What’s Wrong with Your Core Workout! Ultimate Sandbag Workouts

Cory Cripe, DVRT Master (Fitness Lying Down Co-Owner)

I was fortunate enough to receive praises from a NFL and NBA strength coach on my barbell back squat, once in high school and once in college. However, I’m embarrassed to admit that three times I’ve “thrown my back out” while doing the same barbell back squats. What’s up with that?!?!

There was no way my core strength was an issue, it couldn’t be. Being a son of a lumberjack I had to spend summers splitting fire wood preparing for the cold Wisconsin winters and I “worked out” daily, and I could also hold a plank for 3+ minutes – I had no idea why my low back was susceptible to these injuries – it couldn’t be a user error because I am a fitness professional!

I have come to the hard conclusion that holding a plank for so many minutes does not necessarily mean your core is life strong. I know, it hurts your plank pride, but let’s call a spade a spade.

It’s not how you hold your plank … what I’ve discovered is it’s how you move your plank. Are you able to brace your core the same way you would in a traditional plank exercise while in different life demanding movements? Unfortunately, I was beginning to skip certain exercises, or avoid different everyday tasks altogether because I knew I would pay for it later with a sore lower back. Something had to give!

Once I was able to swallow this big piece of humble pie and accept the fact that my core strength wasn’t what I thought it was in movement, it was time to rethink what I was doing in my own sessions. At our gym in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, there is a simple philosophy of finding “better” we have.

I’d like to say that it isn’t just ab crunches, but all the fitness-as-usual exercises, all those popular exercises you can think of when you first think fitness … I’m not saying they’re BAD, I’m only saying there are BETTER, more ENGAGING solutions out in the workout world to build a better core. Being able to load your body in realistic, life-demanding movement patterns not only requires you to generate force and power to succeed, but also resist opposing forces to stay safe. And that is what I’ve come to know and love using the DVRT system and incorporating the Ultimate Sandbag workouts into my training sessions!

The incredible and diverse ways that we train real world core strength in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag workouts. For example, most people don’t see the moving plank that we have in our Front Loaded Good Mornings above. Not only is this a tremendous exercise for the glutes, hamstrings, and upper back, but that core gets tied into how to work in more dynamic ways.

It is amazing how DVRT Ultimate Sandbag workouts make people better because we simply focus on training the body in natural ways. It doesn’t look fancy at first, but the beauty is in the way we build people up over time. Drills like this Crossover Deadlift to Row is an awesome example of how we build so many different qualities of real world fitness at once. These types of Ultimate Sandbag workouts help us create better flexibility, core strength, injury resiliency, and yes, functional muscle to look our best too! The power is in the know how, not in just having the right tools!

Below you can see what is possible with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag workouts. You will see my friends and fellow DVRT Masters at Envision Fitness in Vancouver, how they build up their clients to do pretty amazing, fun, and dynamic training when you take the principles of good movement and put them together. I am also sharing how our clients love DVRT Ultimate Sandbag workouts too. You might not see social media fitness models below, but you will see real, hard working, and amazing people making their lives better. THAT is what I think of when I think of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag workouts!

While Ultimate Sandbag workouts like this are amazing stand alone training programs, you will see how we can put Ultimate Sandbag workouts with other great fitness modalities to have an amazing training experience for any fitness level.