SandBag Protocol 4

Sandbag Get-up
Lie completely on your back with the bag on one shoulder. Roll to the opposite shoulder and drive the opposite arm into the ground.
Slowly drive yourself up to a lunge position aiming to keep the chest very tall. Push through the ground to get to a standing position.
Very slowly return to the original on the ground position without looking downwards.
Muscles Trained: Abdominals, Hips

Sandbag Bear Hug Squat
Grab the sandbag around the midpoint and clasp the arms around the sandbag.
With the chest elevated, push the knees outwards into a deep squat position.
Prevent any forward lean of the torso during any aspect of the lift.
Muscles Trained: Hips, Thighs, Abs, Arms, Upper Back

Sandbag Rotational Lunge
Begin standing with the sandbag in front of the body.
Lunge backwards while simultaneously twisting towards the opposite direction.
Press through the front heel to come back to the original position. Increase speed or swing of the sandbag to make the exercise more difficult.
Muscles Trained: Hips, Thighs, Obliques
Sandbag Shoulder Lunge
Begin with the bag on the outside of your legs. Squat down to grab the bag by the ends. Explosively rip the bag up above your head while transferring your weight to the opposite side.


Repeat back to the original start position.

Muscles Trained: Glutes, Obliques, Shoulders
Sandbag Bent Over Row
Grab the bag and come to a full standing position. Bend at the hips and stick the butt back with a slight bend in the knees. Keeping a strong arch to the low back and the chest sticking outwards, pull the sandbag towards the lower part of the chest.
Make sure to squeeze the shoulder blades back and drive the elbows upwards.
Muscles Trained: Low Back, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders
Give odd-object lifts and sandbag training a try for yourself and I'm certain it'll spark new results if your routines have been boring lately! You can check out the Sandbags and the workout programs that come with the sandbag training system below...

SandBag Protocol 3

One Arm SandBag Shouldering

SandBag "Atlas Pulls"

SandBag Cyclones

SandBag Shoulder Get-Ups

SandBag "Windshield Wipers"

1A) Sandbag High Pulls

1B) Sandbag Bent Over Row

1C) Sandbag Zercher Squats

1D) Sandbag Back Squats

1E) Sandbag Reverse Lunges

1F) Sandbag Good Morning

Sandbag Protocol 2

5 Sandbag Exercises For Rock Hard Abdominals

Dump them! Forget the boring and ineffective crunches and sit-ups. In this modern age of fitness and performance training we have so many more effective and challenging options for core training.

Great old time strongmen knew secrets that have avoided our modern lifters for years. Lifting heavy non-conforming objects can strengthen the trunk like nothing else! Many people have heard of “farm boy strength”, that overall body strength that seems unexplainable in those that don’t lift weights, but work manual labor all day.

Don’t be mistaken, these guys are strong! Lifting odd objects strengthen the tendons and ligaments in ways that traditional strength training often misses. Also, you just can’t do some of these great lifts with odd objects with dumbbells, barbells, or even medicine balls. The result?

Your trunk becomes a solid piece of rock!

Unlike many other forms of core training, lifting odd objects can expend the most calories of all strength training modalities. Because it takes all the muscles working together you hit every muscle in the body from head to toe.

What should you lift? I have found sandbags to be the most realistic and challenging. Because of their unstable and shifting nature they are quickly becoming a staple of elite military and pro athletes’ training programs. Try these five exercises shown on the following video and see how your midsection tightens up in no time!

Sandbag Protocol

Sandbags are unique in the fact they are the only implement that not only has a shifting weight, but alters its form as you lift it as well.

It brings all the components of odd object lifting into one implement. Sandbags have long been used by elite wrestlers and martial artists for these very reasons.

Every exercise you know becomes exponentially more challenging with sandbags so old lifts become new, and there are plenty of new ones you can create with sandbag training. Here are a few examples of sandbags making certain exercises more challenging:

Sandbag Get-up

Lie completely on your back with the bag on one shoulder. Roll to the opposite shoulder and drive the opposite arm into the ground.

Slowly drive yourself up to a lunge position aiming to keep the chest very tall. Push through the ground to get to a standing position.

Very slowly return to the original on the ground position without looking downwards.

Muscles Trained: Abdominals, Hips

Sandbag Bear Hug Squat

Grab the sandbag around the midpoint and clasp the arms around the sandbag.

With the chest elevated, push the knees outwards into a deep squat position.

Prevent any forward lean of the torso during any aspect of the lift.

Muscles Trained: Hips, Thighs, Abs, Arms, Upper Back

Sandbag Rotational Lunge

Begin standing with the sandbag in front of the body.

Lunge backwards while simultaneously twisting towards the opposite direction.

Press through the front heel to come back to the original position. Increase speed or swing of the sandbag to make the exercise more difficult.

Muscles Trained: Hips, Thighs, Obliques

Sandbag Shoulder Lunge

Begin with the bag on the outside of your legs. Squat down to grab the bag by the ends. Explosively rip the bag up above your head while transferring your weight to the opposite side. Repeat back to the original start position.

Muscles Trained: Glutes, Obliques, Shoulders

Sandbag Bent Over Row

Grab the bag and come to a full standing position. Bend at the hips and stick the butt back with a slight bend in the knees. Keeping a strong arch to the low back and the chest sticking outwards, pull the sandbag towards the lower part of the chest.

Make sure to squeeze the shoulder blades back and drive the elbows upwards.

Muscles Trained: Low Back, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders