Sandbags and You: The joy of giant sacks in you hands... - General

I thought i would throw a thread together about sandbags. I have been having fun with them lately, and as i know a lot of people here are sometimes looking for something different to try as i was, i thought it might be helpful to some. Sandbags are interesting for working out. The weight can vary depending on what you load it with, and how much of it. You can load up your sandbags with everything from play sand to gravel, or even big rocks if you want. I don't think that would exactly be safe, but what the fuck do i know? I'm no scientist of rockets. Anyhow, you can vary the weight of the sandbag in some different ways. Aside from different fillings, you can change how much you put in there. One method is to just decide to dump, or add more to it as you see fit. Another method people have used is to take a large bag, like a surplus duffle bag and to put smaller individual bags of sand in it to increase or decrease the weight. They could take a 10 or 20 pound smaller bag and add them to the larger space of the duffle bag to change the weight. While i think this is a good way to change the weight, i think it makes the bag kind of lumpy and odd. The personal method i use, is just simply buying a sandbag, and filling that bitch up with sand. Buy why the hell would you use a sandbag, when Arnold used weights? Well, i think that's a good question. Sandbags will never beat out your regular weights and barbells. But there are some advantages to be had from sandbag exercise. One advantage of sandbags is the movement of the sand in the bag. When you lift or carry the sandbags the sand will shift around, challenging your body to keep the the sandbags where it is, and fight against the shifting weight. Another one is that the challenge provided in gripping the sandbag will provide a bigger challenge to your arms versus lifting the same sized bar all the time. Similar to how some people recommend putting a towel around the bar on bench presses to challenge your grip more. This can help with getting your forearms more involved in the workout. Lastly, i think it's just more fun to get outside, and not be in a gym. I like being able to change where i do my workout. Sometimes i will just go out in the driveway on a cool night and do some exercise there, but other times i will drive to a steep grass hill and carry them up the hill, and toss them up and down the hill. I find the carrying and lifting to be more enjoyable than just the same repetitive workouts i've done at the gym, and being able to toss them around is a nice plus. Is this for everyone? No, some people probably won't enjoy it much. Will it ever replace standard weight lifting? Definitely not. It's harder to gauge your progress, and to modify the weight of it once you've progressed some, without a lot of effort. It definitely isn't as simple as just sliding off a collar and putting on a new weight. In the case of my sandbags, i traded durability for the ability to change the weight load easily. So, i guess more importantly, i will get to how to throw one together. This is by no means the definitive guide to making a sandbag. Hell, there are probably better ways out there. Google can help you if you don't like this method, but it's worked okay for me so far. I have tried it twice so far, slightly differently each time. I will explain each process. [b]The First Bag[/b] [IMG]http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt311/actionhank1786/Bags4.jpg[/IMG] [b]Step 1[/b] For the first bag, i took a bag of play sand and emptied it into a constructor's trash bag that i had cut the top half off of. You could probably just use a standard size trash bag, but apparently these contractor bags were tougher than those regular punk ass bags. And i'm all about tough bags! Anyhow, i dumped it into the bottom, and rolled and folded the opening of the bag down to seal the trash bag. Then i wrapped duct tape around the width of the bag, going all the way around in 3 places to help keep the bag in shape width wise. Then i went down the length of the bag with duct tape, again wrapping it all the way around, and got ready to do it again. [b]Step2[/b] I took another bag and did the same thing. Wrapping the bag and then folding it down and taping it to make sure it was sealed up. One important thing in these steps is to try and make sure you get as much air out as possible. You're going to want a seal as close to air tight as you can get to prevent sand from leaking, and you won't want any air trapped inside because it will increase the risk of popping the bag when you drop or throw them around. [b]Step 3[/b] This was the final and most difficult step in the process. I had the two trash bags wrapped around and sealed. Now i just had to get them into the sandbag that i had purchased. It was a bitch because the trash bags with sand were slightly bigger around than the mouth of the white sandbag i was trying to fit it into. Thankfully the movement of the sand helped as i maneuvered the damn things around and shifted the sand as best i could to get them in. And finally, i got the trash bags in, and tied up the top of the sandbag. Sadly, as you can see from the picture, the sandbag has taken a beating. The top has torn thanks to it being a pretty thing material, and holding a fat amount of trash bags. But, it hasn't leaked yet. It's been holding strong and looks to stay that way for a while now. For the second bag, i did things a bit different. Here's the sand i used for both though. It was a 50 pound bag of play sand i found at Home Depot. Sand was easy to find here in the middle of Missouri...but apparently living near a river that floods constantly (Up your's Missouri River...) means that sandbags are something no one wants around. I couldn't find them anywhere. I tried Lowes, Home Depot, the local Tractor Supply store, and even Wal-Mart. Fucking Wal-Mart failed me! But then Menards came through. They had these cheap sandbags for about 20 cents or so a bag. Not a bad deal. That with the 2 bags of sand put me around 10 dollars. Plus the trash bags would be about 15 or so had i not purchased them previously. If you don't live near any of these stores, or just don't feel like wasting the time i did searching, you can order them online. [url]http://www.sandbagstore.com/?gclid=CKiA-IjtsqoCFcLsKgodz1I08A[/url] The Sandbag Store can help you out. They've got more sandbags to choose from than you could shake your dick at. What variety! But, i'm getting away from what i started with. I took the sandbags this time, and just emptied the sand straight into one. I cut a hole in the top like so: [IMG]http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt311/actionhank1786/Bags2.jpg[/IMG] Then i put it on something about waist high (In my case i used a patio chair, so i could hold it up with one hand while i poured the sand out, and hold the sandbag up to the bag of sand and try my hardest to keep the mouth of it open so i didn't dump sand all over the place. After i filled the bag, i tied off the top, and got the other sandbag ready. I thought about putting the trash bag between the two, but i couldn't track down my duct tape, and didn't really care enough to search for it. Not to mention i was kind of curious how well just the two sandbags would hold up on their own. So, once again, i had to fight one bag into another. Again, the sandbag had to be wrestled in. I found the easier way was to just put the empty sandbag over the top of the filled on, and them flip it over while holding it to get the sand to move to the top and then slide it into the empty sandbag. That's kind of confusing...but i can't really explain it much better. Maybe i will make a diagram later. Anyhow, once i got the other sandbag into the empty one upside down, i tied off the 2nd one to seal it up, and give myself a nice little 2 layer sandbag. This one looks much better than the first one, and the narrow top will make it easier to grip with two hands to toss or drag. Though the flat, wide shape of the first one i made makes it easier for bent over rows and carrying with two hands about shoulder width apart. So, with a bit of effort and time, plus a little sweat...i turned this: [IMG]http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt311/actionhank1786/Bags1.jpg[/IMG] Into this: [IMG]http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt311/actionhank1786/Bags3.jpg[/IMG] Feel free to post any questions or comments. This isn't a megathread or anything, since it's lacking on exercises, but i figure everyone's smart enough to figure some out. You can do most things you can manage at the gym with a sandbag, and you can throw them! But i already mentioned that... tl;dr: Bags of sand are fun to carry, toss, lift, and drop. Go make one for yourself already...

