Sandbag Fitness Training

When it comes to functional training one of the best bits of training equipment to have is a simple sandbag. Training with sandbags provide a unique fitness experience and helps develop amazing grip strength.

One of the reasons sandbags are great for training with is because they are inherently unstable, so your body – especially your core is constantly struggling to maintain balance and keep control of the weight. If you are lifting a barbell then the centre of the weight is always the same. But with a sandbag the load can shift unpredictably– so your core is given a tough workout keeping it in the desired position.

When lifting a sandbag, compared to any other fixed weight such as a barbell or kettlebell – you will find it much harder to lift due to the instability. Compared to many other weightlifting equipment a sandbag provides a much more intense workout. Not only will it improve your balance, it will also boost your strength.

There is a huge variety of workouts that you can do with sandbags – which makes them a perfect piece of equipment to have for doing CrossFit. Movements can include deadlifts, shouldering & cleaning, squatting, holding, carrying, pulling or throwing.

Training with a sandbag will help you shred fat, gain a toned physique, stimulate functional muscle gains and give you unstoppable endurance. Strongmen and athletes have been training with sandbags for centuries. They are one of the oldest, best & most proven functional training equipment available. Also, they are easy to stow away or transport – ideal if you are on the road with work or going on holiday.

Josh Henkin of Sandbag Fitness Systems is an expert in sandbag training. He has developed ideal sandbags for training with. You can make your own sandbag, but over time it is more likely to rip of be damaged.

The benefits of sandbags supplied by Sandbag Fitness Systems are:

• Strengthen the stabilizing muscles in your shoulders abdomen, low back and hips so that you can injury-proof your body
• Develop vice-like grip-strength and hands of steel
• Burn fat at unparalleled rates by performing a series of Sandbag Exercises that I call ‘Power Circuits’
• Break through training plateaus by training outside of the usual “Groove” of barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells
• Supercharge your cardio training by performing some specialized Sandbag conditioning drills
• Uniquely-designed by a strength coach so one-arm lifts like Snatches and Presses can be performed
• Easy Access to inside of bag makes it a ‘snap’ to change the weight of the bag in under 30 seconds
• Virtually indestructible Double-reinforced stitching to preventing ripping and to extend bag life
• Achieve greater variety of exercises and comfort due to the bags unique design with special handles
• Top of the line canvas prevents skin tears unlike other bags on the market
• Specialized high-quality construction prevents sand leakage and allows you train in commercial gyms without worry
• Sturdy snaps along the zipper to seal the bag and keep sandbag training clean and safe

 

View the videos below of Josh Henkin demonstrating workouts with a sandbags

Sandbag Fitness Systems | Josh Henkin

 

5 Best Core Sandbag Exercises | Josh Henkin

 

Click here for a list of UK retailers that supply sandbags – including sandbags (Ultimate Sandbag) by Josh Henkin of Sandbag Fitness Systems (Ultimate Sandbag).

You can also order sandbags and training DVD’s, Book’s and eBook’s direct from Sandbag Fitness Systems in the USA. Click here to visit the store.

 

CrossFit and Kettlebells

The kettlebell or girya as the Russians call it, is a cast iron weight looking somewhat like a cannonball with a handle. The kettlebell has become a popular exercise tool due largely to the efforts of strength and flexibility coach Pavel Tsatsouline of Russian Kettlebells.

The kettlebell goes way back, it first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704 (Cherkikh, 1994). So popular were kettlebells in Tsarist Russia that any strongman or weightlifter was referred to as a girevik, or ‘a kettlebell man’.

Kettlebell workouts are intended to increase strength, endurance, agility and balance, challenging both the muscular and cardiovascular system with dynamic, total-body movements

Common kettlebell lifts:

Kettlebell swing
This conditioning movement is performed either one-handed or two-handed. The kettlebell swings at arm’s length from between the legs to approximately head-level, with the legs, hips, and lower back providing the motive force.

Kettlebell snatch
Similar to a traditional snatch, the weight moves from a lower position to over the head with the arm extended.

 

Kettlebell jerk
A competition lift, like the kettlebell snatch, this lift culminates with the weight overhead at arms’ length.

 

Why are kettlebells superior to many other fitness equipment?

• The kettlebell is the ultimate in conditioning the body for extreme decelerations. Think of all the sudden stops and direction changes on the football field. If you have not conditioned yourself to handle these forces, you will perform sub-par and run a high risk of injury. Traditional strength training, even the Olympic ‘quick lifts’, does not address this issue as the weight is either dropped or treated to a slow negative. As Brett Jones, RKC Sr. put it, “You cannot swing a barbell between your legs.” You could try it with a dumbbell -at least until the sheer width of it takes your knees out. The compact kettlebell can be dropped from the lockout between your knees and way behind you where it will impact load your hips.

