What About the Deadlift

What About the Deadlift?

There are two things that I can always respect and actually typically enjoy. One is honesty, the other are people asking the REAL questions. What do I mean by the “real” questions? So many times people ask a question and either they already have the answer in their head and want affirmation, or they ask a question and as you dig deeper their actual question is quite different from where they started. 

It is kinda funny many times when people do ask us questions they feel as though we are going to be offended. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that with social media many questions in general deteriorate into personal attacks quite quickly. The truth is I LOVE questions because I get to find out what you guys really think of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training. 

I bring up both topics because two instances this past week really stood out to me and I think overall in a general way. A week ago I was teaching a kettlebell certification. The host was a fantastic guy, had vaguely heard of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training so we naturally got to chatting and he asked me some fascinating questions. 

His first question was, “do a lot of coaches use DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training to replace the barbell.” Without really thinking too deeply about his actual question I quickly replied, “actually all the time and not only do they replace them they often remark to us how their training improves.” 

“Hmmmm, that’s interesting was his reply.” He followed up with “what about deadlifts? After all, Ultimate Sandbags can only go so heavy.” It finally struck me he wanted to know can Ultimate Sandbag Training really make you strong if the weights appear so much smaller than what people are use to the barbell. It was at that point I shifted our conversation to our philosophy of strength, which variables we focus on, and why we believe it works better. Because in reality if he could understand these concepts, the more general “what about deadlifts” immediately answers itself. 

So, what about the deadlift>

I think that happens quite a bit and in all honesty it isn’t because the person is being deceitful, but they may not know themselves the real questions yet. Part of that is a lack of familiarity with the Ultimate Sandbag. I asked the coach if he ever lifted a 120 or 150 pound sandbag. Admirably he said no, I explained how it was quite different, but also told him it is was just one of those things he would have to feel to truly understand. 

The great part is he is going to delve in further to DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training and I believe that experience is going to happen. 

The other interesting experience happened on Instagram (if you don’t follow us you should we post a ton of instructional videos!). In any event I shared the following video sent to us by DVRT Certified Instructor, Curtis Hoekstra. Of course leave it to social media where the first comment is by a gentleman suggesting that if we used a heavier barbell or even heavier kettlebells we probably would have seen a difference. 

I nicely explained to him that with an almost ten percent different in muscle activity, we would actually have to bump the weights quite a bit. However, he wasn’t wrong, if we compared and use hugely significant higher number in another strength training tool there is a good chance we would see different results. Yet, the question to me wasn’t that, but really how MUCH of a larger weight would we have to see. Since DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is the only one that has a dimensional component (which makes the weight also more unstable) isn’t as though we could say 5, 10, or even 20 pounds heavier with another piece of equipment would balance the muscle activation. Forget the fact that Curtis was generous in using the same lift and not changing plane of motion of some of the other DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training variables available. 

After explaining some of this (remember it is Instagram after all), the gentleman replied with the fact that eventually the Ultimate Sandbag would run out of weight so eventually it wouldn’t matter. Here is the funny thing about what he said, he kinda right. Yet, let me ask you, how many 700 pound barbell lifters do you know and how many lifts can they perform with 700 pounds? 

The reason I ask such a question is that we could make bigger Ultimate Sandbags, but there is the thing. Have you ever felt 150 pound Ultimate Sandbag. In ten years I can still can count on one hand the number of people that could clean such a weight and each of those lifters weighed in well over 250 pounds. Guess what, they couldn’t do that many times either!

So, my point is while it is possible that maybe one day we will make larger Ultimate Sandbags that isn’t our goal because that model actual serves us more than YOU! How? If you believe the linear model (just adding more weight), then what happens when you lift a weight and it is easy? Well, you need another kettlebell, dummbbell, or add more weight plates. Guess what they all cost money and trust me the cost of having 600 pounds of plates is far greater than even all four Ultimate Sandbags put together. 

Therefore, DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training has not given you better ways to make your body more resilient, but less expensive. I believe there are something around 22 kettlebell sizes now and even if you stick pretty conservative with the loads you are looking at typically 11 different sizes. That is because unfortunately even in most kettlebell programs they look at progressing load in that linear model. 

In the end though, the gentleman’s question wasn’t about loading, but like the first, “can I really get strong with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training.” I find this so odd because so many love to tell me that I didn’t invent sandbag training (never said I did), but I ask them do they know where sandbag training. It was from wrestlers, martial artists, ancient soldiers, and old time strongmen. All individuals with a long history of being incredibly functionally strong and athletic. Does that sound good to you?