REAL World Functional Fitness Workout Ultimate Sandbag Training

It was a simple statement, but one that changed really EVERYTHING for me. In the famous book Dinosaur Training, the author, Brooks Kubik talks about the simple effect of sandbag training, “You feel as sore as you do because the bags (sandbags) worked your body in ways you could not approach with a barbell alone. You got into the muscle areas you normally don’t work. You worked the “heck” out of the stabilizers” (Kubik, p. 115).

Brooks Kubik’s book was a bit inspiration back in my early days!

SOLD!!!

You see I just want one thing, to do the BEST thing I can when I train. I think that is most of us, we don’t want to waste our time, we want to do the ONE thing that will have the BIGGEST impact upon our fitness.

You may be thinking, “Josh, this doesn’t sound all that scientific. Show me the research!” But, there isn’t any research, well, we do have one study (read here). This is all anecdotal. Nonetheless, coaches in the trenches have long been ahead of performance studies.

Using odd objects in training isn’t reserved for just the old time strongmen. Allen Hedrick, the head strength coach at the Air Force Academy, has been using this type of training for many years. He has written and lectured on the idea of using odd objects to increase performance and decrease the risk of athletic injuries.

“But, applying the concept of specificity, it makes sense that training with a fluid resistance is a more sport-specific method of training as compared to lifting exclusively with a static resistance because in most situations, athletes encounter a dynamic resistance (in the form of an opponent) as compared to the static resistance. Further, because the active fluid resistance enhances the need for stability and control, this type of training may reduce the opportunity for injury because of improved joint stability.” (NSCA Journal, Vol.25 Number 4)

Good thing our Ultimate Sandbag Training covers all levels of instability, from sand to “fluid”;) More importantly is the WHY! Real life doesn’t happen statically, it is very dynamic and unpredictable. So, why in the world doesn’t our fitness reflect that?

A big reason DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is part of military, fire, and police departments is because of the real world applications! 

Wrestlers, martial artists, and some of the best “movement” athletes that had incredibly real world strength knew this simple concept.

In John Jesse’s famous book, Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia, he states,

“The use of heavy sandbags and their large circumference forces the lifter to do his lifting with a round back instead of the traditional straight back lifting with a barbell. It is this type of lifting that truly develops a strong back. It develops the back and side muscles in movements that are identical to the lifting and pulling movements of wrestling.”

You might not be wrestling an opponent, but chances are you are wanting to have fun with your kids, pick up your groceries, do chores around the house, go hiking with your friends, REAL things like this. So, why would you NOT have your workouts reflect this same idea?

I love all these old time ideas, but the methods were a bit rough, especially when it came to the idea of “sandbag training”. That’s why we aren’t inventing sandbag training, but rather evolving it for the needs of our modern lives. The fact we know more about the body now than ever allows us to create smarter workouts and exercises and DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is a reflection of that.

Just to show you how much can be achieved with simple DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training tools for real life, watch DVRT Master, Greg Gergely Perlaki, uses just Ultimate Sandbag Training and our DVRT ARES Sled to train an athlete for the demands of sport. Real life and sport have A LOT in common, the unpredictability and ability to react is far more an indicator of real functional strength and fitness than just how much you lift. So, are you training for real world or the gym?