No Gym? No Worries! page 2

[Coach Palfrey]

Sure, but by a long time member that brings a lot to the dialog and adds a lot of value. Same could be said of Al Kavadlo's posts, which are super helpful and inspirational.

Keep on keeping on, Coach

Thanks OneDeltaTenTango - it means a lot.

[Coach Palfrey]

Is it okay to ask a question about these sandbags? When it says that a sandbag is 120lbs does that mean only 120lbs of sand will fit? Or does it mean that the seams will break with more than 120lbs in it? And if so, what do you do if you want to lift 200lbs seeing as how the 200lb sandbags have no handles?

It depends really on what type of sandbag it is. The brute force strongman bag (which is the camo one you see on my blog) works best at around 120lbs of sand as that still gives it some room to move about. A little movement in the bag increases the challenge. The seams are tested well above the max capacity so no worries about them breaking.

I also have a handleless sandbag (heavy hitter) that loads to 200lbs. You're right that having no handles is going to make it considerably harder to lift but that's all part of the fun! I tend to do things like shoulders, cleans, oh presses and bear hug movements with it rather than other lifts - think of a handleless sandbag as being more comparable to an atlas stone than a barbell.

[Coach Palfrey]

I was introduced to a new sandbag move recently: sandbag turkish getups. Oof. I was more intimate with that sandbag than I was with my last boyfriend.

The sandbag get up is a great variation. Are you doing it from the shoulder or hand? And yeah, I'm pretty close to my sandbag too

[Coach Palfrey]

I'll have to look at those, I've filled my old gym bag with 25kg of sand so far, I'll get another bag soon and break it down to a 15kg and 10kg bag to add as it's rather light for deadlifts and squats, but ok for OH presses while I get used to lifting something other than me.

So thanks coach - you have inspired me to lift sandbags

Thanks Tribal Rob - feel free to drop me a line anytime if you have any questions. I have a few different weights too. I still do lots of bodyweight work but the sandbag is a great addition for things like cleans, and extra weight for squats and other difficult-to-do-with-bodyweight moves like round the worlds.

[Tribal Rob]

Thanks Tribal Rob - feel free to drop me a line anytime if you have any questions. I have a few different weights too. I still do lots of bodyweight work but the sandbag is a great addition for things like cleans, and extra weight for squats and other difficult-to-do-with-bodyweight moves like round the worlds.

There is so much to learn just lifting, let alone other fitness aspects, it's all rather exciting, but I little overwelming knowing where to start, especially as I want to try everything

Thanks, I'm using the sand-bag to supliment bodyweight training and hopefully to give progressions in reps and movements by training in a different way, ie hopefully I can up my press-up numbers by doing less reps with a heavy bag, and I can build up strenght to do handstand push ups with OH presses, pistols by doing weighted squats. But once I'm used to and got the basic lifts down it I'm gonna start doing different interesting things.

[sbhikes]

I was considering replacing my gym membership with sandbags, replace doing barbell stuff with them. They would be cheap and easy to store. I can deadlift more than 120lbs though. I have a sewing machine so I could sew handles onto any bag.

[Nigel]

I've filled my old gym bag with 25kg of sand

I bought three bags of sand from B&Q. Two of them are in an old rucksack for doing squats. I'm going to have to put some more weight in there as I'm up to forty without stopping now. I bought a proprietary sandbag with smaller sand containers in off eBay and will be using it for strength training.

[Coach Palfrey]

There is so much to learn just lifting, let alone other fitness aspects, it's all rather exciting, but I little overwelming knowing where to start, especially as I want to try everything

Thanks, I'm using the sand-bag to supliment bodyweight training and hopefully to give progressions in reps and movements by training in a different way, ie hopefully I can up my press-up numbers by doing less reps with a heavy bag, and I can build up strenght to do handstand push ups with OH presses, pistols by doing weighted squats. But once I'm used to and got the basic lifts down it I'm gonna start doing different interesting things.

You could also try laying a sandbag across your back for press ups to add some extra challenge. I get that it can be a little overwhelming - I normally suggest that most people look at their resistance programming from a basic human movement perspective and include elements of the following:

1. Squat
2. Lunge
3. Bend
4. Push
5. Pull
6. Rotate

If not in each session then at least across each week/fortnight.

[Coach Palfrey]

I was considering replacing my gym membership with sandbags, replace doing barbell stuff with them. They would be cheap and easy to store. I can deadlift more than 120lbs though. I have a sewing machine so I could sew handles onto any bag.

It can be hard to replace the pure strength work that you'll get with barbells but I've found that my strength has both improved, and transfers back to barbell work well, since training regularly with the sandbag. In particular, my cleans and oh presses have gone through the roof.