It's GOTTA BE the Program

I would feel dishonest, unfair, and untrue if I just showed exercise after crazy exercise to you. Just throwing a bunch of exercises together with some reps and sets really doesn't make a program. Sure, you might get results for a little while just by providing a good effort. Don't worry though it won't be long till the progress plateaus and little aches and pains arise.

Yea, I sound like the glass half empty guy right? Well, maybe it is because I am so tired of people online throwing out random workout. Hey, I like variety and to tell you the truth rarely follow a very set routine. However, I do like to look at a training week and plan some goals.

Ask any successful coach that has actually made long-term progress with clients and they will tell you the same thing, planning is key. How might you make a week of training?

I personally think most people can not handle more than four days of intense training. So, here is how a week may look:

Day 1: Priority of volume with intensity. Options: Density or Ladders

This can be followed by some assistance work done in a circuit style, I personally like intervals for this part of the routine.

Day 2: Power Circuit Training. This is an opportunity for people to work in patterns of motion that they typically don't get with strict strength work. Rotational movements, different lunging patterns, crawling, are all great options within this training session. Typically this is higher repetition work but a more moderate intensity.

Day 3: Strength Focus. Why so late in the week? Generally most people need a significant time building tendon and ligament strength as well as fix muscle imbalances before they place too much emphasis on heavy lifting. Ignoring this rule usually leads to some nasty pain or injury. Lots of interesting ways to develop strength with sandbags though.

Waves: Perform a series of reps in compound movements like clean and press: 1/2/3/3/2/1 the first series is lighter than the second series building upwards.

Clusters: Perform one set with approximately 10 seconds in between till all the "mini-sets" are done. For example, Zercher squats of 5 mini-sets of 2 with 90 seconds of rest after. You can repeat this two to three more rounds.

Day 4: Pure Intervals. This time will help speed up the recovery of the strength focus routine because it will have much lighter loads. The idea is to work up to eventually 60 seconds of work but you can start as low as 15 seconds.

Above is a video of what a Day 1 might look like!

Serious Strength Training

I admit it! I was definitely one of those coaches that believed to have a real, serious, focused training facility I had to have all the usual suspects. Primarily squat racks, bumpers, Olympic bars, etc. C'mon, isn't that what a strength coach should have in his/her facility?

However, if I had to do it over again, I would have!!! While my philosophy of training has not changed how to address it has. If you asked me how to build really solid strength seven years ago I would have said heavy deadlifts, squats, and presses. Now, I would have a completely different perspective. There seems to be so many more options since tools such as sandbags, suspension training, and kettlebells have become available tools.

Now I look at a strength program and not only do I see new opportunities to create strength programs that not only help the weight on the bar, but keep movement abilities as a top priority as well. Too many times when people try to lift more they sacrifice both their athleticism and health. Sure, people can increase the amount they can lift on the bar, but how do you feel? Banged up? Tight? Stiff? I was that person too!

But wait?! How do you get stronger when the weights of sandbags, kettlebells, and suspension units can't come close to what you can put on a bar? Ah, there are numerous ways....

1. Take your same type of movements and change the leverage. For example, start with bear hug squats, move to zercher squats, then shoulder squats. By changing the leverage you change the weight your body feels and can make a lighter weight feel much heavier!

2. Change the speed of movement. Once the tempo of a repetition was really specific. While we have gotten away from that, you can still manipulate a repetition by decreasing how fast you lower a weight, where you add pauses, how fast you try to lift the weight.

3. Alter stability of the exercise. Instead of lifting from a very stable base, try changing the base of support. When you press overhead go from different positions such as a lunge. Rather than just performing a power clean, work on a staggered stance power clean.

Rather than just talking about all the ways, here is a strength workout I performed recently with the same training tools we are talking about.

Out Run the Police?

This week I got a very cool email from one of the most respected people in the fitness and bodybuilding industry, Will Brink. I laughed to myself as one of the first books I ever owned was a Will Brink book!

Well, I was incredibly excited to hear that Will was working with SWAT teams in the Northeast. Even more exciting was that he told me that they were using our Ultimate Sandbag quite a bit as part of their training.

Such news gets me pumped because with all the "warrior" training talk that gets thrown around our military, police, fire, and other emergency groups are the real warriors. Getting fit or healthy is great, but to train when your life REALLY does depend upon it is a whole different thing.

