correctly, the Ultimate Sandbag should have a moment of weightlessness before gravity takes it back – and your responsibility is not to fight it, but guide it smoothly to the side as you recoil. Anyone who has enjoyed kettlebell swings will hear similar cuing of such Ultimate Sandbag exercises.

When I program the Shoveling drill into my playful sessions, I heavily favor including the MAX Glute Bridge into my warm-up. Taking this glute bridge variation on the ground allows me to “reset” my posture and body awareness so when I move to my feet (where most of life happens) I am better prepared for the demands of the Shoveling drill.

It may seem counterintuitive to the common thinker, but focusing on resisting rotation in the MAX Glute Bridge and connecting the glutes to the opposite lat will create a better rotation in a standing posture and give those performing the  Shoveling drill success in the movement.

These DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises are definitely a potent 1-2 punch when it comes to building stronger (and dare I say better looking) glutes. If you find them to be too advanced for you, there are plenty of opportunities to help you build into them! Happy glutes, happy you!

Check out Cory’s Movement Strength Program and all our DVRT workout programs out HERE for 30% with coupon code “holiday” for a VERY limited time longer!