These Ultimate Sandbag Core Exercises Are So Wrong!

I believe there are a handful of DVRT exercises that have become superstars, if you will. Exercises like MAX lunge, front loaded squats, clean and press, and possibly most of all…..lateral drags! Of all our great Ultimate Sandbag core exercises, it is the lateral drags that get misused more than any!

It isn’t a matter of “Josh said so, so we better do it!” It IS about giving you guys the best effect of such Ultimate Sandbag core exercises. I’ve joked many times that I am a pretty literal guy. Looking back, if I called these “Samurai Sword Swings” people would be more strict about the form they use. The simple name makes these Ultimate Sandbag core exercises become misunderstood all the time.

I thought naming them lateral drags would infer what makes them so powerful and unique. We always look to use the unique nature of the Ultimate Sandbag to provide a unique training effect that can’t be achieved with anything else. I’ve always been about using the best tool for the job (hence, why I tell people kettlebells are best for swings not Ultimate Sandbags).

We took the picture of above to illustrate this point. Using the Ultimate Sandbag allows us to take advantage of the fact this tool has dimension. With dimension we increase surface area of the weight being drag meaning we get WAY more resistance! That is a BIG reason lifting, or tossing the weight across the body takes away so many of the great parts of these Ultimate Sandbag core exercises.

Once we understand the right tool really does matter, there are many nuances we tell people. One of the biggest for these Ultimate Sandbag core exercises is the set-up. If you don’t have the Ultimate Sandbag set-up in the right position or in relationship to the body the right way you lose some of the great benefits of what these drills have to offer.

Don’t feel bad if you find out that you were missing some of these nuances. If you look back at some of our early videos we didn’t even fully understand how all these details made a such profound difference. That is what happens when you create something, you start with a great idea and then learn when you work with more people how to make it better.

What are the most important concepts to remember?

-Start at the right level, that might mean working for quite some time on our bird dog progressions show below.

-Use the ground with the feet and hands.

-Use smaller Ultimate Sandbags to use the outside handle that keep the arm low and the load in the lats and core, not the shoulder.

-Slow is ALWAYS better, aim for a 4-6 second count to go from one side to another.

-Add complexity not necessarily load to create more challenging  Ultimate Sandbag core exercises.

This is why when you put all these ideas together, these Ultimate Sandbag core exercises are usually done for low repetitions. See how DVRT Master, Amanda Thebe breaks down some great progressions of these Ultimate Sandbag core exercises.

Then we have DVRT Master, Cory Cripe, giving two different strategies to progressing these Ultimate Sandbag core exercises. Notice how he stays true to the movement though. Not lifting the weight, not dragging quickly. We can make these movements much more challenging by altering the type of drag or how we use tools like our ARES sled to add another dimension.

Understanding the why’s empowers you to achieve more out of these exercise and your workouts overall. That is why we believe knowledge is power! Save 25% on any of our DVRT workout programs HERE with coupon code “save25” or any of our great tools like our Ultimate Sandbags HERE or ARES sled HERE 

 

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A post shared by Cory M. Cripe (@cmcripe) on Oct 15, 2018 at 11:51am PDT