Check out some of the great videos Will sent me of their training!

Don't forget our Over Stock Sale will end soon! Take advantage of it.

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I'm So Proud of Her

Yesterday was a pretty big day! My wife, Jessica, flipped our 200 pound tire ten times. Normally I wouldn't be so excited, but Jessica is an unusual case. You see Jessica has suffered 5 disc herniations in her back and as long as I have known her has had bad back pain.

She isn't new to exercise either, she has been a physical therapist for quite some time so if anyone knew how to deal with such injuries it was her! However, treating other people and treating yourself can be two very different things.

After hearing about her back problems for some time and really wanting to help I couldn't wait till Jessica gave me an opportunity to share what I knew about bad backs to help her. After all, anyone that has had a bad back knows that having the pain come back is the worst feeling.

Eventually I did gain her trust though and we started with very basic movements. We had to teach her how to activate her hamstrings and glutes. She had to learn how to pivot at her hips and not her low back. Teaching how to lift with the legs and stabilize the low back was no easy task either.

To be honest, we would have some set backs, but she did notice herself becoming stronger and stronger and more stabile. That is why after a year of working on her instabilities, muscle imbalances, and movement patterns she could lift the 200 pound tire quite easily and with no pain.

I write this not just because I am incredibly proud of the work she has put into her rehab, but also because people write me all the time asking what do I REALLY DO? for my training. To be very honest it is the many times the same programs that you see me write about all the time. In fact, in the new INFERNO! DVD some of the workouts and many of the exercises are the same ones that I used with Jessica at different stages in her comeback.

Pre-sale lasts a few more days. Pick-up YOUR copy with a special surprise inside.

Just $24.99

New Inferno DVD

It is finally on the way! Our NEW Inferno DVD is one of the best "Get in Shape Fast!" workout programs you can perform. I joined forces with my good friend Nick Radonijic to bring real life fitness to all of you! This is a two DVD set that contains full instructions and four follow along workouts that will test every aspect of your fitness abilities. These are no joke workouts that help you shred fat fast and get into incredible shape in no time!

This week is our presale, you can get Inferno for JUST: $24.99!!!

Ships out Friday!

New Workouts for the New Year

Starting to accomplish those 2010 goals means putting them into motion as soon as possible. The past week I began showing you 50 unique upper body exercises, such drills besides being amazingly effective make training fun again.

Being motivated and consistent often means having new challenges, this new year of 2010 has already started off with a bang with new training tools to compliment our Ultimate Sandbag to bring you dynamic training routines.

Nothing feels better than regaining athleticism or actually ACHIEVING your training goals. Using workouts like the one above brings fun new challenges and excitement to training. It is a great way to start off the new year! Wait, tomorrow will be one more new big release!!!

More Challenging Upper Body Exercises

My challenge continues with another 10 upper body exercises. Now we are up to 20 awesome sandbag training drills. What do I like about these exercises so much? They allow us to train in ways that are just not possible with other fitness tools.

You will see the overhead press with cable attachment is something brand new. We are able to apply force in multiple directions providing a very unique feel of an old drill. Most people don't think of overhead pressing as a great upper back drill, but combining good pressing techniques with the additional load of the cable makes the upper back fire much more. This acts as both a great range of motion enhancement of the shoulder and muscle balance.

Other drills like the three point row integrates the whole body. The traditional row is enhanced with multiple pulling directions emphasizing various areas of the body depending upon the placement of the sandbag.

As you can see many drills can make your workouts brand new and help blast through some training plateaus! Wait till you see the remaining 30 exercises!

50 Upper Body Exercises Part 1

Competition, nothing gets my juices going like it! That is why when I received an email yesterday challenging me I couldn't wait to get going.

Michael C. from New Jersey (of course a good East Coast boy would write me a good challenge) wrote me: "Josh, I know you really are into the sandbags, but they don't seem that good for building the upper body. There aren't THAT many exercises you can perform with them."

Wow! My wheels just started turning in all the ways that sandbags can be used to perform all types of unique upper body exercises. So Michael inspired me to take on a personal challenge. I wanted to show all of you 50 upper body exercises you could do with the Ultimate Sandbag.

Maybe Michael was right, with a homemade or knockoff sandbag you can't do all that much training. However, with our Ultimate Sandbag and our new Ultimate Core Strap there is soooo much that can be done.