 

• This dynamic loading sets up the hip muscles for a powerful contraction. The kettlebell is the definitive tool for developing the hip thrust, the power generator in all athletics. Be it a jump, a kick, or a punch, when expertly performed, it comes from the hip.

 

• The kettlebell will make your back resilient. Unique Russian exercises condition your back from every conceivable angle, statically and dynamically. One would have to take up powerlifting, yoga, strongman, gymnastics, and a couple of other things to half way imitate the benefits of kettlebell training.

 

• Kettlebell’s offset centre of gravity maximizes shoulder strength, flexibility, and health. Most Russians have never heard of ‘rotator cuffs.’ Save for combat wounds, shoulder injuries are virtually unheard in the Russian armed forces. They train and test their personnel with repetition one-arm snatches with a 53 lb. kettlebell rather than pushups.

 

• The kettlebell is an outstanding grip, wrist, and forearm developer. A thick and smooth handle combined with the ballistic nature of many exercises loads the grip like rock climbing. Bottom up cleans and similar leverage drills unique to kettlebells take care of the wrists.

 

• The position of the handle allows dynamic passing of the kettlebell from hand to hand for a great variety of powerful juggling type exercises strongly endorsed by the Russian Federation State Committee on Physical Culture. These drills develop dynamic strength and injury-proof the body in many planes unlike conventional linear exercise.

 

• The kettlebell will give you infinite freedom of lifting. It has been said that kettlebells to traditional free weights are what barbells and dumbells are to machines. Taming a kettlebell is akin to medieval sword, spear, and battleaxe play, liberating and aggressive.

 

• The Russian kettlebell is a complete, no-compromise, extreme hand held gym. “We train with kettlebells in case civilization is temporary,” stated the Philadelphia Kettlebell Club, “…don’t rely on anything you can’t carry.”Source: RussianKettlebells.com

 

 

Sooner or later a CrossFit WOD will include Kettlebells. If you have never used them before then you can learn how to safely lift them by viewing the ‘exercise & demos’ section on CrossFit.com.

However, it is highly recommend that you receive training from a CrossFit affiliate coach or an approved kettlebell coach. Two respected certifiers for kettlebell coaching are the RKC and UKKA.

Pavel Tsatsouline’s Certified Russian Kettlebell Instructors (RKC) of which there are a few in the UK – the most highly rated of which is Rannoch Donald RKC  who is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. For more information on Kettlebell workshops with Rannoch visit:  http://mainpage.simplestrength.com/

• RKC Instructors – Scotland
• RKC Instructors – England, Wales & Northern Ireland
  
• RKC Instructors – Republic of Ireland
  
• UKKA (United Kingdom Kettlebell Association)

 

To view a list of recommended Kettlebell equipment suppliers click here.

CrossFit Equipment

In the CrossFit Article – ‘What is fitness?’ it states “ fitness requires an ability to perform well at all tasks, even unfamiliar tasks, tasks combined in infinitely varying combinations. In practice this encourages the athlete to disinvest in any set notions of sets, rest periods, reps, exercises, order of exercises, routines, periodization, etc. Nature frequently provides largely unforeseeable challenges; train for that by striving to
keep the training stimulus broad and constantly varied.”

Therefore, if you are going to do CrossFit then you must not continually follow the same fitness routine day in, day out. You should mix up your workouts – from number of reps, duration and type of of exercise i.e. whether this involves using weights or no weights or a combinations. As a result, when doing CrossFit you will be using a wide variety of equipment reanging from a barbell to a climbing rop to a kettlebell to numerous other peices of equipment. Variety is ket to your CrossFit workouts.

CrossFit equipment is functional and simple. Click here to view a range of CrossFit equipment that you can train with. CrossFit Equipment UK aims to help you find the cheapest prices for the best CrossFit equipment. We aim to research and list the best CrossFit UK suppliers online.

(See CrossFit Journal, September 2002, “The Garage Gym” for information in fitting out a world class strength & conditioning facility in your home or garage.) Whether you will train at home or in your back garden or garage the CrossFit equipment you should start with at the bare minimum is a barbell with weights, a kettlebell and a Pull Up station. After getting these basics you can start adding to your CrossFit equipment:

• Olympic bar
• Olympic weights
• Pull Up station
• Kettlebell
• Jump box
• Concept II rower
• Gymnastic rings
• Paralettes
• Medicine Ball
• Dumbells
• Climbing rope
• Dip station
• Skipping rope
• Glute-ham developer