Ultimate Sandbag Exercise for Total Body Power

Last few weeks we have been teasing a really awesome new DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercise. It was created by DVRT Master, Ian Vaughn, and why we love this Ultimate Sandbag exercise so much is because it teaches so many great movement strategies all at once!

Like everything we do in DVRT, you gotta know the purpose first! We love to squat, but more importantly we love squatting with the load in front of our body. Why? It is more friendly to our spine and we get just as much lower body muscle activation if not MORE full body work because of the killer core and upper body training too. Not a bad deal right? When you can get MORE out of any exercise it seems like it should be awesome.

The challenge is that a lot of people collapse in a lot of these front squat variations. They fail in the upper back, their core, and as a byproduct they lose strength in their lower body too. Just because it is more friendly to your spine doesn’t mean you can’t do it badly!

The problem really stems from the fact that a lot of people just assume that putting the weight in front of their body solves all their issues. That helps, but knowing HOW to use the body and the load in front is really the key.

What DVRT Master, Ian Vaughn, learned was that teaching people how to plank while they squat was a key in getting them in better posture and alignment for all sorts of different squat variations. That is why he came up with this great combination of a TRX and Ultimate Sandbag exercise!

Unlike just being in a plank, Coach Vaughn is teaching how to use that plank strategy while actually moving! Yes, we want to plank when we move and that is a key concept. How do we do that though? This DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercise uses feedback to help people understand how to use their bodies correctly!

The TRX allows us to push down into the straps creating tension up through the chain of our body. In other words, starting to activate our core and lats. Yes, it is the old lat/core/glute connection that I have long talked about in our blogs!

The Ultimate Sandbag comes into play as we “pull the handles apart”. Doing so lights up the core and lats like few things you have experienced before. Holding both these concepts, Coach Vaughn has you move in a modified squat, using this Ultimate Sandbag exercise to build the qualities that will help you squat better, more effiencetly, and feel great doing it!

Best of all this DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercise has LOTS of ways to make it easier, or more challenging if you are up for it! The goal though is to learn how to create that great core tension to stimulate better movement, strength, and injury resiliency. Give it a try!