What makes sandbags such a great upper body training tool?

1. Change where you grab the sandbag or the position of the Ultimate Sandbag and you change the loading of the weight. Just see how different grabbing the ends is versus the handles, or doing a standard press is to a shoulder to shoulder.

2. We can manipulate leverage to create greater perceived loads. Try performing a press from a lunge position or just staggered stance. The load of the Ultimate Sandbag seems so much greater.

3. The Ultimate Core Strap allows for bands, cables, and leverage all to be used to create very unique upper body exercises that simply are not possible with other training implements.

Choose a pressing and pulling exercise every time you train and you will have great upper body development. Secondly, add in two isolation exercises if you want to build up some weak points, this is the same method the famous powerlifters at Westside Barbell use too! See all week what 50 upper body drills I suggest!

Taking Workouts to the Extreme

Innovation is often a result of addressing a specific need. That is how I view everything we do at Sandbag Fitness Systems. From the creation of our Ultimate Sandbag to our newest creations, everything is done to make what I want as a coach possible.

Years ago I was introduced to a unique idea by Strength Coach, John Davies. Coach Davies spoke about strength training with a weight vest on the body. Not just your traditional bodyweight drills, but lifting as well. It was amazing the result this had not only your strength, but conditioning as well.

For me this has become increasingly more important. Old basketball injuries to my feet have really taken their toll where running is definitely out of the question. Yet, I have found this "loaded conditioning" to be an excellent way to still get a tremendous cardiovascular effect.

That is why I am excited to launch the presale of our Ultimate Sandpack! Our Ultimate Sandpack was developed to counter all the short comings that I have often found with standard weight vests.

1. Weight vests always seemed to flop around when doing explosive drills or running. This often caused them to be tremendously uncomfortable and limiting. Our Ultimate Sandpack was designed to conform to the body limiting the bouncing and annoying aspects of standard weight vests. Therefore, you can jump, perform calisthenics, and even jump rope with our Ultimate Sandpack.

2. Weight vests can be hard to adjust and work with an array of people and sizes. We have designed these Ultimate Sandpacks and have found them fit perfectly for everyone from 5'5 to 6'5! That is a wide array of people!

3. Having different weight limits can be very expensive! Our Ultimate Sandpack was designed to work with our 15 pound fillers so you can go as little as 5 pounds and up to 45 pounds in a single sandpack!

4. Many weight vests cut into the shoulder and hurt the back, but our Ultimate Sandpack was made with comfort straps not to dig into the body and yet give a tight fit. Women and men use the Ultimate Sandpack very comfortably.

The Ultimate Sandpack has become one of my favorite tools because old basketball injuries have made it hard to run and my current oral issues can make my arms weak. So, the Ultimate Sandpack gives me an alternative to having to run, in fact, one of my favorite activities has become walking my dogs with the pack. On days my hands hurt and are throbbing, I can load more by using the sandpack and take some stress off the parts of my body that hurt. This and the new exercises that are now created make the Ultimate Sandpack a standard in our training programs!

Pre-order the Ultimate Sandpack: Retail-$169.99, Pre-order-$139.99

Are YOU Ready for 2010?

I really hope you had a wonderful holiday season! No matter what you celebrate I hope it brought a lot of happiness to you and your family. It definitely has not been an easy year for many people. I have numerous friends and clients that have been largely impacted by the change in the economy.

Sometimes it seems there is a lot of things out of our control. Yet, I am inspired by the ideas of efficiency and self-improvement expert Dr. Stephen Covey. In his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Covey states:

“The way we see the problem is the problem”, our problems all too often are a result of how we choose to see them and how we react to them. We all have them and we often have an opportunity to make negative circumstances into positive ones.

It would be easy to think that people like myself have very little problems. Wow! 2009 was a hell of a year for me not just business, education, or opportunity. Yet, there were many instances where my Ultimate Sandbag faced many challenges that could have easily made me quite.

However, I believe in what I am doing, and even though bad things happen we always try to make something positive in the long run. Yes, those positives may be hard to see initially. Yet, if you have a burning desire to make a change it can happen.

What is the problem with many New Year's resolutions? They aren't meaningful! We have to find something that makes us excited and willing to blast through challenges and negativity. As Dr. Covey says:

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”

I hope you will be excited by our efforts and find that fitness is something that can help you take control of how you feel, your confidence, health, and many more factors. I truly hope that you will join us for an incredible 2010!!

