Total Core Training with Ultimate Sandbag Workouts

I’ve always wanted to try to simplify how you create your own Ultimate Sandbag workouts. One of the things I love most about Ultimate Sandbag workouts is the fact that you can do so much with just one or two of them.

Our Ultimate Sandbag workouts remind me of the early years of kettlebells. Before there was 30 different sizes, there was just three. The beauty of kettlebell training that time was it was such a central focus on just going heavier, but like our Ultimate Sandbag workouts, there was more emphasis of how to do MORE with just one or two kettlebells.

Sadly, I think we lost our way in getting more and doing more with less. It isn’t just being cheap, but making ourselves think smarter about our training. Our DVRT concepts aren’t difficult, they are just making people think differently.

For a quick review here some bullet points on how to start thinking of your Ultimate Sandbag workouts…

Lower Body Exercises: Change how you hold the Ultimate Sandbag

Upper Body Exercises: Change how you stand while performing Ultimate Sandbag drills.

Then next part isn’t so new for many people. We want to start creating our Ultimate Sandbag workouts by thinking about how the body naturally moves. You can’t go wrong if you make the majority of the exercises in your Ultimate Sandbag workouts based around these foundational movements. So, what are they?

Our body can do the following movements:

-Squat
-Lift from the ground (hip hinge)
-Push overhead (vertical press)
-Push away from us (horizontal press)
-Pull a weight from overhead (vertical pull)
-Pull a weight towards us (horizontal pull)
-Step (lunges or step-ups)
-Twist (rotational drills)

If we just used this simple list for our formula for creating Ultimate Sandbag workouts, there would be literally no end in creating not just new workouts, but progressively more challenging Ultimate Sandbag workouts. Let me give a few examples.

Don’t miss learning more about our DVRT programs with our upcoming Certifications HERE or DVRT Online Education HERE. 

Here is how a week’s worth of Ultimate Sandbag workouts could look:

Day 1
Shoulder Squat-Squat exercise
Arc Press-vertical press
Front Loaded Lateral Lunge-Step
Bent-Over Row-Horizontal Pull
Leg Threading-Hip Hinge

Day 2
Front Loaded Good Morning-Hip Hinge
Lateral Bag Drag-Horizontal Press
Shoulder Step-up-Step
Chin-ups-Vertical Pull
Around the World-Twist

Day 3
Drop Lunge to Overhead Press-Step/Vertical Press
Off-set Grip Bent-Over Row-Horizontal Pull
Single Leg Deadlfit-Hip Hinge
Rotational Snatch-Twist
Bear Hug Squat Hops-Squat

You quickly notice we are not trying to include EVERYTHING into our Ultimate Sandbag workouts, that would just be too much. What we do is simply alternate what we did for one of our Ultimate Sandbag workouts from day to day. So, if we emphasized a squat by doing it first on Day 1, then on Day 2 we can place the hip hinge first. Of course we can switch every 3-4 weeks so different areas of the body get more emphasis in our Ultimate Sandbag workouts. This also allows you to customize your Ultimate Sandbag workouts to your individual goals.

Looking at one of the Ultimate Sandbag workouts we are giving you today, we can see how this formula allows us a lot of variety!

Our first series is dedicated to stability and strength. You are going to perform 10 sets of 5-6 repetitions. So the workout looks like the following:

Set 1: Right Shoulder Squat, rest 30 seconds
Set 2: Right Leg Arc Press, rest 30 seconds
Set 3: Left Shoulder Squat, rest 30 seconds
Set 4: Left Leg Arc Press, rest 30 seconds

Continue to alternate until the entire 10 sets are completed. Such a series in our Ultimate Sandbag workouts give us squatting and vertical pressing. These movements actually do far more, but let’s keep it to our formula for right now!

The next series is dedicated to conditioning. It is an interval series of 30 seconds of work, followed by 30 seconds of rest. Instead of trying to rush through repetitions, you can increase the work time up to one minute. Ultimate Sandbag workouts like this combine a lot of goals at once, maximizing your time of training. So this series would be

Set 1: Right Shoulder Leg Threading: 30 Seconds Work, 30 Seconds Rest
Set 2: Lateral Bag Drag with Body Walk: 30 Seconds Work, 30 Seconds Rest
Set 3: Shoveling: 30 Seconds of Work, 30 Seconds of Rest
Set 4: Left Shoulder Leg Threading 30 Seconds Work, 30 Seconds Rest
Set 5: Lateral Bag Drag with Body Walk: 30 Seconds Work, 30 Seconds Rest
Set 6: Shoveling: 30 Seconds of Work, 30 Seconds Rest

Check out how Firefighter Captain, Jordan Ponder, helps me demonstrate how a simple concept like Rotation can really add so much to your Ultimate Sandbag workouts.

You can repeat this cycle for up to two more series. The big challenge in Ultimate Sandbag workouts like this is to not speed up as you get tired. The first series may seem easy, but the fatigue catches up with you quickly! Your goal is to keep the quality of work at a high level!

By outlining our Ultimate Sandbag workouts like this, I sincerely hope that you stop being intimidated by trying out various Ultimate Sandbag workouts for yourself! If you are a bit hesitant, don’t worry, we will continue to help you by posting more great Ultimate Sandbag workouts for you to work through and feel the power of this unique functional fitness program.