How (Not) To Use a Sandbag [Gym Buddy Workout Videos!]

by Charlottein Experiments, fitness equipment, gym adventures, Gym Buddieson Posted on
Daria and I model our sandbags. Hers is leaking black coal dust down her back and yet she’s still smiling. What a trouper!
Ever had your butt handed to you by a piece of fitness equipment? Well I sure did. Our very first day of the Sandbag Experiment ended with sandbag: 20, Charlotte: 0. One of the first moves we attempted is a clean and press. I’ve been doing those for years with the bar so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad with the sandbag. I was so so wrong. The shifting of the weight really threw me off (literally). Lest you think I’m good at everything I try, behold the blooper reel:

Gym Buddy Allison comes in at the end to show me how it’s really done and of course manages to not only do them perfectly but also makes them look like a piece of cake! That bag may look small but it’s 50 freaking pounds. I still haven’t managed a decent clean and press.
Here are the Gym Buddies demonstrating a few other moves that are particularly challenging with a sandbag:

Making Your Own Sandbag

While I got my nifty sandbag (best part: all the handles!) from Ultimate Sandbags, we need more than one bag between all the Gym Buddies. So today Allison and I both attempted to make our own. I took an old school backpack and filled it with 30 pounds of wheat poured into smaller sacks and sealed off. Any of you who are Mormon will immediately understand why I happened to have 30 pounds of wheat lying around my house but for the rest of you, you can fill it with whatever you have handy: kitty litter (unused!), rice, beans, a wiggly toddler, gravel… very small rocks. Allison made hers by filling a duffle bag with an old leaky sandbag the Y happened to have and wrapping it in a garbage bag. Two free sandbags, 10 minutes! Now you have no excuse for not doing this Experiment with us!
Extra Credit: The Crazy TRX Move You Must Try!
This is what we do to bad Gym Buddies – we hang them up in a TRX and leave them. Just kidding! Megan’s demo’ing a crazy move I found on the TRX website. You know you want to try it!
Have you ever had your butt kicked by a piece of fitness equipment? Have you tried a fun or crazy move that we should try? Have you made a piece of equipment yourself?

Written with love by Charlotte Hilton Andersen for The Great Fitness Experiment (c) 2011. If you enjoyed this, please check out my new book The Great Fitness Experiment: One Year of Trying Everythingfor more of my crazy antics and uncomfortable over-shares!