Sandbag Training Bible: Functional Workouts to Tone, Sculpt and Strengthen Your Entire Body

145 Pages·2015·3.53 MB·English

by  Ben Hirshberg

Text copyright © 2015 Ben Hirshberg. Design and concept copyright © 2015 Ulysses Press and
its licensors. Photographs copyright © 2015 Rapt Productions except as noted below. All rights
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Published in the United States by
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Berkeley, CA 94703
www.ulyssespress.com
ISBN: 978-1-61243-480-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015937564
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Please Note: This book has been written and published strictly for informational purposes, and in
no way should be used as a substitute for consultation with health care professionals. You should
not consider educational material herein to be the practice of medicine or to replace consultation
with a physician or other medical practitioner. The author and publisher are providing you with
information in this work so that you can have the knowledge and can choose, at your own risk, to
act on that knowledge. The author and publisher also urge all readers to be aware of their health
status and to consult health care professionals before beginning any health program.
This book is independently authored and published. No sponsorship or endorsement of this book
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Table of Contents
Part 1: Overview 1
Wall Sit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Back Squat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Why Sandbag Training? . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Front Squat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Training Smart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Front Squat with Arm Extension . . . . . 58
Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Overhead Squat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
How to Use This Book. . . . . . . . . . . 13 Sumo Squat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Good Morning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Part 2: Programs 15
Static Lunge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Creating a Customized Workout. . . . . . 16 Forward Lunge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Scheduling Your Workouts . . . . . . . . 20 Side Lunge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Sample Workouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Step-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Part 3: Exercises 33
Calf Raise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Overhead Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Forearm Plank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Push Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
High Plank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Chest Press. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Side Plank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Bent-Over Row. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Reverse Plank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Muscle-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Glute-Ham Plank . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Pull-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Bird Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Push-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Dip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Hand-to-Feet Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Skull Crusher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Bicycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Curl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Sit-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Shrug. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
V-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Deadlift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Frozen V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
One-Leg Deadlift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Ground Slam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Sumo Deadlift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Wall Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Shoveling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Barrel Toss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Sandbag Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Overhead Throw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Shouldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Chest Toss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Bear Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Warming Up 122
Crab Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Jumping Jack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Duck Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Mountain Climber. . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Gorilla Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Running in Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Inchworm Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Butt Kick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Army Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Hip Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Snatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Windmill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Clean & Jerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Toe Kick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Thruster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Walking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Thruster with Lunge . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Overhead Chop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Side Chop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Workout Sheet 132
Turkish Get-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Index 134
Sprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Side Shuffle Sprint . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Acknowledgments 137
Carioca Sprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Backpedal Sprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
About the Author 139
Shoulder Farmer’s Walk . . . . . . . . . . 103
Suitcase Farmer’s Walk . . . . . . . . . . 104
Overhead Farmer’s Walk. . . . . . . . . .105
Burpee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Rolling Burpee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Sled Pull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Jumping Jack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Jumping Rope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Sandbag Whip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Box Jump. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Split Lunge Jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Vertical Jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Long Jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Distance Ruck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Stair Ruck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Upper-Body Ruck . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Part 1:
Overview
1

