The Power of Sandbag Training
Written by Kirsten Ahrendt

Sandbag Training

Roses are red. Violets are blue. 

Sandbags are awesome. You could be too.

When it comes to training, barbells, dumbbells, and cardio machines often dominate the conversation. These traditional tools are staples in CrossFit gyms and garage gym setups around the world, celebrated for their effectiveness and versatility. However, an often-overlooked training implement, the sandbag, offers a unique and powerful alternative that can complement or even enhance a workout regimen. Here’s why incorporating sandbag training can be both beneficial and transformative not just for CF Games competitors on ESPN, but for a broad range of training needs, abilities, and goals.

Why You Should Incorporate Sandbag Training

1. Functional Strength 

“Life is like a box of chocolates”. PSYCH! It’s more like a dusty, heavy sandbag! 

Seriously though – life isn’t an evenly loaded barbell – it shows up in weird, awkward ways – and your training should reflect that if you really want to be prepared for it. A lot of life’s regular moments remind me of the awkwardness and (often annoyingness) of sandbags:

• Lifting up a fully loaded ice chest/cooler into the back of the truck
• Lugging a toddler, beach chairs, and beach bag across the parking lot
• Picking up/carrying the dog into the vet, or down the mountain when they hurt their paw
• Hunting and packing out
• DIY landscaping involving rocks, cement, and stumps
• And of course, carrying all of the groceries (including the watermelon) in one trip

Sandbag training truly carries over to what the general population requires in order to stay healthy and strong for their day to day life.

2. Unstable Resistance and Teaching tension 

One of the standout features of sandbags is their inherent instability. Unlike barbells or dumbbells, which offer stable and predictable resistance, sandbags shift and adjust with every movement. This instability quite literally forces your body to create more global tension to engage and move the weight well – whether you’re holding it for a carry, to squat, or to press it overhead.  It often requires good body awareness of how to efficiently load and move a weight that sits farther from your center of mass than a barbell or dumbbell will. As a coach, I find that sandbags can be effective at helping athletes understand how to create tension before and during a lift. Lifting a sandbag teaches athletes how to “engage with a weight” in comparison to a barbell that sits on their shoulders and may be more difficult to engage with. Once athletes understand how to create tension, they can carry it over to lifting other implements.

3. Less technical

Sandbags are hard work and there’s certainly points of performance to coach and to instruct so as to move efficiently and effectively, but I generally find the learning curve of moving a sandbag is more friendly than compared to other CrossFit modalities such olympic lifting. For this reason alone – sandbags are one of my favorite tools to incorporate with athletes that want to be explosive and get strong and fit, but don’t have a desire to spend as long dialing in the perfect technique and nuance that is required to make olympic lifting an effective training tool with a decreased injury chance for a casual (3-4x/week) athlete.

4. Ease of Varied Training stimulus

Sandbags can be great for a variety of training stimulus. Implement heavy sandbags in low-rep, high explosive settings and build power output and strength. Lighter sandbags can be taken for long duration carries and used effectively in supersets focusing on time under tension to build muscular endurance and stamina. You are limited only by your creativity with sandbags.

In Summary 

Embracing sandbag training alongside traditional methods such as barbells and kettlebells can lead to a more well-rounded and effective fitness routine.Their ability to improve functional strength, teach tension and bracing, approachability for a varied training demographic, coupled with their affordability and space efficiency, makes sandbags a valuable addition to any training regimen. 

What Movements Can I Do With a Sandbag?

Okay so you have a sandbag, now what? 

We’ve gathered a list of sandbag movements with demo videos from Invictus Coaches to get you started. 

Sandbag Movements 

Sandbag Carry 

Sandbag Squats 

Sandbag Floor Press 

Sandbag Bearhug Hold 

Sandbag Clean 

Sandbag Bear Hug Calf Raises 

Sandbag Training Workouts

Looking for workout ideas to incorporate the sandbag? 

Here’s a few workouts to get you inspired!

Workouts 

12:00 AMRAP

Sandbag clean to right shoulder x 3

Alt. lunges with Sandbag on right shoulder x 6

Sandbag clean to left shoulder x 3

Alt. lunges with sbag on left shoulder x 6

Dumbbell push press x 9 (50/35)

3:00 work/:90 rest x 4-5 sets

Sandbag bear hug squat x 10

C2b pullup or kipping pullup x 15

Max burpees over the bag in remaining time

Partner workout (switch after the SB carry)

P1 – max cals on assault bike

P2 – max UB reps of bench press into sandbag carry bearhug carry x 100ft

Continue swapping until bike reaches 100-200 calories.

Grace is Dusty

30 reps of sandbag clean to OH for time

2:00 / 2:00 x 4 sets

AMRAP of

8 sandbag bear hug squats + 40foot bear hug carry

(repeat squats + carry for 2:00 without putting it down)

Upper body pump:

Max reps of UB sandbag floor press

Max reps of UB dips @ 1111

Max reps of UB sumo-stance pendlay sandbag rows

Rest 2:00, perform 3 sets

Want More Workouts Like These?

Join the Invictus online community and get access to any of our workout programs. Whether you are a Masters athlete, want to compete in the sport of CrossFit, or simply want to stay fit and active, we have a program for you.