How Sandbag Training Can Help With Weight Loss and Muscle Toning
If you are working out at home and you want to add some variety or intensify your workout sandbags are a must.
Sandbags have turned out to be very powerful and effective to get your body in shape even at home. These have around us for around a hundred years and have been used by endurance athletes and wrestlers to get in the right shape for competition.
If you have been to your nearest gym, you must have seen people lifting or swing bags awkwardly or hugging some giants sacks of sand. Well, those were sandbags. These are very hard to ignore and so are the benefits they bring to your body.
Since that are sacks or bags filled with sand or even water, unlike gym machine, they actually are similar to items you move around in real life. This makes them also ideal for functional training.
In this post, we are going deep into understanding how sandbag training helps to get rid of that extra fat from your body to give you a lean and mean shape!
So, without any further ado, let’s get started.
Why Sandbag Training is great for Fat Loss?
- Unstable Load Training
By unstable load training, we mean that the weight being lifted is not uniform throughout which can make your body constantly adjust to the changing dynamics of the load. Sandbags can be one of the most ‘uncooperative’ pieces of gym equipment you’ve ever come across. But, what this does is it makes your body more athletic and develops high functional strength.
- Helps in Conditioning
Weight loss is directly proportional to the heart rate and which is further directly proportional to metabolic rate. Sandbag training is something that can be carried almost anywhere and all it takes is just one piece of equipment. Performing simple sets of lunges with the sandbags can increase your heart rate quickly which will make your body require more energy and therefore, the metabolism of your body will improve. This will eventually help you lose a lot of that extra fat on your body.
- Improved Grip Strength
One thing that should be noted when it comes to sandbag training is that no two motions can be done with the same grip. Since the weight distribution in the bag is not uniform, the possibility of having a uniform workout goes right of the window. The grip strength, therefore, improves substantially and will help you with other external weight-based workouts.
- Inexpensive Way to Lose Fat
Well, this is a no brainer. We are talking about a one-time investment that will range between $80 and $100. You can buy a sandbag at almost any fitness store or buy them online. Sandbags can help you not just with weight loss, but also with strength training, weight training or even endurance training. The possibilities are infinite and we highly recommend you to give this workout style a chance.
Exercises That You Should Cover in Sandbag Training
- Bear Hug Squat
This exercise can really pump up your workout and provide a significant boost to your core strength. All you have to do here is grab the sandbag and put it close to your chest in a way that looks like you are hugging the sandbag. Have an open stance and straight back as you sit back and down into a squat position. It’s important to keep your spine or back muscles uniform and actively engage the core throughout the exercise movement.
Muscles Involved: Gluteus, Quadriceps, and Hamstrings.
- Push-up
Push-ups are great if you are looking to make your arms, shoulders, chest in the right shape. When coupled with sandbag, you will have a great foundation to execute the exercise. So, how to get the sandbag push-ups done the right way? First, set up for a strong push-up position. This can be done by putting your hands on a sandbag placed right underneath your shoulders as you lay down with your chest facing the ground. Now make sure you keep your feet together and maintain a straight posture from head-to-toe. Finally, with a controlled tempo, lower down and push up without letting your elbows flare out wide.
Muscles involved: Pectorals, Deltoids, Triceps, and Abdominal.
- Rotational Lunge
Lunges are one of the best exercises that can help you build a strong lower body. These can boost the muscle strength in your legs which can go a long way in creating a body suitable for superior and demanding workouts you’d like to do in the future. But, it’s important to do the lunges the right way, especially if you are doing them holding a sandbag. Stand tall holding the sandbag in front of your thighs. Now, take your right leg back as you lower your body. Simultaneously, swing the sandbag around the left leg. Now come back to the original position and follow the same instructions with the other leg.
Muscles involved: Abs, Glutes, Hamstrings, and Obliques.