FREE Workout, Holiday Sale

With the holidays growing closer the next few days, I wanted to put out one of our best workout series to help inspire people to keep on their fitness. This quickly turned into one of my favorite training routines.

Train Like a REAL Athlete

Ask ten coaches about training like an athlete and you are likely to get ten different responses. One thing that all the great strength coaches can agree on is that training like an athlete is the manner in which most should train. I know, you don’t compete at anything, but too often when people say they want to “be in shape”, “move better”, or have “better strength and endurance” they truly are telling me they want to be an athlete in life.

The beauty of the Ultimate Sandbag program is that it addresses all the needs of the athlete in way that no other training program can. The unique nature of sandbag training provides an element of that can’t be replicated. That is why we have been a part of elite MMA programs, NFL, Pro Sand Volleyball, top military, and many more programs.

To help show people how different the Ultimate Sandbag truly is I have posted below the Top 8 MMA sandbag movements. The drills shown aren’t only beneficial for MMA athletes, but anyone interested in maximizing their athleticism.

Beyond Abdominal Training

A lot of people have taken such a great interest in the story of my low back injury, I wanted to talk about really what has made a difference. 80% of Americans will experience low back pain some time in their life, and well, mine was a little more than some slight discomfort.

While most people think I am a powerlifter or strongman, the sport I played most of my life was basketball. It was also the sport most impacted by two herniated discs when playing in high school. Not knowing how to strengthen it, it eventually caught up with me playing in college to the point where I lost use of my right leg for a very brief time.

Even when I regained use of my leg, the pain was immense and I struggled with it for a long time. I did physical therapy and I went to corrective exercise certifications and programs. However, understanding what was weak and wrong didn't occur to me when I switched my philosophy completely.

What I learned about myself is that I suffered from some problems that a lot of people suffer from.

1. I really didn't understand how to move correctly. I didn't know how to produce force, absorb force, use mobility in my hips and spine to produce movement.

2. I didn't know how weak my hips were really! Renown strength coach calls this, gluteal amnesia, but I think it goes into hamstrings as well. When I realized how they didn't know how to work together I knew I had a lot of room to improve.

3. I didn't know how to resist force, I could produce power and force, but I didn't understand how to resist it. When I started incorporating drills that addressed these issues I saw my pain go down and performance go way up!

Many people want to know the drills I used to get better. To be honest, they are the exact same ones I have been teaching for the past four years. Now, I have outlined them in a series so YOU can see the progression of movement and learn how to help others or yourself get out of the same pain and frustration I spent several years with!

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Rotational Exercises

Modern Fat Loss Training

Today I wanted to provide another installment of our Inferno Fat Loss program. Holidays are here and so is intense training. You will notice we are integrating the TRX and kettlebells with our Ultimate Sandbag. These are perfect compliments to the Ultimate Sandbag and make training fun and challenging. Infinite variations are possible when you use these three simple tools.

Today we have the following:

Renegade Rows with One Leg Suspended: Adding one leg suspended causes the trunk muscles have to brace harder and uses the ab muscles even more. A nice progression on the classic renegade row, plus shows which side can stabilize. The use of the Ultimate Sandbag makes it more challenging to row without simply increasing the weight of the sandbags!

Alternating Kettlebell Snatch, Squat, Swing: A great hybrid with the kettlebell that gets you flowing fast and hits just about every muscle in the body! The alternating makes it a little harder to completely groove the lift so you have to work just that much harder!

TRX One Leg Burpees: Ok, a burpee is bad enough, however, being suspended and in sand makes it that much worse! If you don't have the sand available one leg being suspended is good enough. This adds more flexibility training, lateral instability, and exposes any weaknesses to your cardio, mobility, or lower body strength.

TRX V-Flye and Biceps Curls: Hey, isolating muscles isn't a bad thing, it is only bad if it makes the bulk of your training program. Adding in some isolation movements can enhance the body's stablizers and "fill in the holes". Many great lifters have used this technique to bring up weaknesses and prevent injuries. Heck, who doesn't like good arms;)

Sandbag Hand to Hand High Pulls: No, these aren't your classic high pulls, you will want to deliberately throw them at angles to greatly challenge the core, hips, and grip! The sandbags are hard to grab and ripping them up is practical for just about anyone who wants great strength. Changing up the angles makes it impossible to groove this lift!