Introduction
Ever since I was a youth athlete, I’ve endeavored to improve my health and athletic
performance. My interest in health and fitness grew as I read dozens of health books
and became a World Instructor Training Schools-certified personal fitness trainer and
a National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified fitness nutrition specialist and youth
fitness trainer. Through a combination of reading fitness books, completing certifications,
and putting theory to practice in the real world, I’ve come to love using sandbag training
in my workouts.
Old-school sandbag training isn’t as flashy as newfangled fitness trends like vibration
plates and balance boards, but its no-frills essence is precisely why sandbag training
is so effective. Fancy, complicated training methods can sound appealing at first, but
simplicity is a strength, not a weakness. The simpler the exercise modality, the fewer
barriers there are to a good workout. When training with a sandbag, the only thing you
need to think about is the single bag in front of you. You’re essentially just picking up,
pressing, and carrying large, awkward objects—a perfect training method that prepares
you for everyday activities like moving furniture, carrying groceries, and going on
backpacking trips.
So let it be known, sandbag training is not some passing fad. Whether you’re a desk
jockey or a professional athlete, incorporating sandbag training into your fitness regimen
will take standard bodyweight moves to a whole new level.
3
INTRODUCTION
Why Sandbag Training?
Training with a sandbag isn’t easy, and that’s the point. If your workout allows you to idly
chat with a friend without breaking a sweat, it probably isn’t making you stronger. Don’t
get it twisted—your workout doesn’t need to kill you in order for it to be effective. But
it does have to give your body a challenge, and using sandbags—essentially resistance
training—is a great way to do that.
Incorporating sandbags in resistance training is great for both men and women. When
done properly, it’s helpful for nearly all fitness goals, including fat loss, muscle gain,
health improvement, and athletic development. This is because resistance training
excels at one of the most important facets of any exercise modality: muscle engagement.
Aerobic training methods like running, jumping rope, and biking are all awesome, healthy
things to do. However, aerobic activities don’t work the musculature as effectively or
efficiently as straight-up resistance training, making resistance training an unparalleled
way to develop a fit-looking, strong body.
The biggest advantage to using a sandbag is its large, awkward, unstable nature. This
forces your body to recruit the oft-neglected stabilizer muscles and engage in the
movement from head to toe. Training in this ultra-functional manner means more
metabolic benefits and a stronger body. Sandbag training aims to combine the benefits
of intentional, high-load barbell training and real-world manual labor.
Sandbags are also relatively inexpensive and portable. If you buy or make one, your
house becomes your gym—no membership fees, commute, or interminable wait for
equipment to become available. And when compared to the cost of a full home gym,
sandbags are incredibly cost-effective, portable, and take up very little storage space.
Adaptability is another benefit of sandbag training. Many personal trainers have a single
training philosophy. Some are proponents of heavy resistance training, others prefer
calisthenic circuits, and others are adamant endurance advocates. Sandbags can be
incorporated into all those methods, allowing you total flexibility to switch between
different training goals.
4
Sandbag Training Bible
Training Smart
Personally, I believe there’s no one, universal best way for everyone to train because all
of us have different preferences and goals. My general training philosophy is constructed
from ten primary workout principles. They’re as follows:
1. Train with functional, compound movements. Working small muscles through small ranges
of motion makes no sense. Exercising in that way provides a much smaller metabolic
benefit and a smaller hormonal response. Additionally, big, multi-joint movements build
functional strength, which is beneficial for sports and daily life. Functional, compound
exercises make sense because they’re much more efficient and effective at helping you
hit your workout goals.
2. Train the whole body. Neglecting certain muscle groups or movement patterns can lead
to muscle imbalances, which are bad on both a functional and aesthetic level. Besides
looking funny, muscle imbalances can affect our posture and movement patterns, and
sometimes even lead to injury. To avoid this trap, train your whole body from head to toe!
3. Put in at least a good effort when training. Unfortunately for the throngs of people who
go to the gym to slowly walk on a treadmill or pedal on an exercise bike, half-heartedly
exercising isn’t particularly helpful for any fitness goals. The body needs to be challenged
for exercise to have its full range of positive effects, so be sure to give a good effort at
the very least.
4. Don’t feel compelled to do long or extremely arduous workouts every single time. It isn’t
necessary to go balls to the wall for every workout to benefit from training. If you’re
someone with a very high drive, then more power to you. Especially if you’re a
competitive athlete, you’ll get increasing levels of returns from a higher effort. However,
long or excruciatingly difficult workouts aren’t required for good results. Don’t feel like
you have to push yourself to the point of sickness for a workout to be worth it. You’ll
still get immense benefit from working out even if you don’t feel 100% spent at the end.
5
TRAINING SMART