- Bent-Over Row
This exercise might seem easy and simple to do but requires you to maintain a uniform body posture – something where most people go wrong. So, to get started with this exercise, you will need to set up the sandbag on the ground just in front of your toes. Now, slightly bend your knees as you try to reach for the sandbag with your arms. Bend down and pick up the sandbag while making sure you don’t lose your body posture. Now bring the sandbag down and pull it again – a motion that resembles rowing a boat.
Muscles involved: Latissimus Dorsi (Back), Rhomboids, Scapular Stabilizers, Biceps, Spinal Erectors, Hamstrings, and Glutes.
- Shouldering
In this exercise, you are going to focus on your hips and leg muscles which will be the main driver to overcome the challenge of moving the sandbag. Begin with an open stance, keeping the sandbag on the ground, under your body and in between your legs. Now keeping the upper body straight, bend down and pick up the sandbag. Now, as you pull yourselves up, you have got to lift the sandbag quickly, swing it over your shoulders and drop it on the ground. Do this again with the other shoulder.
Muscles involved: Lower back, hips, hamstrings, forearms, biceps, upper back, pectorals, calves, and quads.
Circuit Training With Sanbags
We have come up with two 15-minute circuits that you can consider to begin your sandbag training in order to lose weight. Let’s discuss them in detail.
But, before heading onto the workout, it’s important to know the weight recommendations for your sandbag.
If you are a beginner, start with a 10-15 lbs sandbag. If this is not your first time working out, especially with weight training, then you can go ahead and use a sandbag with 30-40 lbs of sand. Finally, if the gym is your second home and you have been working out for quite a long time, you can go up to 60 lbs.
Also, before you get started with the workout, make sure you warm your body up for at least 5 to 10 minutes. This will help you increase body temperature, improve the range of motion of your muscles, and make your workout enjoyable.
Let’s understand the 15-minute workout circuits.
Circuit training is awesome because when done correctly it can increase your heart, build muscle endurance and tone your muscles all at the same time. To get the best result, you should move from exercise to the next without resting. You rest at the end of each circuit. If you are to check the intensity of your workout by using a fitness tracker or you see what I mean. Your heart rate will increase with circuit training which will be a good indication of how intense you are working out.
- Circuit A
In this, you will be required to move from one exercise to another with a rest period of 2 minutes after each circuit. The circuit needs to be performed 4 times. Each exercise should be done with the following number of repetitions:
- Bear Hug Squat – 10 Reps
- Push –up – 15 Reps
- Rotational Lunge – 10 Reps for each side
- Bent-over row – 15 Reps
- Circuit B
This is particularly for performing the sandbag shouldering exercise. This should be performed for 8 times with 20 seconds reps and 10 seconds of rest between each rep.
How to Increase the Difficulty in Sandbag Training?
The difficulty of your workout can only be increased if you tweak different variables of your workout. These variables can be the weight of the sandbag in use, the frequency of the exercises, and the duration of each exercise that you perform.
You can effectively improve your metabolism and rate at which you lose fat by making your workout more challenging. It’s true that when you follow a routine for quite some time, the muscles tend to get used to the motion and challenges. And eventually, they stop growing anymore. The muscle memory, as experts claim, is very sharp and can get used to your workout routine faster than one can imagine.
This makes it important for you to increase the difficulty of your sandbag training and always challenge your body to overcome the obstacles you create by changing the weight, frequency, and duration of each of the workouts you perform.
But, while implementing this technique to your workout, it is very important to practice moderation. Proper proportioning should be maintained to let your body build and get used to the high difficulty. This is necessary so that you do not suffer from any injuries during workout.
Wrapping Up
There you have it. We have covered almost everything you need to get started with sandbag training that could help with weight loss. We highly recommend you to keep things simple in the beginning and let your body get used to the training. Introduce changes to your workout routine with time and you will start to see the desired results on your body.
We hope this piece of content brought great value to you. Since you are here, don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter as we bring all the latest news and updates from the world of health and fitness.