Sandbag Ski Jumps: No joke on this one, especially in sand!! However, if you are just using the floor it is still a powerful drill. Jumping laterally often throws people for a loop, however, adding in a rotational pull of the sandbag makes it one of the best exercises for building lateral stability of the body. Not to mention, doesn't take long to smoke the legs.

Just as with all our Inferno programs, it isn't about just making you tired. It is about making your body strong, mobile, and athletic. Take our challenge of performing these programs yourself and email me at josh@sandbagexercises.com!

The Newest Fitness Challenge

Having something to train for is so much more fun than just working out. It is easy to just run through the motions when you don't have a goal, but let's face it training with a goal in mind completely changes every aspect of fitness training. That is why I wanted to come out with a new fitness challenge for all of you. This one is slightly different, it is just a challenge, but one with a special reward for those that dominate it!

Now till the end of the month the Warrior Challenge is going to reward one winner with a prize valued over $200s! That's right, one winner can take home a FREE Burly or Advanced Package, let me explain how and why!

For the last few years I have had to listen how sandbags are great for conditioning, but if you want to get really strong you have to use barbells and dumbbells. People quickly forget load is load and a shifting load is far more difficult than a stable one. That is why those that have worked with our Burly and Advanced Packages write in on how challenging these sandbag are in every respect.

I didn't want to try to convince people though, I simply think having people experience this type of training is the best solution. Why the Warrior Challenge? It is no secret that complexes and flow exercises have become very popular for their ability to train a lot of fitness qualities at once. Well, I wanted a drill that could strengthen the ENTIRE body in a way that was impossible with any other training implements. The Warrior Challenge encompasses the best of sandbag training, shoulder, shoulder squat, shoulder to shoulder press. These drills entail explosiveness, head to toe strength, core power, and endurance.

The challenge? Perform 30 total repetitions of the entire complex; shoulder, shoulder squat to shoulder to shoulder press. Dump down the bag and repeat, this is one repetition. The challenge is to use either our Burly or Advanced sandbag package and perform this drill in as little time as possible. No easy task to say the least and really makes you feel like you can conquer any challenge, exactly why I named it the Warrior Challenge.

How do you win? A person needs to sends us a video with the weight of the bag and them performing the Warrior Challenge. The person with the best relative score (that is the weight of the sandbag compared to their bodyweight) and time you can win your choice of either a Burly or Advanced Package.

For those that want to take the challenge, but don't have our Burly or Advanced yet, I have decided to put them on special until the end of the month. Not only is there a discount, but if you pick up a Burly or Advanced during this time you will receive two FREE workouts with our heavy duty sandbags. Below is the Warrior Challenge in action and beneath is the very special discounts! Don't miss out on becoming your own fitness warrior.



Burly Black-Save $30!!: $178.99

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Burly Green Camouflage-Save $30!!: $188.99

Buy Now Here

Advanced Black-Save $30!!: $170.99

Buy Now Here

Advanced Green Camouflage-Save $30!!: $180.99

Buy Now Here 

Q & A

Something that I've been meaning to do is really get our Q & A blogs going. So many people write me in with great questions that I want others to learn from their questions. Please, please send in those questions that you have been hesitant to ask because it could really help others! Today is one of our first Q & A blogs.

Hi Josh,

I just purchased the Strength Package, including the High Octane DVD.  I did Program One yesterday.  I want to make sure I'm starting off correctly, and I have a few questions.

 

1.  I am 48 years old, just under 5'7", 140 lbs.  I have always been thin and relatively weak, and have had trouble maintaining an exercise program.  I think I will enjoy the Sandbag and stick with it.  I am interested in long-term cardiovascular health, as well as building, toning and defining my body.  What weight do you suggest to start?  I chose 45 lbs., which seemed comfortable yet challenging.  Will I see benefits at this weight, or do you think I should increase it right away?

 

2.  Is it safe and beneficial to do the workouts on consecutive days, or should I go every other day?

 

Thanks for your help.  I love the Sandbag and will tell everyone I know about it.-Mike C.

Weight is always relative! Without knowing it you used one of the most common methods of assessing weight which is RPE (rate of perceived exertion). I have long said that sandbag training weights should be dictated by how challenging it feels, not by the number on the scale. A sandbag generally will be lighter than any other strength training implement you have used in the past because of how awkward and "noncooperative" they are. If the weight feels challenging, but allows you to maintain good form then it is the right weight. 

