Terminal City Training Vancouver Personal Trainer Strength & Conditioning

Sandbags make for fantastic training tools. No facility necessary, no expensive stuff. You've got to fight the bag for control. And, your grip strength will be worked hard. I've just been asked what to do with one once you've made it. Well, here is a short and far from exhaustive list of ideas.

Basic compound exercises can include:
zercher squats, shoulder squats, bearhug squats, overhead squats
zercher lunges, shoulder lunges, bearhug lunges, overhead lunges
rows of various sorts
deadlifts
step-ups (zercher, shoulder carry, bearhug... you get the drift)
cleans of all sorts
overhead presses
floor presses
sandbag shouldering
good mornings

for  variety and conditioning:

burpee with sandbag
farmer's carries of various sorts including standard, one-handed, overhead, cross-loaded
hill sprints
bouncer throws
pull like a sled on smooth floor
push along smooth floor like a prowler
heavy sandbag carry for time or distance or as long as possible
sandbag loading onto a high platform

some sandbag conditioning circuits that I use which I got from people smarter than myself:

 1)Throw and Go (from Ross Enamait of rosstraining.com. This one comes from Full Throttle Conditioning. Buy his excellent books)
sprint 25 metres out
sprint 25 metres back
walking lunges with sandbag 25 metres out
throw sandbag 25 metres back. Vary throwing style (overhead, side toss, from chest, etc) and sprint after the bag.
Continue for 10, 15, or 20 minutes.

2)Sandbag Circuit from Zach Even-Esh (you can buy his Underground Training Manual here). He recommends using sandbags ranging from 40% of bodyweight for beginners to this type of training while advanced trainees use 60-70% of bodyweight. Use your discretion.

Clean and Catch 25 reps. rest when necessary. Don't dump the bag. Squat it down nicely.

Push Press 10 reps. Hold lockout for 1 second and rest as necessary.

Carry & Squat. 10 steps ------>1 deep squat
                      10 steps ------>2 deep squats
                      10 steps ------>3 deep squats
               work up to 5 squats and then work your way back down the pyramid. Place bag down as necessary.

I have used both of these workouts many times and they are a staple in the training at Terminal City.

Resources:
Bull Strength Manual by Joe Hashey
Underground Training Manual by Zach Even-Esh. My review of this e-book is here.
rosstraining.com