Why These Ultimate Sandbag Exercises Help Low Backs & Shoulders

If there are two areas that clients use to tell me about first and foremost it would have to be problems with their low backs and shoulders. They aren’t being hypochondriacs either. Sometimes fitness professionals get so tired about hearing about these issues, but to tell you the truth as we have moved to fitness education I’m surprised how many fitness professionals suffer from the same issues. That’s why I think building up to these Ultimate Sandbag exercises is so darn important.

Don’t get me wrong, there are no easy solutions. Pain is a complicated issue and I am not going to pretend that everything is solved by one or two exercises. Rather, it is understanding how we use Ultimate Sandbag exercises to make the body better and continue to work on these goals of improving not just how we look, or how much we lift, but ultimately how we feel too!

So many times in our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises it is the little things that we do that make such a big difference. Which many times is the hardest part because in our quick paced current society, we see something cool and we just try to do the motion. DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises are a bit unusual in the fact that it is how we use the Ultimate Sandbag that makes all the difference in the world.

Like when we start people in our Bird Dog Drags isn’t just tossing the Ultimate Sandbag back and forth. Rather, developing specific tension against the outside handle to create core tension while we grab the ground with our hand and dig in with our foot. This develops the core tension that we look for in first setting forth not just a core “burn”, but smarter core strength.

This teaches some important foundations about not just the core, but our shoulders too. One of the big reasons that DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises like this help the shoulders is because they take the stress off the small shoulder muscles and teach people how to use the whole body to stabilize and keep safe the shoulders. That is why there is a huge difference between having a hand on the ground and actively GRABBING the ground!

Check out more of these ideas in our DVRT Pelvic Control program HERE

However, where DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises really make a departure  in helping low backs and shoulders in making more dynamic exercises. Especially because our core is really relevant to making both better. Yes, even your shoulders are largely influenced by your core strength.

Not just knocking out sit-ups and so forth, but a special “reflexive” type of strength. We don’t want to be tight in our abs all the time, even though it makes us feel strong. Doing so means we can’t move and we don’t want that! Instead, we want to be able to turn on our core muscles on at the right time and that is why DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises like DVRT Master, Evan Supanich, shows isn’t just a crazy looking drill, but teaching this very important quality.

His goal is to be reactive to the Ultimate Sandbag moving around his body. He can’t just be tight, but his core has to “turn on” JUST at the right time to help his body stabilize and be strong. A big reason we put these types of Ultimate Sandbag exercises in challenging patterns like lunges is because our core also works with our glutes. That is something else people don’t understand that our lower and upper body mirrors one another.

The hips and shoulders are both ball and socket joints and when we move as in walking, running, or most real life motions, we work in opposites. That is specifically coordinated by the body even though we don’t think about it. This leads to us understanding that the right hip works with the left shoulder and vice versa. So, working stability of the hip and core during these Ultimate Sandbag exercises is key in not only developing a more stable core for a better low back, but better shoulders too!

Btw, did I mention these are some awesome ways to develop balance, coordination, and agility. Qualities we say are important but almost pay not attention to in our actual training. Not to undersell that they are flat out fun and great ways to spike your heart rate too. However, when you have a greater understanding of these DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises their value goes way up too!

Thanks to DVRT Master, Brian Flynn of Body Unique in Brooklyn, we have one of the best ways to combine these DVRT Ultimate Sandbag exercises into a corrective exercise program, warm-up, and the perfect way to keep your body healthy. Check it out and if you want to learn more get on our DVRT Pelvic Control HERE or Restoration Program HERE for 25% off with coupon code “strength”