The programs on the High Octane DVD were designed to be performed every other day. Now, COULD you do them on consecutive days? Yes, however, you may need a few days after this to recover. Most people don't realize that sandbag training greatly fatigues the nervous system because of all the muscle coordination needed and this is far more fatiguing that just tiring out the muscles. That is why generally I give a day in between for workouts, yet, I realize that some people's schedules do not allow for this. So, to be realistic you can do back to back days but give time for recovery especially if you are beginning to feel very tired or excessively sore. 

 

A Special Situation

Ok, this was COMPLETELY unplanned!!! When I launched our new filler bags last week I wasn't anticipating getting slammed with so many emails from customers who already had our product just wanting our new white liner. The question quickly became, "can I buy just the white liner" and to be honest my initial answer was no!

Not because I am trying to be a tough guy, just the opposite. We have quite a few people email daily confused about which Ultimate Sandbag is right for them, adding the white liner option would make things even more confusing. Additionally, the new filler bags are not cheap! Keeping things in the USA is very important for me, but it does come with a higher cost. Yeah, you may see that our prices were raised slightly, but we actually decided to eat some of the cost because selling a superior fitness tool is more important than doing it for cheap and making more money! Doing them together did make it a little more manageable. 

However, since I want to give you guys what you really want and thank you all of you that have been such strong supporters, I am going to do a one week special on the white liners. Here is the deal though....you will only be able to purchase them buy themselves for one week, they won't ship out till a week from tomorrow as we will only order as many as we need. So it will take 2-3 weeks to get your white liners. In addition, they must be used in some type of canvas filler, we won't guarantee any of them that were used by themselves. 

Believe it or not, all that we do is with you guys in mind and we want your sandbag training experience to be the best it can be. So, you can choose from the three sizes below:

Buy Your 10 Pound Liner

Buy Your 20 Pound Liner

Buy Your 50 Pound Liner

The Best Just Got Better

People generally don't understand that I take Sandbag Fitness Systems VERY seriously. It isn't a "side project" or something that I do recreationally. That is why I am constantly striving to make my program and The Ultimate Sandbag the best training tool available. I believe that goal was accomplished with our innovation of our filler bags. A great concept that other companies have tried to copy, but have made poor copies. 

While our filler bags were very effective, I knew they could be better. Want to see what we have done check out the video below:

These new bags will be shipped out starting Monday with all our packages!!!

It Is VERY Different

I can say it over and over again, The Ultimate Sandbag is sooooo different than anything else! Really, I can say it all I want, but I know the reality, it sounds like the old tiresome marketing that we all get hit with almost daily! So, what does one do? I get great people like all of you to write in with your experiences and it makes things seem so much more real. The greatest gift I get is getting emails from all of you on how my program has impacted you! Today is no different.

Note: Even dogs love our

Sandbags!

A few days ago I received an email from Anthony. Unfortunately, I have never met Anthony, but he was kind enough to share with me what he thought of our Ultimate Sandbag and the programs...

 "I had my first park session with the Ultimate Sandbag a short while ago. I have been doing thrusters (squat with a push press) in an interval fashion for fat loss; and I was thinking that the sandbag training wasn't going to be as brutal (and I was a little concerned about that). After a month of rain, I finally got to the park; and enjoyed the session very much. I did 15:15 interval of the lateral shouldering movement (bag dropped to the outside of the foot). I chose the small bag so I could concentrate on form. I was very surprised at the result. I was very sore in the external rotators, glute max, hamstrings and adductors. I have never been sore in that range of muscles before; the thrusters hitting the quads only with the shoulders being a weak link. I think this is the best exercise (movement) I have done and can't want to go heavier.

Thanks Josh
All the best"-Anthony S.

Anthony experienced simply everything I had talked about. The difference? He had to experience it for himself! One reason I have found myself traveling so much is because I found people needed to experience what this type of training does. You can't "sorta do the same" with any other piece of training equipment. The unbalanced weight, varying shapes, and all the variety make this a devastating piece of fitness equipment. Sounds like a sales pitch right?! Not really, all of what Anthony said he felt was with a small sandbag that is under $100!!! Shoot, a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells of equivalent weight are easily going to run you over that price. It isn't about the sales pitch, it is about changing people's perceptions of fitness and making it dynamic and exciting again!