Excellent thread. I've always been a long long supporter of strongman like exercises. [i.e, things out of your normal barbell rom] you got a winner baby.

Wow an actually decent new thread in this section, who knew... I'll still stick to my barbells though

Awesome, thanks for posting how to make sandbags, I'm going to use this guide.

Very good exercise method with momentum and instability. Your stabilizers get worked out way more intensive than you can do with barbells.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. Also, Notmeh, i think you should give it a try sometime. It won't replace your barbells at all, but it might be a nice change of pace if you ever feel like things are getting stale. I know not everyone has that issue, but for me it's a big one in terms of staying motivated. I hate when things get stagnant, so i like to switch it up. Anyhow, if there's anything more you guys want to know, feel free to ask. I am by no means an expert on the things, but i can try to help.

Your play sand was already in a bag though.

[QUOTE=Perfumly;31512275]Your play sand was already in a bag though.[/QUOTE] True, but it wasn't very long. Not to mention those bags were only held together by what looked to be painters tape. That last bag i took a picture of had a leak around that blue tape, and had a hole in the side from sitting on a wooden pallet at home depot. Plus it's packed so tight in the packaging it would be pretty much like picking up a sand brick which kind of cancels out some of the sandbag benefits.

[QUOTE=JohnStamosFan;31521172]True, but it wasn't very long. Not to mention those bags were only held together by what looked to be painters tape. That last bag i took a picture of had a leak around that blue tape, and had a hole in the side from sitting on a wooden pallet at home depot. Plus it's packed so tight in the packaging it would be pretty much like picking up a sand brick which kind of cancels out some of the sandbag benefits.[/QUOTE] I'd like to get myself a copule of 50kg sandbags. That would cost me around...?

[QUOTE=Seith;31530201]I'd like to get myself a copule of 50kg sandbags. That would cost me around...?[/QUOTE] I think it varies from store to store. I checked out the local Home Depot and got those two 50 pound bags of sand for about 8 dollars together. I saw an expired deal from a while before that had them listed at about 2.50 per bag. I would say just go around to the stores in your area. All together it shouldn't cost more than 20 for everything.

I think 50kgs would cost me nearly 100 shekels at least if not more. Everything's expensive here.

Make a tutorial on how to make a soft bag so that people can do flips on it.

[QUOTE=Seith;31600453]I think 50kgs would cost me nearly 100 shekels at least if not more. Everything's expensive here.[/QUOTE] Just checked in on this thread again, sorry for the long wait for a response. Anyhow, hopefully you've had some luck finding something. I'm sure if all else failed you could just find some place to dig out some dirt. I found some friends who want to do it with me, and so i went to get more stuff to make 2 more sandbags. The store that was the only one with them didn't have the sandbags, but still had the sand. Luckily, i still have 2 left, so i've got to throw these together and hope for the bets. [editline]24th October 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Rago;31600640]Make a tutorial on how to make a soft bag so that people can do flips on it.[/QUOTE] I'm not exactly sure what that is, but if it's something more than putting sand into a bag, i think it's probably a bit outside of my expertise level...which is about that of a child in a sandbox...with a bag.

Assumed this was a thread about tits.

[QUOTE=Kymandu;32953307]Assumed this was a thread about tits.[/QUOTE] Testicles would have been closer.

[QUOTE=JohnStamosFan;32953569]Testicles would have been closer.[/QUOTE] True, was more referencing 40 year old virgin where he refers to the feeling of tits as something like sandbags.

[QUOTE=Kymandu;32953950]True, was more referencing 40 year old virgin where he refers to the feeling of tits as something like sandbags.[/QUOTE] Haha, my friends were making that joke yesterday when we were working out with them. I'm sad i missed your reference.