I loved what Anthony wrote me, but was even more pleasantly surprised when he sent me a follow up email. 

 "Just back from a session. My core feels like it is made of rubber now :-) Anyway I thought I would share a little story since I have a minute.

I was talking to my uncle the other day. My father and his family had a fruit and vegetable business 70 years ago. They are always talking about the old days and how they would be loading and unloading trucks by hand all hours of the day and night. While we all have similar builds, one thing I have noticed about them is that they have much thicker hands than I do. I guess it is from lifting all those 140 pounds bags of potatoes. It is not so different from lifting sandbags. It really tickled my fancy thinking about history repeating, or the more things change the more they stay the same; and just after I purchased the Burly Bag.

By the way, I am really enjoying lifting the sandbag."

No, in fact, in the age where being "old school" is viewed as cool, this is the most old school type of training anyone can perform. Sure, people didn't do it for exercise 100 years ago, they did it for work! However, people were so much more fit then than we see today. Read any old time strongman book and what is the key? It is the amazing tendon and ligament strength that was created with such training. 

Yes, there are a lot of tools that are awesome, but not all are very versatile. What I love about sandbag training is it can produce everything the famous old time strongmen talked about, but can also be used for our modern techniques as well. It gives such a unique feeling that this will become a staple of every fitness program. 

Next week we are going to be releasing some very cool new projects and updates. Keep your eyes out for it and please, keep the great emails coming!!

 

Burly Bag Opening

Wow! To say a lot has been going on is a huge understatement. I have been working so hard at making some changes that are far needed to get Sandbag Fitness Systems to the next level. The first very cool completed project was the new Burly Bag. Yes, A LOT of people have been writing me to get a hold of the new Burly Bag. Originally the bag was designed to be an intermediate between our medium and large sandbag. Then there was a mistake! The manufacturer sent me something much bigger, this bag instead of being able to hold up to 120 pounds could hold 200.

At first I was pissed! Then I started to work with the bag and realized this was actually far better than I had originally designed. Instead of simply having an intermediate bag we had created something brand new. With the length of the bag being the same as the medium, but the load able to go heavy, this became a very unique sandbag. What did I find?

1. When the bag was not filled full it began you at the toughest pulling position creating the best position to develop superior full body power. This pull is stronger than any other type of implement because the weight is also completely against you so you have to generate more force to get the bag moving.

2. The perfect tool for increasing overhead pressing strength. I know you can press with a host of objects, what makes the Burly Bag ideal? People speak about awkward implements, but sandbags are completely unique. Having pressed about every type of strength implement I can say for a fact that sandbags are far and away the most unstable. This makes the Burly Bag a powerful tool in increasing stabilizer strength and makes any other training tool feel much easier!

3. It is amazingly diverse as it can replicate just bout any form of strength training. One of my favorites is how you can use the Burly Bag in a similar fashion, this time without ripped up forearms or a bad back!

The Burly Bag isn't the only new change. Possibly even bigger is the creation of our new filler bags. I had a choice, a tough choice. The filler bags were originally designed to be as durable as possible and still be affordable. It was also awesome that we could have them made in the US. I still felt like they needed more, our customers deserve more. This was so tough because I had to both find a manufacturer that could make the change and more importantly still make it affordable.

I like to believe after a lot of hard work this was accomplished. What is different?

Extra durable stitching was added

The way the stitching is laid is now reinforced

There is now an additional layer to the filler bag that prevents leakage.

Unfortunately this cost quite a bit more! However, it seems more than worth it when you see the new filler bags. The best part is this is done with only a minimal increase in our prices. I decided that Sandbag Fitness Systems would take the rest!! Being able to deliver an incredible training tool is more important than anything. So, now all orders will have our new fillers and the new Burly Bags will come with 3-50 pound fillers.

So don't wait, I am launching an incredible special to save you $40 that will only last till Monday night!! The Burly will come in two styles, black and camouflage, you choose the challenge!

Purchase the Black Burly Bag: Click Here : Just $158.99

Purchase the Camouflage Burly Bag  :Click Here:  Just $168.99 

Note: This is a pre-sale, Burly Bags will go out a week from Monday and arrive in 3-5 days for domestic shipments.